NoLogo
Full Member
No offense, I know how you probably mean it, but I have repeatedly seen this pop up in discussions as if it was some kind of comforting news. I just can't see it this way at all. It's not wrong to make observations about historical relativity, but for a realistic picture of our times I find it much more important to take a square look at the absolutes first. And the outcome for the last 50 years is almost inconceivably horrible, what happened before doesn't change that.
Whatever amplification a singular incident might get through modern media technology, it still has nothing to do with the scale on which violence actually happens in our world. What I find most noticeable is the level to which we're accustomed to these horrors happening, as long as they don't take place in our immediate surroundings.
I do think it matters very much when it comes to people losing hope about the present or the future. Of course it's horrible that things like these still happen and we should do everything in our power to avoid this in the future but it's also wrong to think everything is going down hill. We made significant progress when it comes to human on human violence and it's encouraging in my view. So no matter how horrible stuff like this is we need to remind ourselves that those of us who want a more peaceful society and coexistence of everyone are not fighting a hopeless battle but yes the fight is not won yet.