In reading through this forum, there are many people here who either believe that we are near the end of the crisis, or that whatever is left of the crisis will feature minor problems like political protests or electing different people or defeating the coronavirus. I think this is all completely wrong, that we can't be anywhere near the end of the crisis.
A first turning is a time of conformity, a time of cultural conservatism, a time when minority groups do their best to fit in, and who if not allowed to fit in will fight to show that they should be allowed to fit in. It's a time when the group is more important than the individual. A time when government and societal organizations are respected.
We are so far from that that it would seem impossible to get there from here.
If the radical right succeeds to the farthest extent, they would expel many racial and religious minority groups entirely from western nations. The remaining people would decide that, for better or worse, it was finished and it was time to move on with the new society. We are clearly nowhere close to that happening, although it is a possibility in upcoming years.
So what does the left winning the culture wars look like? It means the end of feminism, the end of the civil rights movement, the end of anti-capitalist sentiment. Having achieved their goals, all of this has to stop. There can be no more "smashing the patriarchy", as the patriarchy must be determined to no longer exist. There can be no "defunding the police", as the police must be seen as a positive force in society. It also means that the alt-right and other such groups must be thoroughly destroyed and discredited, so the new High conservatives will be conserving the new values.
Assuming the left is going to win (as it's safe to say this forum doesn't want to root for the alternative), how do we possibly get there from here?
The fact is that people are not ever going to be less sexist than they are now. Men and women are going to continue to be different (and in fact, will be seen as far more different in the high than they are today), which will result in men's and women's careers having different outcomes. Women are going to continue to dominate careers involving caring for small children, men will dominate jobs which are stressful and physically dangerous. Unless some highly authoritarian system is put into place forcing everyone to work the job that society tells them to, men will continue to make more money than women do. This will be accepted in the next High.
The police are not going to ever be any better than they are today. Police officers are what they are, you can go anywhere across the world across time and you'll see the same thing. They are rough, aggressive, and authoritarian, as this is the sort of person who wants to be a police officer, and they deal with criminals all day, which increases their already existing tendencies. The way that police officers are will be accepted in the next High.
People in general will never be less racist than they are today, as the tendency to stick with one's own group and be mistrustful of outsiders is built into us. Human beings were never designed to live in large societies of millions of people, and are doing their best to deal with it as well as they do today.
On the other hand, the left's goals of decreasing wealth disparity certainly can be achieved. When individuals and corporations are expected to serve society, instead of everyone "doing your own thing", CEO salaries will be far lower than they are, and tax rates for the wealthy will be far higher, as this will be seen by all as being good for society. Any number of social programs to decrease wealth disparity could be put into place which would redirect the wealth of society to the many instead of the few.
So how do we get there from here? What sort of events have to take place which result in the current political right's goals being utterly invalidated and abandoned and a new society being born where feminism and civil rights protests are seen as no longer needed? Whatever these events are, they will have to shake the foundations of the nation, far more than anything happening today.
A first turning is a time of conformity, a time of cultural conservatism, a time when minority groups do their best to fit in, and who if not allowed to fit in will fight to show that they should be allowed to fit in. It's a time when the group is more important than the individual. A time when government and societal organizations are respected.
We are so far from that that it would seem impossible to get there from here.
If the radical right succeeds to the farthest extent, they would expel many racial and religious minority groups entirely from western nations. The remaining people would decide that, for better or worse, it was finished and it was time to move on with the new society. We are clearly nowhere close to that happening, although it is a possibility in upcoming years.
So what does the left winning the culture wars look like? It means the end of feminism, the end of the civil rights movement, the end of anti-capitalist sentiment. Having achieved their goals, all of this has to stop. There can be no more "smashing the patriarchy", as the patriarchy must be determined to no longer exist. There can be no "defunding the police", as the police must be seen as a positive force in society. It also means that the alt-right and other such groups must be thoroughly destroyed and discredited, so the new High conservatives will be conserving the new values.
Assuming the left is going to win (as it's safe to say this forum doesn't want to root for the alternative), how do we possibly get there from here?
The fact is that people are not ever going to be less sexist than they are now. Men and women are going to continue to be different (and in fact, will be seen as far more different in the high than they are today), which will result in men's and women's careers having different outcomes. Women are going to continue to dominate careers involving caring for small children, men will dominate jobs which are stressful and physically dangerous. Unless some highly authoritarian system is put into place forcing everyone to work the job that society tells them to, men will continue to make more money than women do. This will be accepted in the next High.
The police are not going to ever be any better than they are today. Police officers are what they are, you can go anywhere across the world across time and you'll see the same thing. They are rough, aggressive, and authoritarian, as this is the sort of person who wants to be a police officer, and they deal with criminals all day, which increases their already existing tendencies. The way that police officers are will be accepted in the next High.
People in general will never be less racist than they are today, as the tendency to stick with one's own group and be mistrustful of outsiders is built into us. Human beings were never designed to live in large societies of millions of people, and are doing their best to deal with it as well as they do today.
On the other hand, the left's goals of decreasing wealth disparity certainly can be achieved. When individuals and corporations are expected to serve society, instead of everyone "doing your own thing", CEO salaries will be far lower than they are, and tax rates for the wealthy will be far higher, as this will be seen by all as being good for society. Any number of social programs to decrease wealth disparity could be put into place which would redirect the wealth of society to the many instead of the few.
So how do we get there from here? What sort of events have to take place which result in the current political right's goals being utterly invalidated and abandoned and a new society being born where feminism and civil rights protests are seen as no longer needed? Whatever these events are, they will have to shake the foundations of the nation, far more than anything happening today.