Essay on the Decline of American Society

Copyright 1975-2008

by Surly

The 1950s were an age of innocence in America, a mindless time in the history of our country, a time of hidden fear and optimism without any basis in fact, a lull before the storm of the 1960s. In my childhood I remember it as a gray time, yet it was comfortable. It was a time of few visionaries. Why? But the few visionaries were to make an enormous impact on society.

The War to End All Wars was over, yet the Korean war was being fought; it must have only seemed a skirmish, an outbreak of misguided and greedy passion in the Cold War, only to briefly flicker and go out. Science and technology became the promised messiah, bringing affluence and long life to all people. Technological and economic progress would surely continue forever to improve the quality of life. How naive they were to believe that this way of life could go on forever and not expect to run into a problem of dwindling resources. Where was their knowledge or realization that only a fixed amount of physical resources were available to humankind? Such questions were not in the public consciousness. They were living in a fantasy world built on unrecognized fears and the smooth talkers of our own party line of Madison Avenue hard sell and manipulation. It was an unadventurous time; everyone tried to fit into a social model. The economy was booming, a reason for the false sense of security most people shared. They wanted to forget the war; they became complacent and satisfied with life, always a bad mental state. Security was a good feeling, but not without the knowledge and price from which the hard-won security stemmed.

Still, there were fears: the communist scares of MaCarthyism and the bomb consciousness which caused a boom in building fallout shelters of doubtful use in the advent of nuclear attack. These fears and the general satisfaction with life made people unadventurous about knowing of the larger world. They believed what their leaders told them. After all, hadn't they brought them safely through the war?

Most people did not wish to be involved in controversial social issues; they would not have seen the wisdom of it. Social consciousness was very low. They believed that the problems of racism had been solved in the doctrine of Separate, But Equal, and did not see it as a slowly festering sore in the midst of their cities and social organizations which would spread corruption throughout the land. No one thought to ask questions that would disturb the status quo. If one had the gall to ask, he was usually ignored or branded as insane or subversive. This time was not one of true innocence as in a child, but one of ignorance and the closed, complacent mind.

There had been a different age of innocence in America in the pre World War I era and for a few years after that war, but the later part of that era was laced with cynicism in a large part of the population, largely due to the Great Depression. Still, there existed that naive belief in the progress of a nation without end, but there was a questioning about the quality of life. The Great Depression and then World War II burned the last vestiges of that naiveté out of us. The war pulled us out of the depression and into the beginnings of the current economic foothold. Then, began an isolationism which fostered the military secrecy acts and the mentality of "need to know", that the people do not need to know what is happening in government without official sanction. Also fostered was the blind belief that our leaders were put in office because they know what is best for us, that we need not worry our little heads over social problems; we could enjoy the good life protected from its harsher realities. Minds cannot long survive these circumstances. There had to be a rude awakening in the 1960s that questioned all authority, doctrines and moralities. Human nature had not been quelled, and there had been those who quietly questioned society during the 1950s, although they were often rejected, they had sewn the seeds for inquiring minds to grow, and nothing less than revolt could jolt the nation out of its complacency.

It should be a commendation to our society that it weathered the revolution of the 1960s without greatly repressing it and that society could assimilate some of its insights and values, but ultimately it did not provide lasting new values and we are still suffering in its wake. That revolution was fought without much bloodshed on either side, but both sides lost. Few understand what was lost. A generation of bright leaders abdicated their thrones in the political arena. Only a few individuals won. We must be thankful that there was little heavy violence, loss of lives and property that a full scale revolution usually entails. The Chicago Riots were the height of the violence in the nation. They did demonstrate that the old order will resist, but can also show restraint and can change, even if slowly and after it miscalculates a response.

The goals of the revolution were never definite or strong, but nebulous desires and feelings of wrongness about our way of life. The angry students in the peace movement were never well organized, nor did they believe in the same goals. From a "Do your own thing." philosophy they could not be united. These revolutionaries were only disaffected kids wanting to achieve popularity and recognition in lieu of the affection their parents never gave them.

If anyone won, it was not a group, a movement or a nation, but individuals. Some withdrew from society and went back to the land, living in isolated areas. Others copped out and merged back into the social norm, a few became leaders in many splintered social movements, the arts, sciences where they make quiet, significant statements about life, albeit a subtle influence. The underground lingered on for a while and slowly dissipated. There were still a few who understood that there could be no wins at that time. For them, the revolution was not fought, but was sabotaged by its own people copping out or being bought out. Only a partial battle was fought, so there will have to be another one. Except for a few still disaffected old garde does anyone feel this today? Or is it still in the wind, only postponed?

These are the crazy years. Millennial fever is epidemic.

If I say it is the autumn of our civilization and still it appears to be running with full steam ahead after two hundred years, it is from sheer momentum of a great mass and the hopeful illusion that the good times are not over. The chill, the clear waning sunlight can be felt. Soon it will be time for the last harvest; the winter is coming.

As the threads of civilization draw to their inexorable ends, bringing the close of an age, there is a fatalism that is causing many people to separate from society and others to join millennial movements. Even the new movements seem old, perhaps a process of receding from the American dream. We are building shells of defense around ourselves and our nation. Everyone believes the decline is nigh. If one movement succeeds it will only be an enclave against the falling night.

Today, we have been experiencing an upbeat decadence peculiar to America. This society is still too dynamic to accept a graceful decline. But are we cultured enough to be truly decadent? Our decadence is reflected in pop culture, appearing as a superficial and ramshackle construction - a melange of ideas. A hierarchy of fleeting impressions reigns. Values are fluid. Anything goes, and everything is forbidden. And the forbidden is popular. Sensationalistic, tabloid news is devoured. Stars enjoy their fifteen minutes of reign. The despair that is ever present behind the glittering facade drives the culture.

The world is in a greater flux than we have ever experienced. The fall of the Soviet Union, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, famines and social collapse in many small nations, natural catastrophes, overpopulation - all these and more as the world lurches on into the 21st century. We hope for better societies, but often fight a rearguard action just to keep the old one from becoming worse. There is much political power entrenched against change. Those who care are outnumbered by those who do not. An apathetic and destructive impulse seems to be ascendant. We can't afford to change. Somewhere amid this wreckage lie new beliefs, perhaps a new culture. Will it be able to see the light, be fertilized and grow against rapacious forces of oppression?

In our mad rush to get somewhere, do we really know where we're going?