The Illusion of Nostalgia

Fresno Bee, June 25, 2023

A new study called “The Illusion of Moral Decline” suggests that we are morally better than our ancestors, even though we think we are worse. The study by psychologists Adam Mastroianni and Dan Gilbert maintains, “On average, modern humans treat each other far better than their forebears ever did.” Their focus is on kindness, honesty and similar personal virtues.

We might add that political and social life is also better. Slavery was abolished. Women were liberated. And science, medicine, and technology have improved.

Despite this, a recent survey from the Pew Center concludes that most Americans think the past was better, with 58% of us saying that life is worse today than 50 years ago. In response, columnist Jonah Goldberg argued that nostalgia is a “terrible guide” for social and political judgment. He reminds us that crime is down, people are generally richer, infant mortality rates are better, and workplace safety has improved.

So why are we so fond of what we see in the rear-view mirror? If things are better, why do we think they are worse? Mastroianni and Gilbert explain that psychological biases cloud our judgment. We have limited information and selective memories.

I suspect religion, politics, and marketing also play a part. Religions emphasize the holiness of their founders. Americans also celebrate the wisdom of the founding fathers. And political parties promise to return us to past greatness. Nostalgia is often used to sell us a product.

Poets and artists also tend to paint yesteryear in sepia tones that reek of longing. Herman Melville wrote, “How lovely was the light of heaven, what angels leaned from out the sky, in years when youth was more than wine, and man and nature felt divine.”

Nostalgia and a sense of decline are common throughout history. The Taoists of ancient China spoke of a prior generation of “true men,” who lived in harmony with heaven. And Plato and the ancient Greeks spoke of a Golden Age, and the lost utopia of Atlantis.

Nostalgia makes sense when the present is chaotic. The Athenians of Plato’s era lived in a time of war, plague, and political turmoil. They imagined the Golden Age as an ideal alternative to a tumultuous present.

Perhaps that explains our present moment. We’re suffering through the aftereffects of the pandemic and the polarization of the Trump years. There is war in Europe. The Earth’s climate is changing. There have been rapid shifts in cultural identity. It is not surprising that folks think it would be nice to go back to a simpler, more stable time.

But no such simpler time has ever existed. Nor will the future be stable. The world is built of crooked timber. It has never been perfect. Nor can we expect it to be.

A Woody Allen film called “Midnight in Paris” is worth watching in this regard. In the film, a modern American is transported back to the 1920s, where he hangs out with the heroes of the Jazz Age. There he meets a woman who fantasizes about the “Belle Epoque” of the 19th century. They jump back in time and discover that in the 19th century, artists were nostalgic for the Renaissance.

We might note that the Renaissance was based on admiration for the ancient Greeks and Romans. Each generation is afflicted by nostalgia.

The truth is that we cannot go back. We cannot recreate what is lost to time. We should learn from history. But we should also learn to let it go. What’s past is past. Life unfolds in the present.

And if you think things are worse today, despite the evidence, that really means there is work to do. Rather than lamenting the lost angels of youth, and the heroes of the Golden Age, we should embrace the challenge of improving ourselves and creating a better future.

Nostalgia is misplaced idealism. In seeing the imperfections of the present, we pine for the past. But the past was never perfect. And if the present is better, it can still be further improved. Once we stop gazing in the mirror, we should get to work to build a future that is a bit less crooked, and a bit closer to the ideal.

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article276697551.html#storylink=cpy

July 8, 2016July 27, 2016

Nostalgia poor guide for politics

There’s no going back in world affairs

Fresno Bee, July 8, 2016

Nationalism should give way to cosmopolitanism
Globalization benefits us all
Nostalgia is poor guide to politics

After Britain voted to leave the European Union,Donald Trump explained, “People want to take their country back. They want to have independence in a sense. You see it with Europe, all over Europe.”

I’ve been traveling in Europe this week, on my way to a conference in Poland. There is resurgent nationalism in some countries. Anti-immigrant sentiment exists. A few right-wing parties are gaining strength.

But European society is deeply cosmopolitan. In the streets of Munich, Bavarians in lederhosen mix with Turks in headscarves. African men in flowing white robes stand on subway platforms with German soccer fans. American brands – McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Starbucks – compete with German beer gardens, sushi restaurants and falafel stands.

The same is true in the U.S. We enjoy German sports cars, Indian cuisine and Mexican labor. And we profit from the global economy. The Apple store in Munich is around the corner from the cathedral and old city hall.

THE GENIE OF GLOBALIZATION IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE.

And yet, politicians appeal to nationalistic nostalgia. In a recent speech supporting Trump, Sarah Palin said, “We’re going to take our country back, and you are either with us or against us.”

But what would we go back to? Contemporary nation-states are modern inventions with a complex and often ugly history. And nationalism creates strife. Each nationalistic line in the sand comes at the expense of someone else.

This is obvious in central Europe. Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and other nations have come and gone, swept along by the tides of history. Some countries have disappeared entirely.

The Kingdom of Bohemia was swallowed up by the Austrian Empire. In the 20th century, Bohemia became Czechoslovakia. Then the Nazis invaded. And the Soviets. After the Cold War, Czechoslovakia broke in two. The Czech Republic was formed in 1993. The country recently adopted a new name, Czechia.

North American history is also full of conflicting identities. Europeans stole the continent from native peoples. The United States was formed out of English, French, Spanish and Russian lands.

THE PAST WAS OFTEN WORSE THAN THE PRESENT.

Alaska was purchased from Russia. It joined the union in 1959 along with Hawaii. What would we say if native Hawaiians wanted to take their country back?

