I want to believe we used to be better than this. Did we used to be better than this?
Driven by the enlightenment, of scientific method, of moral principals. Our institutions used to drive us to do better than this.
But no, mankind has always excelled in ignorance, of stupidity, and of violence. Of splitting into tribes and murdering one another. Of making up fantasies to comfort ourselves with.
Religion helped unite and foster reading.
The merchant class helped break free of monarchy.
These influences helped codify a Bill of Rights.
Yet remember that the mere concept of human rights, of not being a slave to a master, is foreign to most of humanity. Tyranny is the rule. Democracy is the exception.
As such, there must be great pressure on us to return to normal. To become enslaved once more. To attack and abandon our institutions. To choose madness over reason.
Look around you and you will know it to be true. People, in general, lack the time and energy to remain enlightened, to teach and pass on these values. We have already lost them, and ourselves.