The Complex Delusion of Simpler Times

In the recent healthcare town halls/9-12 protests/tea party nonsense/etc. there has been a recurring scene, one that was unsurprisingly reprised on Glenn Beck's program last night. There comes the point where, in protesting all the changes being made in our modern world, the protester breaks into tears about losing "their country." Glenn Beck specifically spoke of a simpler time in America, presumably the 1950's that exists only in movies and the imaginations of people who never actually live in 50's. His evidence? A Coca-Cola commerical.

The first fallacy of this argument is its insincerity. No one ever tears up talking about a simpler time when talking about digital cameras or credit cards. There are so many things about the modern world that are, in fact, simpler and easier thanks to all the changes we've made. And when wishing for those bygone eras, no one ever mentions the things that weren't so simple, like trying to guarantee your right to vote.

Which is really what this is about, civil rights. When people like Beck talk about a "simpler" time, they mean a "whiter" time. I'm not saying they are all overt racists, but they prefered the simple dynamic of one group, namely their's, having all the power and not having to worry about including others or competing with others who having to be careful about what you say for fear of offending others. They like when they knew a woman's place and knew that they could say anything except "I love communism" without fear of reproach.

The fact is that the "simpler time" that these people miss was not simpler for everyone, and in fact was pretty horrible for a lot of people. Sure, in the 1950's lots of people were buying homes and automobiles and taking flights to Europe, but a lot of people were also walking miles to work andl living without electricity and sitting in separate sections of restaurants. And during these simpler times, fewer women could go to college or get jobs, and if they did, they were paid far less and respected about as little.

Patton Oswalt has a joke on his new comedy album about people who promote "home birth" like the pioneers did it, commenting that the pioneers would have been thrilled to give birth in a sterile hospital room with specialized electronic equipment and medications that ease the pain and machines that keep your baby from dying immediately. This false nostalgia is the same. Travel back 50 or 100 years, ask any farmer if he'd prefer to have giant combines and automated sorters and he'd probably tell you "yes." Ask any secretary if she'd like a machine that can save documents and print and infinite number of copies, and that she'd make the same money as a man without having those men constantly degrade her, and she'd say the same. And ask any non-white person if they'd prefer a country where they can live anywhere, vote anywhere, attend school anywhere, and one day be President and I think you know what the answer would be.

The times were never simpler, merely different, and the loss of power and benefits in one group is just the result of bringing equality to others. When they say the times were simpler, what they mean is the mindset was simpler. That's not a virtue, and anyone who thinks it is, like Glenn, is simple-minded.