After WWII, a new hopefulness was in the air. The United Nations had been established to help solve the world’s problems. The economy was booming. Suburbs were being built at a fever-pitch rate. The G.I. Bill allowed returning veterans free college educations, and there were more students in college than ever before. Every family wanted their own home, their own car, and all the modern conveniences. Television was a new thing on the market. The space age was beginning, and education and scientific knowledge were supreme.
In the 1950s and ’60s, I remember the leaders promising to bring about an era where we wouldn’t have to work so hard, a “great society” where justice and economic prosperity would be available to everyone. Soon, they touted, scientific advancements and emerging technology would provide more and more conveniences. All this would certainly bring on an era of leisure where we would have more time to spend enjoying life rather than working hard to maintain ourselves.
But modern civilization has to move at break-neck speeds just to keep up with the anticipation of more profits and rewards. In his classic 1936 film “Modern Times,” Charlie Chaplin understood the effects of an unrelenting, modern pace. Chaplin, working in a factory, couldn’t keep it up and suffered a breakdown. I also appreciated the perspective of Franz Kafka. In his novel “The Trial,” the individual in society is helpless. Society is corrupt from top to bottom, where anyone can be charged with any unnamed crime and found guilty.
We are not living in a civil culture but in a world where women and children are being indiscriminately bombed and killed. No matter how many “good” excuses some may have, killing women and children is always adharma, against civilized principles. It seems no one has been taught this. Instead, we are taught that life is for making money and engaging in unlimited sense enjoyment.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/the-ugra-karma-wasteland/
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