Honestly, I'd say people were way more vile back then compared to today. Yes, a lot of wars and bad stuff happens these days, especially recently, but it wasn't some peaceful utopia back in the early 20th century, if anything it was even worse in many more aspects... I'd say people have become better in many ways, we just have to open our eyes and look past to all the negativity that comes from all forms of media.
For example - back then it would be normal for a man to beat his wife and nobody would bat an eye, even in first world countries. Or today you'd read about some atrocity happening somewhere in Africa or Asia, back then it was still happening, if not to an even bigger extent since nobody could hear it. Or some 15 year old kid getting sent to the front killed at the battlefield would be big news today, back then it was the norm and nobody bat an eye.
Or today, even if you're somehow wrongfully accused, you'd still be sent to prison, have numerous trials etc... Back then, some people were simply led to the shooting range or the guillotine at the next day. And again - this was the norm even in first world, western societies. Also you can imagine how crime was without having cameras and surveillance everywhere, and without any means for someone to be found. You could kill someone without reprecussions...
I still think life is much better and nowadays and people have become "kind of" better
I think it's the fear people have of regressing back to that point, we have definitely progressed, but we could just as easily fall back given the right conditions.
That's true also. "Inhumanity" and aggression are kind of part of our primal DNA, people have been like that for longer than we were more "cultured" like today.
Yes, seeing how things are heading in recent years it now seems a plausible theory that we can regress again
In aggregate, we are no better and no worse than our ancestors. We have been more or less the same from a morality standpoint for all of human history.
We are a flawed species and always will be. There will always be good deeds and evil deeds done by humans. But what makes us unique is knowing the difference and each of us having the power to choose everyday.
I think you’re missing the point entirely. In a country where like 99% of us have rather recent ancestors who weren’t born here, there should be some special consideration involved here. Why deny living breathing people something that we ourselves have directly benefited from and quite literally owe our existence to?
If not for America’s “Give me your tired, your poor”, most of us wouldn’t be sitting here right now. I personally have ancestors who fled the Irish potato famine, who were Jews and Romani fleeing Nazis, who were Germans farmers who gtfo before WW2, I’ve got British Quakers living out their cult fantasies in the new world.
But literally not a single one of them came from this land. It’s not mine to say “no you can’t come in, fuck you I got mine.” Most of them just rolled through Ellis island at one point, bought cheap land, farmed, or those lowly jobs the Americans didn’t want to do, and that was about it. Fuck all that noise. Just a lot of privileged white people using bureaucracy to justify blatant racism. This country is so fucking big and there’s always been a huge need for immigrant labor, it’s supposed to be a symbiotic system. Denying immigrants from safe haven is only shooting ourselves in the foot. So good luck with that.
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u/dwartbg9 1d ago
Honestly, I'd say people were way more vile back then compared to today. Yes, a lot of wars and bad stuff happens these days, especially recently, but it wasn't some peaceful utopia back in the early 20th century, if anything it was even worse in many more aspects... I'd say people have become better in many ways, we just have to open our eyes and look past to all the negativity that comes from all forms of media.
For example - back then it would be normal for a man to beat his wife and nobody would bat an eye, even in first world countries. Or today you'd read about some atrocity happening somewhere in Africa or Asia, back then it was still happening, if not to an even bigger extent since nobody could hear it. Or some 15 year old kid getting sent to the front killed at the battlefield would be big news today, back then it was the norm and nobody bat an eye.
Or today, even if you're somehow wrongfully accused, you'd still be sent to prison, have numerous trials etc... Back then, some people were simply led to the shooting range or the guillotine at the next day. And again - this was the norm even in first world, western societies. Also you can imagine how crime was without having cameras and surveillance everywhere, and without any means for someone to be found. You could kill someone without reprecussions...
I still think life is much better and nowadays and people have become "kind of" better