The Bad Old Days
by Is the modern world really so much worse than the good old days?
We often complain about how bad things are today. And perhaps they are, indeed, quite bad. But, if this will cheer you up, they are probably no worse than they were in the “good old days”. Indeed, in some ways they may be a bit better. For the more scientists find out about those mythical good old days, the more they seem to resemble the bad new ones.
Take multi-culturalism, for example. We have heard the complaints about that many times. But multi-culturalism is hardly new. It was widely recognized for a long time (to name but one example) that” Britain under Rome was truly multi-cultural, with historical and epigraphic evidence recording the voluntary and forced migration of Gaulish, Germanic, and North African individuals.” And recently proof of Roman multi-culturalism was discovered in York when scientists found a grave that “belonged to a North African member of York’s high society in the 4th century.” Indeed, anyone who has read the Book of Exodus will know that multi-culturalism has a Biblical pedigree. If you will recall, Moses led a “mixed multitude” out of Egypt. His people were different not only in morals but in ethnicity.
Or take all those unhealthy foods we eat today. So unhealthy, in fact, that the First Lady was instrumental in launching a “national campaign against childhood obesity” and at the Health Summit, Republicans and Democrats spent a great deal of time discussing this issue. But do we eat any worse than ancient Egyptians? Perhaps not, according to recent research. Lancet reports that Egyptian high priests and their families ate foods high in “saturated fat,” consumed a lot of alcohol, and (just to finish themselves off) did not eat anything near the amount of fish they needed. Not surprisingly, many of them suffered from heart disease. And although heart disease seems to have been “relatively uncommon” in Egypt overall, the researchers note that this may reflect a “life expectancy of between 40 and 50 years” rather than evidence of ancient Egyptians taking better care of themselves.
And finally let’s consider weapons of mass destruction. The idea that terrorists will kill us with germs we cannot see is certainly quite scary. But biological warfare—fighting with disease—is also very traditional way of fighting wars. Archaeologists have found evidence that ancient Persians used chemical warfare, it is widely suspected that the mysterious Greek fire was likewise a chemical weapon and ancient Chinese were the first to “exploit poison gas.”
Indeed, the more we learn about our past, the more it seems that the problems we consider unique to our time and age may well have been shared by our ancestors. And we may have made advances in a few areas (such as women’s and minorities’ rights to name but two examples). And if you don’t consider that a plus then maybe you will be cheered to know that, unlike our ancestors, most of us can expect to live past our fiftieth birthday.
Maybe the terrible modern world isn’t so bad after all?
Liked it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Post Commentyes me
On March 1, 2010 at 8:13 am
Great share
diamondpoet
On March 1, 2010 at 8:45 am
I prefer life in the old days, sin is at an all time rise. Good article thanks for sharing.
fragile18
On March 1, 2010 at 8:55 am
thanks for sharing!
Dejan Prokic
On March 1, 2010 at 9:08 am
Inna this was an awesome article. I like anything that questions society and history. Multiculturalism has been part of society as far back as the stone age, as people would move onto foreign tribal lands, and assimilate and adapt over time. This is how technology was developed, just as faith, science, art etc.
Modern day western diets do tend to revolve around high carb diets nowdays as opposed to the fatty, oily, high protein diets of only a century ago. As with anything else, our diet and the way our diet impacts upon our health is solely down to the lifestyle the individual leads. Nowdays the availibility of year round fruit and veg is all thanks to our modern agriculture, and trade industries. Thus we have a greater availibility of healthy fresh food nowdays, also something people couldnt have dreamt of only 6-7 decades ago. So we are in fact in far better health nowdays, generally speaking.
Weapons of mass destruction, once again its nothing new. Cavemen discovered the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, tens of millenia ago, fire. Also during medieval times it wasn\’t uncommon for arrows to get dipped in feacal matter, (a primitive form of biological weaponry). At the end of the day killing is killing, no matter if its by a nuclear bomb or by knife! War is not new to todays world, and neither is the human drive for violence.
This was a great article, and i totally agree with your whole take on this matter. The problem though with today\’s world doesn\’t lie in our diets, weaponry and multiculturalism, but in our ignorance within society. Nowdays since we all tend to have a better grasp of the world around us, the ignorence within society is better highlighted and can be seen objectively as a prominent factor throught all of societies facets.
Segregation, ignorance, racism, intolerance, and sexual perversion plague society nowdays, but then none are modern day concepts..
Thanks for the great read
Fatema
On March 1, 2010 at 10:40 am
wow , nice
Brenda Nelson
On March 1, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Bono said.. When you glorify the past, the future dries up.
Jimmy Shilaho
On March 1, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Very informative. You have some good ideas.
Phil
On March 1, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Weapons of mass destruction?
Try smallpox-laced blankets, chief.
Good article.
Indeed, I’ll take modern dental care, a warm house and a hot shower any day.
Life in the good old days wasn’t termed, “Nasty, brutish and short” for nothing.
singming12
On March 1, 2010 at 12:40 pm
good job
sambhafusia
On March 1, 2010 at 12:48 pm
nice share.
moneynwealth
On March 1, 2010 at 2:00 pm
enjoy reading the article, we should be thankful of what we have at present.
good health and success,
http://how-to-make-money-website.info
Anj M
On March 1, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Hi Inna,
That was a nice post which I througly enjoyed. Well I think there is not much of difference between the old and present days. The problems which they faced were similar to what we face today.
Anj
Val Mills
On March 1, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Lots for us to think about here. A well written article. Thank you.
giftarist
On March 1, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Good and well written article.
