4-24-17<\/p>\n
Not quite the same thing, but I might address the Fallacy of Progress. Being skeptical of Progress is akin, in these times, of ancient heresies deserving of the stocks and public derision.<\/p>\n
Our human family, \u201cadvancing\u201d through culture, literacy, prosperity, science, and democracy, has ambled through history, ultimately through eras of Humanism, Enlightenment, and Universal Democratic Principles, to the Twentieth century. Was the promulgation of a \u201cUniversal Declaration of Human Rights\u201d a landmark of humankind\u2019s progress\u2026 or a shining example of human folly, pretentiousness, and folly? Its self-delusion might be measured by the effectiveness of its \u201cuniversal\u201d application since 1948.<\/p>\n
In any event, its Twentieth Century \u2013 even after<\/em> its somber adoption \u2013 was a period of unimaginable cruelty and barbarity, which saw the shedding and squeezing of blood from uncountable millions; wars and scientifically refined methods of slaughtering one another; virulent hatred and oppression, and mothers\u2019 tears, probably exceeding those of all of history\u2019s previous centuries.<\/p>\n We, humankind, have arrived at the present time, riding into town, as it were, on the horns of a dilemma \u2013 which sounds like a Dr Seuss animal, but represents, rather, a crisis in world history. All nations and peoples have come to realize that monarchies and serfdoms and dictatorships are dysfunctional at best and brutalizing at worst\u2026<\/p>\n No. All nations and all peoples have NOT realized that. Only dullard high-school teachers and meaningless United Nations resolutions maintain this fallacy. Is this<\/em> Progress? \u2013 billions of people around the world live under dictatorships; some of the enslaved people are restive and desperate, but some are relatively content because they have creature comforts their parents lacked. Some percentage of humanity retains a totalitarian strain, happy to profit by it at least in some emotionally selfish manner. If they are not among the persecuted, of course.<\/p>\n Even in America, the first nation to overthrow its monarchy, many citizens still act like subjects. That is, a fannish slobbering over \u201cRoyals.\u201d Seemingly a trivial fascination, this reveals that the average American craves to be subservient to random groups of \u201csuperiors.\u201d No offense meant to Queen Elizabeth, especially at the time of the old girl\u2019s birthday, but how any of her breed should be called \u201chigh-ness\u201d or \u201cmajesty\u201d is degrading; a mystery to me.<\/p>\n The American obsession with subservience extends beyond Accidents of Birth. It is no different, but surely costlier, when Americans idolize athletes, movie stars, and \u201ccelebrities.\u201d Not heroes, but Personalities, that bizarre euphemism for people otherwise lacking in admirable characteristics beyond good looks or the ability to pretend to be other people before cameras. The modern equivalents of taxes paid to the local lords are higher ticket prices and higher product costs due to funding their salaries, endorsement fees, etc.<\/p>\n Have computers and the internet brought heaven on earth\u2026 are not they<\/em> proof of Progress? Surely the increase in knowledge is impressive, and has vast potential for good. Yet pornography is the most-visited category of web hits. Students have access to virtually limitless data, yet are ignorant (and increasingly so, each year that passes) of foundational facts of government, history, and religion.<\/p>\n Able to learn about history\u2019s greatest figures, and humankind\u2019s most significant conflicts, Americans choose the Kardashians and video games.<\/p>\n If one accepts that human nature is dark, then any system with few restraints is going to be dark too. That applies to democracy and politics, or lowest-common-denominator popular culture. The computer\u2019s mouse makes a sorry compass. Human nature, allowed freedom to its Nth degree, is not going to turn benign because we take a wrong turn in the direction of Instant Gratification.<\/p>\n The horns of that dilemma I spoke of is this: We cannot turn back any clocks. It is rare when a nation votes itself fewer freedoms. When it has happened, an awareness of sclerotic licentiousness is never the reason. \u201cThose who surrender freedom for security end up with neither.\u201d Churchill is supposed to have said that \u201cdemocracy is the worst form of government, until you consider any alternative.\u201d Yet democracy has brought us corruption and self-indulgence.<\/p>\n The malicious impulses behind democracy and finance capitalism are cancers that have, and will, spread. I pointed to the celebrity culture as an example of a free people returning to false values again and again, as the Bible describes dogs returning to their own vomit. The Caesars knew: bread and circuses keep an exploited population fat and happy\u2026 until a culture rots from its core.<\/p>\n Progress? The word is becoming odious. \u201cTurn back the clock\u201d? History never really regresses, either. The answer is a Third Way. It is in the Bible \u2013 the wisdom of the ages for all things. It holds the answers to all questions. Its knowledge is dispensed from the Throne.<\/p>\n Two verses from Proverbs, of course, are keys that can unlock the door of our cultural dilemma:<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction\u201d (1:7); and<\/p>\n \u201cGold there is, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel\u201d (20:15).<\/p>\n If our land were to rightly regard the Source of all knowledge and wisdom, and lean not to our own understanding and lusts, that dilemma would be tamed, and we could know genuine spiritual progress indeed.<\/p>\n