When was the golden age?
Letter today in Guardian cause me to ponder.
"Yes, it's dangerous when society loses all respect, trust, peace, care, understanding, faith and hope, with seemingly no chance of future happiness. But the bad road of capitalism can only run so far before imploding. It is light years from being sustainable, unless we really are intent on a world of constant global terrorism from both sides of the terror coin. Paul Kelleher London"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,2019324,00.html
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When did society consist of respect, trust, peace, care and understanding ? Was there ever a time of faith hope and a promise of future happiness?
Looking back, it seems that the struggles of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century were fuelled by lies, greed and false promises. The development of Trades Unions, the Co-operative movement, democracy, the Labour Party, National Health Service and even Communism kept the masses quiet and led us to believe that we had some means of control, but in reality the capitalist system rolled over all. People had the impression that they had some say in things, but the truth was nothing of the kind. The inexorable roll of Capitalism, which started as soon as surplus occured in prehistory, cannot be overcome by altruistic individuals.
Some the earliest civilisations, Egyptian and Minoan, demonstrate a division of labour and caste system between the haves and have-nots, with differing values placed on different activities. Priestess and Priest oversaw and controlled production and consumption, slave labour was certainly endemic in Egypt, although there is less evidence in Minoan Crete as far as I know. Man's inhumanity to man has always been part of the human condition.
Religions invented methods of control and promise a 'better time' in 'the next world' which helped keep folk quiet. The Industrial Revoution in UK led to religion losing its grip as people moved, family ties loosened, the power of neighbourhood opinion lost sway and fear of eternal damnation became less relevant after the horrors of war in this world increased.
In the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries it seems that people looked back to previous times for expression of hope. The Egyptian revival during the early years of the Nineteenth century lasted well into Victoria's reign, but as more information was discovered, it lost some appeal. During the latter part of that century people looked to the medieval period for inspiration. The gothic revival was quite powerful, but reality of life during the middle ages was conveniently overlooked.
So when was the Golden Age, this magic time of respect, trust, peace, care and understanding, a time of faith hope and a promise of future happiness? If it never existed, is it something to be aspired to?
The nature of man may not necessarily be 'solitary,poor, nasty, brutish and short' (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan 1651) but it is rarely generous, kind, altruistic and thoughtful. Greed and fear hold sway, and while the world is governed by commercialism I see very little hope of achieving dreams about The Golden Age.
- Posted by madderbat on 24/02/2007.
- madderbat's site
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