Ruby Hawk
On March 1, 2010 at 5:39 pm
I agree that the good old days were no better than the present. Religious factions killed off the people and they still do. They ate unhealth food, we still do, and as unskillful as their doctors were, I think looking back from the future ours will look no better. Maybe we are gaining in insight and understanding gradualy, but it’s a slow process.
bailieman
On March 1, 2010 at 7:14 pm
A very good post. The present era will become the good old days for the younger generation as they age and look back. Areas of life improve on the past and areas of life mimic the past.
Butterfly Dreaming
On March 1, 2010 at 7:58 pm
This is an interesting read, good work Inna Tysoe!
100polish
On March 1, 2010 at 11:43 pm
I always wondered why the life expectancy rate was so low in ancient days.
I think back and remember days before computers and text messaging and then think some things today are pretty good. We know enough now about how to eat, schools are desegregrated and we know more than they did.
standingproud
On March 2, 2010 at 12:19 am
I to think they are basically the same just more people so the problems seam to be more.
albert1jemi
On March 2, 2010 at 1:51 am
well written
seema1962
On March 2, 2010 at 2:13 am
interesting article
AlmaG
On March 2, 2010 at 3:28 am
The old days for me is better where life is simple.
papaleng
On March 2, 2010 at 4:08 am
A very insightful write, yes I too agree that today’s bad days is by far a little more tamed as compared to the wickedness the good ol’ bad days brought in.
Cutealice
On March 2, 2010 at 4:50 am
Very good post
Authoress Terry E. Lyle
On March 2, 2010 at 7:07 am
Interesting article however the good old days was fun to a certain degree I was naive and stupid then, If I had the wisdom I had now back then “Oh how far along in life I would be by making better choices” It’s always good to reminisce.
jovelledeguzman
On March 2, 2010 at 10:34 am
nice share!
Nina Mason
On March 2, 2010 at 11:20 am
I like this a lot. I was just saying to my daughter this morning as we were looking at the devestation yet again in our world, this time in Chile, yes it is horrible but isn’t new. There have been earthquakes and natural destruction from the beginning of time.
Still, I prefer the good old days
Breathe
On March 2, 2010 at 11:33 am
Thanks a lot for this pleasure, I most definetly agree with you! On the whole, things are, though little by little, getting better all the time. What most fascinated me was how you listed all those unknown and detailed things from the past. Thank you very much.
Karen Gross
On March 2, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Inna, this was a great article full of wisdom. Most of the comments are wise words as well.
The premise that the young generation is spoiled and rude is not new. I think it was Plato who is often quoted as saying “Young people today love luxury. They gobble their food and have no respect for their elders.” A more recent quote that I read is “There is nothing wrong with today’s teens that 20 years won’t cure.”
As a previous comment said, we have an abundance of healthy food available to us. We have more choices than any generation has had, and lots of us are choosing the wrong foods too often. I do find it disheartening when I read of the great progress being made in other countries based on their adoption of an American style diet. That is not progress, especially when their tradtitional diets were much healthier than ours.
overwings
On March 2, 2010 at 2:27 pm
It is just assimilation. In 200 years the native population of one country will be the grand grandchildren of today’s newcomers, and they will be annoyed by the immigrants of their time. It is all a circle.
MartineP
On March 3, 2010 at 7:27 am
Really a great article I totally agree with.
MartineP
On March 3, 2010 at 7:27 am
Great article and very true.
louiseobrien
On March 3, 2010 at 12:52 pm
This is a really interestign article as were the comments that followed it. I especially like diamondpoet telling us sin is on an all time rise. Based on what exactly? I think someone missed the point!
Athlyn Green
On March 3, 2010 at 12:53 pm
These are good points, Inna. It does appear that there is “nothing new under the sun.” As fast as society makes advances, it also seems to backtrack in other areas, so that people’s right or well-being are impacted.
If the human race could learn from history and not repeat their mistakes, this would be of benefit.
swatilohani
On March 4, 2010 at 3:24 am
great
Miru
On March 4, 2010 at 7:16 am
I really loved reading this!
And I agree with you, btw
sara2010
On March 4, 2010 at 11:39 am
Hi, Good & informative post
Trakiya
On March 4, 2010 at 11:41 am
Very good article.Thanks for sharing.
pen2010
On March 4, 2010 at 12:10 pm
thanks for interesting post
TheOnlyTrueWriter
On March 4, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Very nice share but I love all the technology and modern stuff way better than the “good old days” stuff. That’s also maybe because I didn’t live then…
TheOnlyTrueWriter
On March 4, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Very nice share but I love all the technology and modern stuff way better than the \”good old days\” stuff. That\’s also maybe because I didn\’t live then…
Tina Cassello
On March 5, 2010 at 12:33 am
I thought this was very well expressed. I am glad I live in this age of modern medicine, but I wish we paid more attention to the ancient medicines people used. Just because science could not explain how and why they worked doesn’t mean they were ineffective, and now we are trying to synthetically duplicate many of them primarily because we have been destroying much of the lands they came from. People, however, do not change in their emotional makeup and that is universal. There are natural cycles of events as well so even Solomon, the wisest man we ever lived said there is nothing new under the sun.
Michael Eboh
On March 5, 2010 at 9:24 am
O so nice and interesting!
xoxo
On March 5, 2010 at 10:19 am
Good post, Inna. Thanks.
ken bultman
On March 8, 2010 at 11:24 am
Too many people on the planet for any time now or in the future to be considered “good.” I think our morals were better when we were mostly an agricultural society.