by Tamilore Oladipo

A recent survey shows that 71% of people seem to think that the world is going down the toilet. In a Guardian UK article, Pete Echells writes about declinism which is the idea that we humans are predisposed to view the past favourably, and worry that the future is basically going to be Mad Max but worse.

Of course, the world is not as bad as we think it is: think of the times of the Black Death or the French Revolution or even the Nigerian Civil War. What do all those things have in common apart from being horrible times when human beings showed the worst of themselves? Lack of Internet access and the stories from both sides.

There are all kinds of arguments that more people are depressed in this modern world of ours, or even that we have all collectively become more cynical than people in “those days” were. But how do we really know that? Mental illness of any sort was condemned and that was only in the case of the white man. Women were so ostracised that their state of mind was not a cause for concern for anyone really and everyone else was more concerned about saving themselves from the tyranny of slavers and “explorers” than their mental health.

To be honest, we may be in the best time for human development and advancement ever, apart from maybe the Renaissance. Many things that could have killed you if you’d been born in a supposedly more peaceful time (which does not even exist for anyone with even a hint of melanin in their skin) can at least be managed. Maniacs aren’t swinging swords around (although replacing swords with guns was the worst idea ever; looking at you USA) and cutting off heads with guillotines. Tyrants and neo-Nazis have to at least answer for their mistreatment of people to the Internet if no one else and we have Candy Crush.

The current generation of young people have definitely been dealt a bad hand by the past ones that were supposed to make the world better for us not spend the whole time fighting. Millennials are far from the worst generation to ever walk the face of the earth despite what the nostalgic grown people seem to think. We didn’t bring about the World Wars or Aleppo, we didn’t take people’s homes from them and we surely did not enslave other human beings. We haven’t even had the chance to mess up, and the way things are going, we won’t have anything to mess up anyway. What do we do? Live at home because of unemployment rates and the bad housing market, check our Twitter and take selfies. Yeah, we’re horrible and lazy.

We are all more informed, and we understand that not everything is as black and white as other generations were led to believe. We are far more accepting of each other, despite cases here and there that make you question human decency in general. We are not blind because we were never allowed to be and that has made us more fearful, yes, but also far stronger than everyone thinks we are. We know that the world is not on our side and we know that we are becoming adults in a ridiculous world, but we are not worse for it.

So yes, everyone seems to think that the world is becoming worse, but I don’t think that is the case. We are merely having a continued disclosure of what has long been hidden, a mild apocalypse. We see each other, warts and all, no longer allowed to be blind to the reality of human nature. The more important question is: what will you do now that you know?

Tamilore Oladipo is a Mass Communication student at Pan-Atlantic University with interests in blogging, digital marketing and music.

Op-ed Editor