Some people long for the good old days of homogeneous national identity and nationalistic pride. But there never were such good old days. Nostalgia is a poor guide for the present because it is not based in reality. The truth is that political life is constantly changing. Ethnic, racial, linguistic and cultural identities are fleeting realities.

The dangers of nationalistic identity are obvious in central Europe. Concentration camps dot the landscape, along with memorials for those killed in the nationalistic wars of past centuries. Here in Munich, Hitler began the process of transforming Romantic German myths into the monstrous deeds of the Third Reich.

Nostalgia can be fun. My American passport contains inspiring scenes from the American past. There is a picture of a pioneer plowing with oxen and another picture of cowboys herding cattle. But no modern farmer would trade his tractor for a team of oxen. And it’s no longer common that cowboys ride the open range.

The past was often worse than the present. And it was at least as complicated. The reality of the past included dysentery, racism, war and the subordination of women.

THE TASK OF THE FUTURE IS TO DISCOVER AND CELEBRATE OUR COMMON HUMANITY.

There is no going back. We can only move forward. We are in the middle of an unprecedented economic, cultural, technological and ideological transition. We are moving away from isolated nations toward a global society based upon shared notions of human rights.

Not everyone likes that development. But the genie of globalization is out of the bottle. Most of us benefit from it. Open travel, free trade and cultural admixtures make life profitable and interesting.

The Czechs, Poles and Germans seem to have discovered a way to coexist. Despite the atrocities of the nationalistic past, they are participating in the cosmopolitan European experiment.

We ought to embrace the cosmopolitan future, while defending human rights and a global ethic of compassion. That requires an educated understanding of history. Superficial slogans mislead us. Nostalgic myths are dangerous and divisive. The task of the future is to discover and celebrate our common humanity.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/andrew-fiala/article88483562.html#storylink=cpy

July 10, 2015July 13, 2015

Nostalgia, Gay Marriage, and the Confederate Flag

Nostalgia a poor guide for morality as understanding of justice evolves

Fresno Bee, July 10, 2015

Gay marriage and the Confederate flag prompt reflection on historical progress
The sense of moral decline is misplaced
Let’s celebrate civility and rational discourse

A June Gallup poll found that 72% of Americans believe that our morals are “getting worse.” Similar majorities have complained about moral decay every year since Gallup began asking the question in 2002. Another recent poll by the Wall Street Journalconfirmed that a majority of Americans are worried about “moral decline.”

Moral declinism — to coin a phrase for the sense of moral decadence — has a long history. The ancient Jewish prophets warned of moral decay. The Greeks accused Socrates of corrupting the youth. Ancient Chinese philosophers imagined a lost era of true men and virtuous kings.

Change is often greeted with skepticism and nostalgia. We have a tendency to view the past through rose-colored glasses. We pine for the supposed simplicity of the family home. We are homesick for a mythical time when things were purer, easier and better.

Nostalgia is, however, a poor guide for morality. There is no perfect past this side of Eden. Indeed, many are happy to leave the past behind, especially when the past includes injustice and oppression.

Consider the demise of the Confederate flag. Some Southerners may be nostalgic for the antebellum South. But most Americans understand the rebel flag as a sign of an oppressive history and view its fall as a progressive development.

Or consider the gay marriage debate. Some, like the Rev. Franklin Graham, have described acceptance of homosexuality as a sign of “the moral decline we are seeing manifest daily around us.” But for homosexuals, these are times of moral progress.

The Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage explained that the institution of marriage “has evolved over time.” It argues that we must learn from history, “without allowing the past alone to rule the present.”

Opponents reject the idea that marriage can or should evolve. Chief Justice Roberts argued in his dissent that marriage “has formed the basis of human society for millennia.” Justice Alito added, in his dissent, that gay marriage is “contrary to long-established tradition.”

But tradition is not a sufficient guide to morality. The mere fact that something is old does not mean that it is good. Slavery is as old as the Bible. Its longevity is no justification.

The same point can be made with regard to new developments. New things are not better simply because of their novelty.

The key to moral progress is independent moral judgment based upon respect for human dignity. And the best method of making progress is dignified and rational critique. We reconstruct our values by trying to understand what matters and why.

Human beings are not perfectly wise, and human institutions are not perfectly just. We evaluate and improve things by criticizing them. Enlightened social progress results from reasonable civil discourse. Genuine moral progress must be grounded in good arguments that every citizen can understand.

Claims about a culture in decline are dangerous when they fuel the fires of social conflict. Indeed, some have warned about a newly emerging “culture war.” But the war metaphor is not helpful. Fundamentalists in some parts of the world take up arms to stifle dissent and preserve irrational traditions. Value conflicts can quickly escalate and become bloody.

We should reject the notion that Americans engage in culture wars. We argue and debate — and obey the rule of law, which allows us to agree to disagree. Moral argument is complicated and difficult. And some will be unhappy as change occurs. But in our system, social change happens without recourse to the blunt instruments of violence and war.

Instead of lamenting moral decline, let’s rejoice at the role of rational argumentation in American public life. Since the bloody civil war of the 1860s, moral development in the U.S. has happened in the courts, in Congress and through nonviolent civil disobedience. That’s moral progress.

We should, however, worry about a decline in civility and rational deliberation. Internet subcultures are filled with hateful speech — and terrible arguments. Some malicious morons turn hate speech into murder. Other citizens simply tune out. The solution to that problem is obvious. We have to teach our children to be more reasonable. And we should celebrate the fact that rational argument and civil discourse still guide our public life.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/living/religion/article26922784.html#storylink=cpy