I don’t know whose theory it is, but idea goes that the further civilization gets from having to worry about basic survival-level needs, the dumber it becomes.
Maybe it’s just common sense to most people, but it really resonated with me. If you don’t have to worry about where your next meal is coming from or whether you’ll be shot out of the sky before your 20th birthday, the more that space in your mind becomes fixated on ideas like “gay marriage”. Never mind that you can live exactly the same lifestyle with our without some courthouse papers, if your life has no real worries and no particular meaning, these frivolities, reinforced by equally insecure people with no meaning or worries in life, define your very existence.
I agree with you - in fact I started to extrapolate the concept that humans will expand civilization into the stupid the further they no longer have to worry about the basics. See Greek and Roman Empires.
The further away they can live from the real world - the more likely this becomes.
We call it corruption now because we looked back on it and saw how stupid they were... Now?
The election of Clinton and Obama is a perfect example of this - All style and preening and no substance.
Maybe it’s just common sense to most people, but it really resonated with me. If you don’t have to worry about where your next meal is coming from or whether you’ll be shot out of the sky before your 20th birthday, the more that space in your mind becomes fixated on ideas like “gay marriage”. Never mind that you can live exactly the same lifestyle with our without some courthouse papers, if your life has no real worries and no particular meaning, these frivolities, reinforced by equally insecure people with no meaning or worries in life, define your very existence.
I believe you have the right of it. I've long noted the correlation with prosperity and comfort and the rise of liberal social policy. People insulated from the real world always come up with fantastical nonsensical ideas. According to the book "Leftism Revisited" the prime agitators of the French revolution were the wives and children of the Aristocrats that would be consumed by it's bloodshed.
Only in Western civilization do people embrace ideas so stupid that they are virtual suicide. I think the reason is prosperity.
I have thought along those lines too. People have troubles or they make troubles. We don’t have peace because deep down we aren’t made for it.