A view of the modern man

Source

"There is a sense in which men may be made normally happy; but there is another sense in which we may truly say, without undue paradox, that what they want is to get back to their normal unhappiness. At present they are suffering from an utterly abnormal unhappiness. They have got all the tragic elements essential to the human lot to contend with; time and death and bereavement and unrequited affection and dissatisfaction with themselves. But they have not got the elements of consolation and encouragement that ought normally to renew their hopes or restore their self-respect. They have not got vision or conviction, or the mastery of their work, or the loyalty of their household, or any form of human dignity. Even the latest Utopians, the last lingering representatives of that fated and unfortunate race, do not really promise the modern man that he shall do anything, or own anything, or in any effectual fashion be anything. They only promise that, if he keeps his eyes open, he will see something; he will see the Universal Trust or the World State or Lord Melchett coming in the clouds in glory. But the modern man cannot even keep his eyes open. He is too weary with toil and a long succession of unsuccessful Utopias. He has fallen asleep."

You may have thought to yourself that what you have just read sounds like the present state of man in this world but this was actually wrote in 1928 by G.K. Chesterton, a cofounder of Distributism. He was also known for other witty lines such as him summary of the problem with capitalism: "Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists." And his approach to politics: "The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." Also his rather comical quote: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."

I thought the people of ATS would appreciate reading this take on modern man from an early 20th century philosopher.