The Internet has become a form of education we never expected. For the first time, we are globally seeing more and more real people. Reality TV started it, but the Internet is King, where every human can broadcast themselves or their neighbours, and we can see, for the first time in many cases, how stupid and rude and obnoxious a society we all live in. There are more recent data in this publication. Who knew? I believe this knowledge will change us, and we will evolve into a more aware, responsible society.
We are learning about injustice and class.
We are learning about poverty and drugs and crime.
We are learning how much of society are stupid sheep.
The shocking lower class intellect we didn’t realize is everywhere. There are a lot more stupid people than I ever imagined.
Society has a place for everyone in the puzzle of life. We make a place. We invent roles for each and every one of us, no matter how stupid or abnormal you may be. It has always been this way. Farther back than we can record history, it seems obvious we have had roles for the workers, the thinkers and the artists. We have accepted that art is a valid life choice, and we paying great sums for art, allows creative people to profit in the society as well as the thinkers, and the labourers.
Every decade or so, we give more fair and equal rights to a group of society that didn’t have them before. Races, Women, Gays and the handicapped have all seen their lives improve towards equality in the last 100 r so years. We’re still not perfect, but it is certainly harder to be a socially acceptable bigot in today’s world than it was in my Grandfathers. We still need a few generations of hate to fade away, and sadly they keep teaching their children the ways of hatred, so it’s taking longer than we’d hoped.
The Internet is instant and much less filtered than we’re used to. When somebody does something stupid, we all get to see it, comment on it, debate it and frequently laugh at it. We do however get to learn from it. We’re seeing racism and homophobia almost daily now without looking for it. It’s there, in the news and online and we’re seeing the reactions. Even die hard bigots at least know they’re not going to get praise for being openly racist. They’re learning it’s wrong in a whole new way.
I am loving getting old.
I get to watch the world go through it’s infinite loops of time and get better, each passing year – or generation, like practicing for a play.
All the world is a stage and I’d like to think we’re still in rehearsal. We’re getting better. We’re evolving.
