From Pine View Farm

“The Good Old Days” 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Eva M. Krockow takes a look at what she calls “declinism,” which I would loosely describe as the notion that the world is going to hell in a handbasket coupled with a yearning for the mythical good old days. She suggests that this feeling is can be fed by news reporting, which quite naturally focuses on stuff that goes wrong, and by politicians seeking to appeal to persons’ fears and unease. She closes her piece with some suggestions as to how to avoid declining into declinism.

A couple of snippets (emphasis added):

The bias reflects an overly negative view of the current situation, and it usually goes hand in hand with tendencies to romanticise the past. Individuals with declinist views typically bask in nostalgic recollections of what used to be, while overlooking or discounting less-than-rosy memories from that time.

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One example of political declinism includes the Brexit campaign slogan “Take Back Control,” which implied the need to regain sovereignty to prevent further decline. Another example is Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” which suggested that things were better in the past.

Methinks this a timely read.

Afterthought:

You might ask some Brits how Brexit is working out is working out for them. (Hint: It isn’t.)

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