What could there possibly be to look forward to right now? Our society feels like a carcass of bones being picked at by ravens on the side of the road. Cheerful image, isn’t it?
And while it may feel that way, there’s no real evidence to back it up. The math is just not there. The world is not falling apart. Statistically speaking, it’s doing exactly the opposite. But you have to step back to see the wider view.
Picture the world of 200 years ago. What were the rights of women at that time? Non-existent. And people of color? They were literally the physical property of other people. The LGBT+ community wasn’t even a blip on the radar.
Most of the real legislative and social advances made for these communities have occurred in only the last 50 years. And while the aspiration of this great work is still decades from being fully realized, and setbacks do occur, the overall advances in human rights are unquestionably snowballing across the planet.
World War II has had a surprising effect on human rights, interestingly enough, considering the violence and disregard for human life which occurred during it. The United Nations was formed in the aftermath of the war as we faced the harsh reality of what devastation humans could wreak upon one another. Dozens of human rights treaties and covenants have been created and acted upon since its formation.
Should we pause and pat ourselves on the back? That’s probably a trick question. Because the work is so far from over. The goal line has not yet been fully envisioned, much less reached. But at the same time, should we disregard the enormous amount of progress which has been made?
As we fear for the future, we should still take some comfort from our progress to date, and what it might portend for tomorrow. We should allow it to become a part of the wind in the sails toward the continuation of our desire for an equitable world. We should be encouraged by what we’ve managed to achieve. Let it be added to the fuel which continues to drive us forward.
Our forebears of social justice would be amazed if we could have listed for them what their work would manage to accomplish as of the year 2022. They would also likely be not very shocked at the actions of those who would wish to hold us back.
As a member of the LGBT+ community, for example, in my single lifetime I have gone from being considered a psychiatric aberration to a fully contributing member of society who could legally marry and raise children with the blessings of my community. My rights have not been freely given, but they have been fairly and rightfully achieved. So much so, that in my own hometown I can virtually take for granted my rights as an equal citizen.
Yet that is another controversial idea, taking one’s hard earned rights for granted. And while we must always remember the struggle which has resulted in whatever advances we’ve managed to make, I think the goals all along of the civil rights movements have been to arrive at a place where we can take our equality for granted. It is an unexpressed hope that there exists a future day and time when we even forget that we ever considered some people less equal than others.
We are not there yet, of course. But we have come so very far and with so much sacrifice in the history of it. We should celebrate what the work of our human rights advocates have achieved to date. Because it is tremendous. And it cannot, will not, be stopped.
But human rights are not the only aspect of our civilization which have made convincing advances forward. Among them in particular, the massive and unprecedented sharing of information is a much-unheralded phenomenon in our culture, mainly platformed via the Internet, but appearing everywhere.
This is a relatively new situation. For not so long ago, things any of us can now learn how to do simply by clicking a video link, were considered highly protected information. A stonemason’s trade secrets, for instance, were once so closely guarded, you had to apprentice for years before being given the full knowledge of the craft. Now it’s all out there for anyone to learn.
One would imagine that the reasons behind the secrecy would still be valid. If a tradesperson gives away all their secrets, who will hire them? And yet tradespeople still work. Despite the fact that so many of them now create DIY videos of the exact skills they are hoping you will hire them to perform, they are sharing their wisdom freely with you.
Of course some have monetized this information so that their videos generate income for them, and that is a valid exchange. But the vast majority of contributors to the world knowledge pool never receive any compensation for what they have shared, beyond a bit of dopamine. In fact, we are so used to it now, that we hardly give it any thought that all world information is virtually at our fingertips, shared by millions of people freely with one another to a level none of us could have predicted before the Internet.
It’s all going to be okay. Don’t listen to those who say the sky is falling. Because while they may be able to point to this instance or that one to make a flimsy case for how the world is piling up like so much rubble at their feet, they just haven’t done the math.
No comments:
Post a Comment