Morality has always been a difficult business – but with the collapse of the Modern world, at the end of the 19th Century, we decided it was too difficult to bother with – and decided to do without it.
Society is now composed of special interest groups, each of which has the right to determine what is right for it – and the rest of the world too. In one hundred years (in the 20th Century) we have regressed back to a morality of the Middle Ages. And we feel this has been a big improvement.
As an American child of the second half of that century, I was right in the middle of this mess – and could not figure out what was going on. Now that I have the time, and the distance, to think it over – I can only marvel at what happened. And marvel at how ignorant we continue to be.
The closest parallel I can think of was the Fall of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. But the parallel is not very exact because the decline this time was covered up by the rampant innovation of technology after technology – which cleverly covered up what was really going on. Which was a moral, as well as a social – collapse.
This is best illustrated by an industry I know very well – since I worked in it for twenty years – what we now call the Computer industry – which is really a complex consisting of hardware, software – and the Internet and the Wireless networks. Bear with me as I go into this.
As I said, I was part of that industry – and I suffered from it. Which was strange, because no one else seemed to be suffering. They were happily destroying destroying whatever company they were in – and seemed to be intent on destroying everything else.
This can be seen most clearly in the fastest-growing part of the industry – what they call the mobile part – hand-held devices. It is turning out junk at an incredible rate. And their customers (which have included me) are unable to tell the difference.
But now that I have a number of their useless products cluttering up my desk – I have decided to revolt. My latest purchase – which was downloadable software, would not install, and I complained to the seller. They said they were only distributors for the product, and I would have to complain to the manufacturer – which I did – and got no response from their customer support, which seemed to be turned off.
Now I am demanding my money back – and reminding them that, since it was a credit card purchase, I can get my bank to make a refund for me. This will be a hassle, and take time – and they are banking (literally) on my not going to the trouble. But this time they are wrong – I am going to get my money back from the bastards if it takes me all year.
But for a lot of their stuff, customers have no defense against inadequate products or services. They take the money and run – leaving the customer holding the bag. And the Internet has made this much easier, since it has made them invisible.
Now, after that long digression, I can return to the subject I started on – how Superior People are above the law. How entire industries – all kinds of special interest groups – the rich and the powerful – are now above the Law. And this is helped by our latest technology (including TV and the Internet) – which seem to encourage immorality.
Now I want to go back to WWII in America. The event that made America the most powerful nation in history – and, as it turned out, one of the most immoral – although that immorality was rather complicated – as I have indicated.
My parents, which were typical of their generation, considered themselves superior people – in fact, they were obsessed with this. Which meant, in plain language, that they were terrible parents – and lied to their children in all kinds of ways.
I ended up being an engineer and an integral part of this bed of lies. And thoroughly miserable.
I will be writing more about this – especially how my parents brought this on.
