"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been re-written, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been re-named, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."
― George Orwell
'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'
-George Santayana
Why is this true?
Because humans are animals, and I don't mean this in a pejorative way: humans are animals called Homo sapiens sapiens.
We understand little about how our brain works. We know little about the Universe, physics, just about everything.
Yet we think we know more than we do.
There is a concept known as the dun and Krueger effect:
From Wikipedia:
In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability.
This is found in the typical individual. What applies to the individual also applies to the group. In fact, groups often take these psychology fallacies to the extreme—known as the madness of crowds.
Human nature is a hard thing to overcome. No other animal in the animal kingdom has evolved a consciousness that grants it the ability to question itself.
Only us.
And to put it mildly, our current iteration thus far is highly flawed.
We are still evolving. Natural selection takes place each day shown in the "winners" and "losers" of nature (those that thrive and procreate and raise healthy offspring vs those that do not).
It's not like we are born with an operating manual. We come into this world learning what the people around us and our society tell us.
All humans are a product of their time. And time has not stopped.
Over time we will evolve and become better adapted to our environment. This is Darwin 101.
So this idea that we know more than we do because we are the farthest along the timescale is a fallacy rooted in hubris.
As a result, humans are paradoxical creatures. We have a limitless capacity for love and helping fellow humans while winning the award for the most violent creature in the animal kingdom (no other species kills members of its species the way humans do).
We will evolve into a stronger, more equitable, and tolerant species by paying close attention to our history and our individual selves.
Censorship, erasing history, cancel culture, taking down statues, banning movies (like Gone With The Wind), shaming, berating, and comparing is OPPOSITE of what we must do.
If we continue down this path, if corporations and celebrities cower before the online mobs and issue fake apologies as a means of "damage control," if the average citizen is afraid to speak up for fear of online retribution, if we keep canceling people because of their beliefs or distasteful social media posts, then it is the beginning of the end.
I believe we have already started down the path. The creation of the police state depicted in Orwell's famous book 1984 is already in motion. And he predicted this future long before there was such thing as an Internet that is being used by governments to spy on its citizens and to easily manipulate them through propaganda at lightning-fast speed.
The problems are countless, and so are the solutions.
It is overwhelming for the individual to consider where he or she should even start.
Here are a few ways I'm taking action:
Call out dogma nad bad ideas and half-truths
Stand up for what I believe
Challenge statements and request facts to back them up
Use questions more (Socrates knew what he was doing)
Educate myself. Read more important works
Become self-reliant to protect my family
Buy crypto
Buy some gold
Figure out an escape plan (more on that later)
Spread empathy and compassion rather than hostility
I will be shifting more of my content over to the ideas of self-reliance, civil disobedience, and the promotion of common freaking sense.
I used to keep to myself and focus on my life. I don't generally like getting into negative and draining topics online. But things have reached what I feel is a tipping point, and if more of us don't take a stand, I fear our country is going to crumble.
I don't want that future for my son or his generation.