things never change

I was just looking through some old idea books/journals and got depressed that so much that’s wrong with the world hasn’t changed in the past 10, 20, 30 – 50 years.

Greed, racism, intolerance, child and spousal abuse, environmental neglect, crime … all as bad today as in the late 1960s when I graduated from college as part of a generation that was sure it would make a difference. We made some superficial changes but we certainly haven’t changed anything fundamentally. And in fact with the current mad man president we’re seriously regressing.

Entry from August 3, 1991: “We have grown so cynical with politicians, and the examples of corruption and self-interest are so extensive/pervasive that they seem to have lost all impact. Would have to be truly heinous to have any impact and maybe not even then.”