Whenever I become worried about the end of the world, I review a work of art called "The Ambassadors."
Painted in 1533 by Hans Holbein the Younger, it depicts (through symbolism) a host of crises plaguing the 16th Century world: Martin Luther's Protestant Revolution; the "Black Death" that killed half of Europe's population; the tyrannically reign of King Henry VIII; the discovery of strange and fearful new worlds; and so forth. The globe shown in the bottom half of the painting is depicted upside down, suggesting that the world had gone mad.
My point is that every generation thinks the world has gone mad and must, therefore, be near its demise. And every generation has been wrong -- so far, at least. The doomsayers and Chicken Littles will always be among us, and while we are compelled by their shrill cries and our instinctive schadenfreude to notice them, we don't really believe them. We'd rather go shopping.
Thank you, Brant. Your perspective really helps me to realize that, while the world may be *appear* turning into a burning dung heap, it's never really happened. I'm neither a Pollyanna nor a Chicken Little, but realizing that we've been through this mess for millennia really helps.
Thank you, Larry, for taking a moment to consider my comment. I'm glad you found it helpful. I was born in 1956, so I have some recollection of the late 60s and early 70s. Using those years as a baseline, when Nixon was president and all my sweaters were a brownish mustard color, now does not seem so bad!
Agreed, man. I keep thinking Adam Curtis is due for another one and then I think nah, he already covered this. Getting weird out there. I need to do better with the Now myself. Thanks for this!
What you said about us not being able to grasp exponential growth is so true, just came across this piece and he mentioned something along the same thread you are tugging on:
So well said. It's happening so slowly and clearly right before our eyes. With the people, particularly in the United States. Worse with the media. They report the things Trump is doing and refuse to highlight just how objectively horrible they are in the name of, what, being objective? If somebody freaks out on an airplane or spits at somebody in a parking lot, they don't hesitate to call it and present it for what it is. Why not with an unfit man for one of the highest offices in the world?
I am super light on social media as well. That's part of the process. People posting shit online and late night hosts (who I love) making jokes every night. Key elements of "hypernormalization" but I think that they think they're actually doing something.
Brian, the only way I can effectively deal with everything that's going on in our nutty world is to avoid the news completely. (Some people call this engaging in a "news blockade.") Unfortunately, I don't have the discipline to do this, since I apparently need my twice-daily dopamine dose, via CNN. This also applies to social media (and isn't Substack a form of social media?).
Some may say that, by pointing out the benefits of avoiding any and all news, I'm being willfully ignorant. My only argument to that is: "Nolo contendre. You're right." But if blocking out the 24/7 garbage spewed in our direction will help me be a little more content, I accept that.
Whenever I become worried about the end of the world, I review a work of art called "The Ambassadors."
Painted in 1533 by Hans Holbein the Younger, it depicts (through symbolism) a host of crises plaguing the 16th Century world: Martin Luther's Protestant Revolution; the "Black Death" that killed half of Europe's population; the tyrannically reign of King Henry VIII; the discovery of strange and fearful new worlds; and so forth. The globe shown in the bottom half of the painting is depicted upside down, suggesting that the world had gone mad.
My point is that every generation thinks the world has gone mad and must, therefore, be near its demise. And every generation has been wrong -- so far, at least. The doomsayers and Chicken Littles will always be among us, and while we are compelled by their shrill cries and our instinctive schadenfreude to notice them, we don't really believe them. We'd rather go shopping.
Thank you, Brant. Your perspective really helps me to realize that, while the world may be *appear* turning into a burning dung heap, it's never really happened. I'm neither a Pollyanna nor a Chicken Little, but realizing that we've been through this mess for millennia really helps.
Thank you, Larry, for taking a moment to consider my comment. I'm glad you found it helpful. I was born in 1956, so I have some recollection of the late 60s and early 70s. Using those years as a baseline, when Nixon was president and all my sweaters were a brownish mustard color, now does not seem so bad!
I was born in '58, so surely we both remember leisure suits ... (Some say those were worse than Nixon!!)
*Polyester* leisure suits! Guess what color mine was?!
A brownish mustard color.
See? I’m psychic!
Agreed, man. I keep thinking Adam Curtis is due for another one and then I think nah, he already covered this. Getting weird out there. I need to do better with the Now myself. Thanks for this!
Thanks for reading Dan!
I refuse the membership to this club !
Interesting:
> "Hypernormalization is when everyone lives in a system that no longer makes sense but continues acting as if it does"
I hadn't heard that term.
It does sound like my most recent post:
https://ryanwalsh.substack.com/p/the-asteroid-hurtling-towards-earth
And I didn't even talk about politics, which means we're in Hyper-Hypernormalization.
What you said about us not being able to grasp exponential growth is so true, just came across this piece and he mentioned something along the same thread you are tugging on:
https://gnug315.substack.com/p/our-planet-sized-gordian-knot
The images in that post are amazing 😆
"Hypernormalization"
So well said. It's happening so slowly and clearly right before our eyes. With the people, particularly in the United States. Worse with the media. They report the things Trump is doing and refuse to highlight just how objectively horrible they are in the name of, what, being objective? If somebody freaks out on an airplane or spits at somebody in a parking lot, they don't hesitate to call it and present it for what it is. Why not with an unfit man for one of the highest offices in the world?
I am super light on social media as well. That's part of the process. People posting shit online and late night hosts (who I love) making jokes every night. Key elements of "hypernormalization" but I think that they think they're actually doing something.
Brian, the only way I can effectively deal with everything that's going on in our nutty world is to avoid the news completely. (Some people call this engaging in a "news blockade.") Unfortunately, I don't have the discipline to do this, since I apparently need my twice-daily dopamine dose, via CNN. This also applies to social media (and isn't Substack a form of social media?).
Some may say that, by pointing out the benefits of avoiding any and all news, I'm being willfully ignorant. My only argument to that is: "Nolo contendre. You're right." But if blocking out the 24/7 garbage spewed in our direction will help me be a little more content, I accept that.