memes

A theory of mine is that one of the reasons people don't take the various crises threatening to destroy civilization seriously is that we've lived through so many crises that were solved without the average person suffering that much.

Y2K, overpopulation, the decay of the ozone, acid rain, all major problems, which received major attention from government, media and the scientific community....and were solved, by the scientific community through incredible efforts that were unthinkable a generation before thanks to advances in science. But things didn't really change that much for your average schlub on the street. The change in fluorocarbons in bug spray or air conditioning units may have changed the price a bit, but not enough to really hurt the ordinary person's wallet.

In World War II, everyone participated, everyone did something, be it as big as risking their life on the battlefield, or as small as collecting old newspaper to recycle. Nothing in the past eighty years has demanded that kind of investment or sacrifice or commitment. A great swathe of our population simply cannot believe there is or can be an existential threat to life as we know it.

I have a similar theory about politics, that most Americans thinks of the modern American democracy as inevitable and irrevocable, thus don't take it seriously when the President's platform seems built around totally destroying democratic norms.