Higher standards usually come with added costs [see photo]. But... The paradox in Western societies today is that declining standards also come with added costs.
The decline of Western societies is self-evident to those who live with this syndrome and to those who do not. At the centre of this debacle is the notion that public squalor should be tolerated while private decadence is applauded. I first saw this phenomenon in play in India when I was just a lad. Later I spied it inside the Soviet Union in 1989 just as it dissembled. I was with the elite class on both occasions however there was a distinct difference. Indian elites were arrogant, dismissive, and brutal in their attitude towards the less fortunate. Soviet elites were proud of the robust communal sharing that enabled the less fortunate to survive the dictates of such an unforgiving regime.
It is not news to inform you that Western societies are lowering their standards through legislation that promotes the green new deal, diversity and inclusion, collective decision-making, gender confusion, etc. The result is that we all must live with increasing incidents of public squalor accompanied by private decadence. This is a massive shock for me. I grew up in a society that was striving, at every turn, to raise the standards of public and private life. It was a given that the innate quality of all social goods available to both rich and poor would be improved over time. That rubric has been forsaken. This is the primary reason that the Western societies have entered a spiral of decline that will be difficult to arrest.
Five years ago I decided I would raise my own personal standards in ways and to an extent that the communal benchmarks did not really impact me. I became a minimalist [well a self-defined version of that term] and therefore I have been conscious of my personal standards ever since. I have raised them in some instances and failed to do so in other areas of my life. Indeed I am engaged in a constant struggle with past ways of thinking, being, and believing.
If you notice that the public squalor element of the decline of Western societies has come to your local precinct then I suggest that you have much work to do on your personal standards if you are to survive and thrive.
Richard.
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