The Swamp logo

Adaptability Is Key to Democratic Survival

A widespread awareness allows flexibility.

By Peter RosePublished 6 years ago 4 min read
Like

Adaptability and intellectual flexibility are keys to survival.

The only real advantage humans have over other species from planet Earth is the adaptability that they have. The ability to accept and cope with changing conditions, their ability to adjust to fresh challenges.

The so-called snowflake generation is giving up that advantage. Things are too serious, or not serious enough, too painful to even think about, too frivolous for attention, too cold, too hot, too far, too near. The excuses for not meeting a challenge or even listening to an alternative argument gets longer by the day. Abuse is wrong but voicing an opinion is not. Refusing to allow other opinions to be heard is giving up the ability to adjust and adapt.

Taken to the extreme, this attitude of refusing to meet challenges will stagnate humans and stagnation leads to decay and death.

I am old but those younger people who I come into contact with are never shy about voicing their opinions, they do not avoid discussions. So where does this concept of a snowflake generation, that has to be spared any mental conflict, come from? I suspect it is because there are people who want younger people, to only hear one particular political ideology. They do not wish to have this ideology challenged. They want closed minds. They want minds that only know of the one political path and so they try to claim the young must be protected from alternative views. They impose this invisible censorship and claim it is the young themselves demanding it. No self-respecting person of any age will say “I do not want to hear what you have to say, because I do not agree with it whatever it is.” This is the same as saying I do not like the taste of that but I have never tasted it.

It has been a very long time since I was young but I suspect that the vast majority of students are far more interested in their own social life and in their studies, to pay much attention to student politics and student group leaders. This leaves a huge opening to any organized activist group and allows them to take control of groups that can claim to represent all students. These controlling elites then proclaim only ideologies they support are welcome to all students. This same process occurred in the shop floor workers' unions. It was partially responsible for the decline of British manufacturing as a mainstay of the national economy. Admittedly out of date, irresponsible and incompetent management also played a part. If the unions, government, managers, and shareholders had worked together on investment in higher productivity, better product design and better worldwide marketing; we would not now have the situation where the financial markets and service “industries” (which actually only circulate money) are considered to be more important than actually generating wealth.

Wealth is generated by production, it may be food, it may be energy, and it may be consumer goods, all generate wealth by converting raw materials into earnings. Simply circulating money (in vast amounts by an investment bank that gambles on share prices, or in small amounts in a fast food outlet;) does not increase the amount of real wealth, it simply transfers it from one person to another.

This refusal to listen to unpopular views is the same process that halted innovation and progress in manufacturing. This straitjacket of allowing only one political ideology, to dictate what everyone is allowed to know, resulted in a collective failure to adapt and this caused the decline of manufacturing. The same process is being allowed to control the thinking, understanding and development of our future. Young people are the future, but they have to be knowledgeable about all the alternative political thoughts, they have to be open to debate and discussion, they have to be educated in the widest possible range of ideas and thoughts. If they are denied the ability and chance to study and question this open range of concepts, then their intellectual and political developments will go the same way as British manufacturing: stagnation, decay, and death.

It is necessary for democracy to ensure that the young are allowed to question their political leaders but it is also vital to the future that these same younger people are also aware of and open to the whole range of possibilities and political concepts.

opinion
Like

About the Creator

Peter Rose

Collections of "my" vocal essays with additions, are available as printed books ASIN 197680615 and 1980878536 also some fictional works and some e books available at Amazon;-

amazon.com/author/healthandfunpeterrose

.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.