I watched a film the other day, "Harrison Bergeron", based on the short story by Kurt Vonnegut, about a future society which was ruled by an intellectual elite over what they considered the dumb masses of the rest of the population.
People were rewarded for stupidity rather than intelligence and the dumber they were the higher a position they rose within the community. The premise was that all laws, rules and jobs should be understandable to the dumbest among us, applying standards to the lowest common denominator.
Although the movie was set sometime in the future, all architecture, fashion and behaviour was modelled from the society of the 1950's. "People were most happiest in the 1950's" was the quote from one of the intellectuals.
That was the era of the Nuclear Family when "Father Know's Best" and Mom was in the kitchen when she wasn't taking care of the kids.
I was born in the '50's and caught the tale end of the culture and I understand to a point what they were saying.
But was it most happy for who? I think for Caucasian, educated males it was the ideal culture, one that Bush and his Cronies would love to get back. "Family Values" I think is the catch phrase.
But for visable minorities, children, women, the aged, the physically and/or mentally disabled, the Jews and the working classes was it really that great?
Blacks had no rights, women were kept repressed at home and if they chose to work had little protection against the glass ceiling or sexual harassment. Birth control and abortion were the acts of wanton women.
The children were raised with the fear of God and their father's belt buckle. Classroom creativity was discouraged and god help the child who dared to question authority.
The mentally ill were imprisoned in nut houses, and there sure was no handicapped parking spots.
It's little wonder that the producers of the movie chose that decade as a model for their elitist society. For most of it's citizens unquestionably followed their superiors and governments. And what was right for General Motors was right for the country.
I am always fascinated at the polls that various news web sites provide regarding issues of the day. You can get an instant, if not scientific, read on the mentality of the people that you share your town or nation with.
I would venture that if polls were in place in the 1950's like we have now that most results on any issue would be close to 90% to 10%. Because pretty much everyone thought the same back then.
Today we live in a Polarised Society and most poll result that I see are close to 50/50. And you know what? I think that's a good thing.
When everyone thinks along the same lines there is a very good chance that opposing views are not tolerated.
When two sides clash as they often do now the result seems to be a fair compromise. We give a little and we get a little. It may be frustrating but somehow it all seems to work out.
Our Canadian Society is the target of a lot of self-criticism, whether it be on the issues of crime, health care, education, civil rights, economics, etc.
I think, right now, we have our best Society ever in our Nation's History and it continues to get better because of the vast differences in all of us and because all our ideas, whether we agree with them or not, are being heard.
