A period of social decline leads away
from principled conduct toward unashamed opportunism.
The current generation, born and reared in a disintegrating civilization
has been sorely tested and tried. From such tests the strong and
purposeful are likely to emerge stronger and more determined. For the
weak and vacillating the consequences are likely to prove disastrous.
The individual born into western society during its current "time of
troubles" has not had an easy row to hoe.
What has western civilization done to human society as such?
Western civilization has urbanized its society. Until recently in
Europe and until very recently in North America, the majority of people
were living outside of cities, in villages or on the land. From their
flocks and herds or from their cultivated land they fed themselves and
the cities. Mechanization reduced the demand for labor power in the
countryside. At the same time the growth of industry, trade, commerce
and "services" increased the demand for labor power in the cities.
Relatively the countryside was poor while the cities were rich. The high
prizes were in the cities, bright lights, crowds and the seductive
excitements of seething mass life. Incessant human contacts were part
and parcel of city life. City landlords collected high rents, city
merchants found many customers. City manufacturers could pick and choose
their wage and salary underlings among throngs of young and not so young
jobseekers.
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