The pace of change

We can sometimes be bewildered by the speed at which the world changes, and new ideas and fashions take root.

In the West there has been a headlong plunge towards identity politics, and a promotion of ideologies of sexuality and gender which seemed unthinkable just one or two decades ago. At the turn of the millennium it was ‘normal’ to talk of two genders, and of marriage between one man and one woman. Now the new ‘normal’ is very different.

Less than 50 years ago Newsweek printed an alarming scientific report warning of an impending ice age. Scientists were wringing their hands at the inaction of politicians in the face of this crisis, and were urging the stockpiling of food; some suggested melting the ice caps by covering them with soot. There was concern that laypeople (i.e. non-scientists) were not taking the issue seriously enough (Newsweek, 28 April 1975). Yet today we are told that it is global warming which is the problem.