A paradigm (pronounced pair-a-dime) is a framework used to operate something, be it a club, website, club, or society. As it happens, a free society changes its paradigms roughly every eighty years. Look it up, and you’ll see many people claiming loudly that the cyclical theory of history has been debunked. In the 1950s, the theory of plate Techtonics was said by many to be debunked. Too bad for those guys, that theory predicts so well how the world is and will be that it is now accepted as correct. Amongst historians, cyclical theory is right where plate Techtonics was in 1955. And cyclical theory predicts general trends amazingly well. Trends such as the recent surge in hard-core conservatism (which happens at regular intervals) and the general zeitgeist of each succeeding generation. There is a book that explains it all: Generations: Howe, Neil: 9780688119126: Amazon.com: Books
Read that first if you must, but since you’re here, why not just go on? This is short, I promise.
Consider prior to the 1930s, when consumerism was considered crass, and people were afraid of plastics. Then came the Great Depression, and WWII, and now darned if people didn’t embrace consumerism is a manner that is, frankly, sort of embarrassing. The so-called Silent Generation, the one just before the Baby Boomers, was all over criticizing their elders over consumerist habits, the Red Scare, and other things. But, that was the paradigm of the age, and it worked. The biggest boom in prosperity in the history of the world ensued. But just as the paradigm that consumerism replaced was becoming increasingly dysfunctional, the paradigms we have been living in are no longer working well, and the resulting zeitgeist is one of, well, you’re living in it, you tell me your words for it. It’s not fun.
Oddly, every time the basic attitudes and structures of society need rearranged, they at least partially are, to the extent that people will put up with the changes, anyway. But to do that, there are always distractors. The Great Depression and World War Two kept everyone’s attention off of the structural changes in society, such as unbelievable levels of choice for consumers (do we need all that?), increased automation and mechanization, standardization of foods, housing, transportation and other aspects of society, and others I’m sure you could list if you want to. Those things were, believe it or not, not always popular prior to those mid-century crises, but they have been incredibly popular since. Ever drive on an Interstate? Nice roads, huh? And, of course, societal attitudes toward minorities and poor people have moved away from where they were just after that war. Some cities are doing what they can to ameliorate the damage caused by an Interstate Highway through historically thriving neighborhoods of minority people, for instance. There is a reason that those who cling to the “good old days” are unhappy today. Of course they are, and you would be too if you were in their exact place. But you’re most likely not, because the world is, as always changing, and the way society holds together must change with it.
So, our country will look and sound different in another decade or so. And everybody will either be actually happy about that, pretend to be happy about that, or be dismissed as an old grouch. I know because that’s how it always goes. You should have heard what some people were still saying about FDR in the 50s! But, the change will happen, and a new era of, well new eraness will begin. And, get this, immediately following the resolution of the current crises that distract us, the next generation equivalent to the Boomers will start being born. Bet you’re really looking forward to that, huh?
