Looking Through a Glass Onion
Even as our technology thrusts us faster and faster into the future, we remain paradoxically surrounded by imagery of a rose-tinted past. Modern trends and political culture call back to an idealized narrative, romanticizing a lost character who has been cast aside in favor of modern convenience. Whether it be the right-wing view of traditional culture that drives many American evangelical political positions or the traditional nostalgia for a state of natural beauty common to many left-wing idealists, the romanticization of times long gone is a common symptom of political unhappiness. This vision of the past rarely reflects objective reality, but it is important to dissect it nonetheless. If we do not know which aspects of the past are worth having, we will be unable to notice when changes in the world today have done more harm than good.
It is easiest to begin at the leaves of the problem, and work our way slowly to its root. With the landslide victory of Ronald Reagan in the 1981 presidential election, the idealized American culture boomed. Often cited as the highest quality of living, the Reagan Administration appears in popular culture as a depiction of the ideal society. This depiction is traditionally associated with the political right and is echoed in modern positions that invoke nostalgia for a day gone by. This position usually neglects the great crises that occurred during the period, including the AIDS and crack cocaine epidemics, discounting the massive damage done to marginalized groups. As political parties use a warped view of the past to draw others into the fold, this cycle of discounting the flaws of the time repeats itself. You cannot have your cake and eat it too, and to view the world from this perspective is to deny the plagues that continue to afflict us.
Yet in the modern context, with the political landscape as it is, nostalgic views of the past become a form of escapism to dwell in an idealized world amid a tumultuous one. They provide a sense of comfort and serve as a North Star amid the encroachment of the outside world. Though they are an escape, they deny many of the issues of the previous system and lead to many of the societal problems we face today. Given the flaws in these views, how can we determine which ideas are worth taking and which are worth leaving behind? The benefits of economic growth, a sense of security, and a sense of self-expression are worth aspiring to, and focusing on such issues can bring overwhelming benefits if accessible to the entire population. But nostalgia for a past time often does not include the groups excluded from Ronald Reagan’s America. This “I got mine” mentality is echoed among those who recall the time fondly, and the question of disparity does not seem to be mentioned in any of these recollections.
The development of a more productive, more personalized society means we are more willing to give up some of the securities that made nostalgic views of culture possible. Are we willing to give up personal autonomy for a romanticized, nostalgic past, despite the long-term harm that relinquishing these ideas could do? The right to privacy and the right to exclusive ownership have been repeatedly encroached upon over time. With “features” such as artificial intelligence age verification, the rise of AI-generated content, and the growth of rent culture, the ideal American dream seems further and further away as we accept the modern conveniences of the digital age. With these rising concerns, the words of Ida Auken at the 2016 World Economic Forum come to mind: “You will own nothing and be happy.”
So what can be done? With aggressive changes to America's current political structure, the future seems uncertain, and threats to personal liberties persist. The most important thing is to hold on to the values you believe in. Though the conveniences of ChatGPT and personalized advertising are appealing, the cost is your information, in one form or another. Furthermore, every company records information it can pull from your online usage, and, with companies like Palantir developing AI-surveillance and recognition systems, the privacy we once benefited from seems to be getting more and more estranged from reality. The companies that offer this efficiency are not expected to behave amicably, nor have they proven they will. Recent social security data breaches in the United States and government ID data breaches in the United Kingdom show that even trusted public and private figures do not act in the best interest of the public they are set to serve. The information collected about each of us is equally available to both good-faith actors and malicious parties. With these issues piling up, we must accept that the nostalgic view of the past that we may have is not accurate to what is true.
In spite of this, we must not accept any alternatives to whatever we may view as our ideal society. To accept that these ailments are simply the cost of operating the governmental system both is misguided and demands no positive change. We must work as if the changes we desire to see are attainable and continue to fight for those futures. Whether we like it or not, we cannot return to the past that we idealize. The best route forward will always be to accept the modern political world as it is, and dedicate yourself to serving the people you care about now, in your daily life. Volunteer for causes you care about. Reach out to friends who care about you. Inconvenience yourself to care about others, to go out of your way to improve the lives of those around you. It is these interactions that make up what was worth yearning for in that rosy view of the past. These changes are slow and hard, but they are necessary to bring about the change that we desire to see.
As the world around us becomes more tumultuous, it is more important than ever not to fall into the alluring appeal of nostalgia. Nostalgia is often used as a mask for those who wish to profit from your wishes for a better world. You must temper yourself to the world around them and always strive to be more than you are today. The same must be said of your expectations of those around you. The world will never be as it once was. But through the slow and steady effort of those who care about the world, we may make a future that is worth inhabiting.