Longing for the past

I very often talk to people older than me about love, about life and about the nature of being and society. While this does sometimes involve abstract concepts or ideas, most often the discussion (sadly) happens in a very practical realm. What I do notice and what concerns me a lot is the way that many of my fellow members of society perceive the past, the present and the future. Countless times have others mentioned a longing for the past and a contempt for the present, not realising that their longing for the past is one of the biggest logical fallacies of our time. Now, I do not deny that many people (me included) have been happier at some point in their life than they are right now. I do not even deny that some things actually used to be a lot better in the past, hell right now the world feels like we are standing on the edge of a cliff and we are constantly deciding to take just one more step to get closer to the beautiful sunset in the distance. HOWEVER, and this is what many don’t seem to understand about the nature of the world: time does not move back. Trying to turn back time means breaking the clock that we all rely on working for our kids and grandkids. Let me explain what I mean. And let me add some profanity to give my claims more weight.

Logical fallacy numero uno: You may have just been fucking stupid in the past

This one is not a major point but it must be mentioned. Sometimes, things were not actually better in the past, you just didn’t realise how bad they were because you were fucking stupid. People tend(!) to get smarter with age. You were younger back then. You’re smart enough to interpolate the rest.

Logical fallacy numero dos: The world is not your underwear: it changes

We have different problems than we had in the past. What was of big concern back then might not be of big concern nowadays and vice versa. The world is incredibly dynamic. Things are not either right or wrong, it depends on the context. It’s called adaptation, you should try it. Ensures your survival (says Darwin, not I)

Logical fallacy numero tres: If the past were the present then the present would be the future

Do people not think about that. Everything that has happened has lead up to the present, the past is causally (is that a word?) linked to the present. If the past were right now then the future would be the present. What a depressing thought. Do you really want the past back now? Fucking idiot. “Oh but we messed up in the past, we wouldn’t mess up now if we got that back” Fucking communist. I hope you get the point. The past can never be the future. Be angry at the fucking past. It brought us to the present. Going back can - by definition - never be a way of going forward.

Logical fallacy numero cuatro (unrelated): age is not causally linked to wisdom

No, you’re not automatically smarter or wiser or more experienced than people who are younger than you. Your opinion doesn’t carry more weight because of your age. If your claims are prone to challenging then I will do so and if I don’t like you I will use profanity. Feel free to do the same to me.

Stop thinking about what was and start thinking about what could be

As mentioned above, my discussions stay in the practical realm too often. That is a shame because the more theoretical a discussion gets, the less of the mentioned logical fallacies are usually involved. People that have actually thought about abstract utopias and dystopias, worlds that have not yet existed but may exist in the future tend to not fall for these logical fallacies. Base your utopia on abstract realities, not on past realities.
Oh yeah and fuck your anecdotal evidence, I literally don’t care if we could just do xyz like in the good old days, why don’t you go fix it then