Among the very many negative effects that the current political climate has had on society, one particularly dangerous and concerning phenomenon has been the growing sense of nihilism and detachment, especially among young people, that has taken hold of the public consciousness. This attitude, for the most part, has not come in the traditional sense of absolute pessimism, but rather in the gradual erosion in our belief that substantial change in the world can be achieved through the actions of normal people. The common perspective is less that the state of the world won’t ever improve, but more that we as individuals have no influence over the trajectory of the future. It isn’t hard to see where this idea has come from. While the American government has never been truly representative of its entire population, the degree to which our political and social structures fail to reflect the needs and desires of common people is unprecedented in our nation’s recent history. It is unsurprising, then, that this nihilism has become so prevalent as of late.
Though recent events may make this conclusion seem reasonable, the course of history strongly suggests otherwise. During every era in history, this bystander sentiment has existed in some capacity, and likewise, the injustices and issues that defined those eras were confronted by ordinary people that rejected nihilism. It seems there is a strong tendency to view those in our history who fought injustice as exceptional, in some way, as though they had some inherent trait which allowed them to solve the injustices of their time that ordinary people today lack. This belief is simultaneously self-serving and self-defeating. It serves to absolve us of our civil responsibility to pursue change while also dissuading us from working to solve even the injustices that harm us. In truth, there is no such thing as a born hero. There is no special trait or ability required to fight for positive change. While the hostility and negativity of the current political environment may suggest that we live in a time that is uniquely resistant to change, the truth is quite the opposite. While traditional avenues for reform are more restricted than ever, it is these very failures that have created a popular and ever-growing desire for a paradigm shift in our political and social structures and made for an environment ripe for pursuing justice.
Throughout history, the greatest bouts of progress have come at times when the prevalent problems of the age are at their most dire. Civil rights, economic reforms and even technological advancements have almost always made massive leaps when the problems they face and the political and societal resistance to their advancement have reached their peak. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came immediately after a period of some of the greatest racial animosity in American history. Slavery only came to an end when the tension and discontent over it culminated in the Civil War. The historical developments from which the world today benefits most were all brought about by intense strife and backlit by periods of high societal tension.
These developments did not simply spontaneously occur, nor were they heralded by superhumans of unparalleled ability. Every right, every institution of justice and equality and every positive aspect of the world that separates the present from the horrors of the past was won by ordinary people who believed change was possible. People who saw the power they had as members of society and made sacrifices in their own lives to use that power against the forces of injustice and oppression. The capacity of ordinary people to make extraordinary change in the world has in no way diminished. The heroes of the past had no more potent an ability to fight for good than any one of us do today. The determining factor in whether or not the issues that plague us today will ever be solved is not our ability to solve them. Rather, it is our willingness to collectively abandon the comfort of nihilism and make sacrifices to ensure that the problems of the present are as unfamiliar to the people of the future as the problems of the past are to us.
It can seem easy and extremely tempting to believe that we as ordinary people can’t affect change. It is a prevalent idea to which no one is immune. I was recently told that the sooner I accepted I can’t change the world the happier I’d be, and for a moment I truly wanted to believe it. But the idea that pursuing change is pointless is no more true now than it has been at any point in history. As it always has been, change IS the point.