[Reading this in a feed reader like Feedly or Flipboard? Cooksister’s feed is being updated to https://www.cooksister.com/feed – please resubscribe in your reader of choice!]
When people start getting wistful about the “good old days” and how thing were so much better when they were young/before the world wars/before the Rolling Stones were born, I always inwardly roll my eyes. Because if you stopped to think for about 30 seconds you would realise that things are, for the vast majority of the world’s population, better than they were a century ago. Some deadly diseases have been totally eradicated (so long, smallpox!) and we have antibiotics so that we seldom die of simple strep throat or UTIs. Anaesthetic is a thing. Slavery is universally illegal (although modern slavery is unfortunately still a dirty secret). Tolerance towards people of different races, gender identities, sexual orientations and disabilities has never been higher. The vast majority of people in the world now live in some form of democracy and have the right to vote (in 1900 only TEN countries were democracies). Education for all children is generally accepted as essential (if not a basic human right). Oh – and human rights are a thing. But I don’t launch into this list as I roll my eyes. All I say to counter the “good old days” argument is: “We. Have. Google.” Click here for a full portion
