Project Vision 21

I recently read that in our society “everything is lost” because “bad people serve as a good example and good people serve as mockery.” That complaint sought to reflect the “disintegration of the fundamental pillars” of current society, and, more specifically, the great “ethical challenges” facing the world at this time.

But that was not the only complaint I found published in the media in recent times.

Someone else complained, for example, that we live in a time in which “those who have not yet been humiliated by life or know their own limitations,” in the best narcissistic style, “exalt themselves” and believe they are “equal to the best”, although in reality they are not and hardly ever will be.

Another person, focusing on young people, maintained that today's youth do not respect "neither authority, nor elders, nor teachers," adding that young people prefer to "chat" instead of working or exercising. For this reason, the youngest have become the “dictators of parents and teachers.”

All these observations (even recognizing that they are generalizations and that the exceptions are many) seem to appropriately represent the current situation of our society, where the consequences of one's actions matter little, where “a donkey is the same as a great professor.” (as the Cambalache tango says), and where everyone believes they are better than everyone else and has the right to demean the other.

Furthermore, new technologies, such as the Internet and social networks, instead of facilitating dialogue, prevent it and at the same time restrict communication to short texts, funny images or simply a “Like” (in the best of cases). . For this reason, the observations about current society shared in the previous paragraphs seem accurate and for this reason we must offer an important detail:

The three complaints mentioned above were expressed more than 2000 years ago.

The first quote is from the Greek philosopher Democrates, probably from the 1st century BC, that is, a contemporary of Julius Caesar and the emperor Augustus. Democrates, who some say had thoughts similar to those of modern democracy, complained about the high level of corruption in the society of his time.

The second quote is from the well-known philosopher Aristotle, from the 4th century BC. In this case, the complaint focuses on those who believe they already know everything because they know something. This is (I add) a situation worse than ignorance: ignorance can be remedied with knowledge, but self-deception rarely has a remedy.

The third quote is from Socrates talking about the young people of Athens about 2,400 years ago, although it could apply to young people almost anywhere in the world in our own day. But parents are also responsible for their inability to accept the identity of a new generation.

Let’s keep in mind that Socrates accused of corrupting young people because he taught philosophy to them, thus teaching them how to develop their own ideas.

In short, in 2500 years of Western “civilization”, we have not advanced or improved (almost) anything.