Is the world going to shit or am I just getting older?

[patchworkthedog]

Hi, I wanted some perspective from people who have more life experience than me.

As I have gotten older, it seems like more and more calamitous events are happening on a national and international level. I am wondering if all this stuff has always been happening, and the news has always been so dire and negative, but I just didn't notice when I was a child?

It would be comforting to know that the world isn't going to hell in a handcart, it's just that I am more aware of things now.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

Well, I remember the days of the Cold War, mutually assured destruction, the 3 day week and galloping interest rates and massively long dole queues.

So it's pretty shitty at the moment, but its been as bad in the past, and just as apocalyptic.

Yep, I remember all those things too. Plus terrorist bombings being far more commonplace, and some massive train crashes.There's always been loads of shite happening.

The pandemic rather trumps the lot though. I've never known anything impact our everyday lives to this extent, or cause so much loss of life.

Duh! There's always been ....

As others say, there are always dreadful events, imagine how bleak the world must have looked as we entered WW2 (With the War to end all Wars only being a few decades earlier). As for PP saying 'climate change is the worst thing ever!' well, people said that about the nuclear bomb.

There are things which give me causes for concern, the raise of nationalism, the rise of authoritarianism and intolerance in the political left (the left used to be my home. but no longer). And I'ver really had my eyes opened to how deep cultural misogyny goes. But on a global level, we have never lived in a time with less war and conflict. Historically, things are pretty good.

Even though I can't stand him I think you should listen to We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel!

The pandemic rather trumps the lot though
I can see where you're coming from, but I'm finding it less worrying than the threat of nuclear annihilation when I was a teenager. We used to hang around in the playground at 15 or so, discussing what we'd do if the 3 minute warning went, and mourning the fact we'd never been laid.

We lived rather close to a lot of air bases and a garrison town (fair few fathers were or had been in the Forces) which probably concentrated our minds.

Thanks for your replies, it's oddly reassuring in a way that the world has always been shit, so even though it feels terrible currently it has been ever thus.

Climate change, as a pp mentioned, does seem like a big, world-changing (or world-ending?) issue though. I don't think previous generations had thoughts like there's no point having kids as they will die because of climate change, but I hear my peers say that often.

Lots of really great comments about this. I wanted to add that today unlike a few decades ago, there is a huge disparity between the super wealthy and the rest of us. This has changed our political and social landscape immensely.
Social media problems and the bad news depresses me too but mostly I worry about how long can we go on with so much inequality?

Its only over the past 80ish years that things became more equal. A blip in time. Prior to this - you were either an immensely wealthy landowner or a peasant who owned nothing. The middle class is a recent phenomenon. Though I agree, compared to 20 years ago, we are now going back to how things have always been...more unequal.

The big problem we have globally is climate change and the resulting migration crisis. That is something that only turns up every thousand years or two. We also have in Britain the problem of a collapsing economy with the return to land-based inheritances, which cannot possibly support our massive overpopulation which is increasing in unprecedented fashion.

The rest, wars and specific droughts, are big standard for this disgusting male-ape-dominated species unfortunately.

Only since the Industrial Revolution. Before that things largely depended on demographics. Low population, good times: high population, struggles, as now.

The divide between the haves and the have nots felt like this under the last Tory Government. The levelling up agenda was a massively cruel lie.

I do feel that there is always a war, there has to be a war. Wheather its a military war or an ecconomic war the results are effectivly the same if you try and be pragmatic. Politicians from all parts of the world have attemped to manipulate this fact but eventually it becomes a hard reality as years of public grooming on issues like human rights freedoms of different kinds are sold for politicle motives and personal agenda. We as humans always want something for nothing. Our planet is reality and we ignore this as we mulptiply from 2B when my mother was born to 3B when I was born to over 8B now. All looking for our instyle perfect lives like children.