That’s just untrue. People live in better conditions today, even just considering social acceptance, and not technology or medicine. Most societies are at least in theory democratic, where people get some input towards the ruler. There are legal protections against slavery, misogyny, homophobia, racism, transphobia, and anti monopolistic agencies that try to temper the worst parts of capitalism. Trade unions have successfully campaigned so that now people work less than they have since the start of the industrial revolution, in unprecedentedly better conditions.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a long way to go, and many of these things exist a lot more in theory than practice. Child rights, in particularly, are woefully lacking.
However, claiming that the past, at any point, was better for the vast majority of people is the same nostalgic, rose tinted, incorrect thinking that MAGA (when was America ‘great’ the first time?) Republicans fall prey to.
M1ch431@slrpnk.net 21 hours ago
For every pretend step taken, the actual reality is hidden and moved out of sight for those in the first-world.
I see way too many poor, chronically ill, and visibly distressed people. This isn’t normal, not even a little bit.
Social acceptance has been nonexistent for me as a gay, autistic male - people frequently tell me about their similarly horrible experiences.
Technology has advanced, sure, but it just serves to enslave, manipulate, and spy on us in increasingly dystopian ways as the years go by. Mass surveillance, centralized databases, and unregulated AI have been normalized.
As a chronically ill person, medicine has significantly caused me more harm than good because doctors are too overworked to identify side effects and complications - and I have nearly died several times due to medical negligence/iatrogenic illness. No, I’m not exaggerating. There have been many key advancements in medicine, but our healthcare industry is very sick - even in countries with socialized healthcare. There are people experiencing relief that previously wasn’t possible - I’m not denying that.
Democracy is largely illusory, especially here in the states. Consent of the ruled is not present in many “democratic” societies if you’ve been paying attention.
Slavery has exploded overseas to support first-world needs (even child slavery), prison/slave labor is incredibly pervasive in the states, and before Trump became Führer an estimated 40%~ of US agricultural workers were undocumented immigrants - modern slaves.
The legal protections are effectively nonexistent to prevent discrimination in practice. Two-party consent laws for recording are really terrible for those subject to abuse.
Unions are largely nonexistent, people still work significantly more than they need to, productivity has risen but wages have largely stagnated, people are largely in significant debt and they cannot afford a house or a car, they cannot afford to reliably access healthcare (and even if they can “afford” it, it isn’t timely), higher education is inaccessible and college debt is unreal, etc.
Yes, and no. There are many careers that harm you in ways that only modern society can. Like plastics workers being exposed to a greater risk of cancer. I have known many people in various careers that have been denied access to necessary PPE in multiple fields.
Have we taken some steps? Sure. But we’ve taken many, many, many more backwards while people are oblivious in their bubbles. Pop your bubble, please. More people than ever before in history are suffering silently in ways that only can happen in modern times.
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 21 hours ago
You are pointing out how the world is a terrible place with lots of suffering. I completely agree with you. But in each of these areas, the way things are now is still better than they’ve ever been. They’ve always been bad and horrible, and in most places and times, worse.
M1ch431@slrpnk.net 21 hours ago
Untrue, and again, it’s whitewashing. You make a lot of big claims, but they don’t hold true in reality. The advancements you tout are as weighty as a corporate slogan for real people.