we haven't done a helluva lot to improve the human condition
Speaking for the human condition right here in the United States, we have:
1) poor white men getting the vote in the 1830's;
2) poor black men getting the vote on paper in 1865 or so;
3) white women getting the vote in 1921 or so ("or so" means I am working on memory because I know I am close enough);
4) poor black men and women really getting the vote in the Deep South in 1968 or so;
5) Irish, Chinese and the like being recognized as human beings somewhere along the line;
6) sterile technique, anesthesia, antibiotics, and the like causing life to be longer, with less disability;
7) technological advances allowing first almost universal literacy, then almost universal education to at least high school level;
8) technological advances giving us easy access to every great book ever written, every great painting, every great piece of music, every great thought, and all other scientific and technological advances;
etc. etc. etc.
Oh, I forgot the most important:
9) in a modern society, almost nobody starves to death. How is that for an improvement?
Oh ye of little faith. |
