We cared a lot about education to stay ahead. Now we destroy education (Linda McMahon, wtf) and services because culture war (I’m not pretending Reagan didn’t do that anyway). Every empire declines. But losing an “enemy” made us turn on ourselves times ten.
yeah maybe we should just invent an alien species far far from our planet that may or may not exist, to declare as our common enemy. just sothat we have some reason to fight and stand together.
If you’re united against an outside enemy you don’t see that the enemy is inside.
Eh, the new enemy is “China”, and even though both parties agree, look at whats happening. Enemy of enemy is not friend.
Besides, did anyone forget the civil rights movement? I mean I’d argue that was even more divisive and the US still survived.
As for education, there are way more resources today, but perhaps its abundance that made people take it for granted and not have a craving for info that “oh I could just google it, why bother learning”.
Its more like a technological shift, not a “we need an enemy to distract us”.
(I’m not technophobic btw, just an observation)
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
