This is going to be a weird post … or weirder than usual … but it came about following a conversation I had last week with Steven Holtham, a professor of history from Utah.
We live in wonderful times.
Sure we’re still in the midst of a financial crisis [not that you’d know from the way certain people and industries are behaving] but for many around the World, they’ve literally never had it so good.
Of course I acknowledge there are many, many millions of people who are suffering – suffering in the most terrible and inhumane of ways – but for many, especially those in Western markets, the life they lead is the sort of thing their forefathers would classify as heaven.
But are they happy?
Well depending on the report you subscribe too, you could say they’re certainly not as happy as their everyday situation deserves but then, with so many having grown up in a society of general stability and affluence [even if it is interms of facilities and opportunities] is it any surprise that they don’t realise how fortunate they are.
But here’s the issue.
If we don’t address this entitlement inflation, we may end up in a situation where society either starts turning on itself or simply grinds to a halt.
OK, so that’s a bit dramatic – there will always be people who will ensure things ‘carry on’ – however if society continues to move forward without any frame of reference of hardship, suffering or togetherness, then we may end up with a population whose fickle behaviour and attitude will only be of benefit to marketers.
War changes everything.
Everything.
Yes, I know we are all witnesses to that with Iraq, but we are passive observers.
The people living it are the people who are really learning from it.
Sure, there is the danger that some of the things they’re learning could lead to potentially terrible future consequences, but I doubt their concern is to ensure they have the new iPad or changing their job because they think they deserve more money even though they’ve only been there 6 months.
I appreciate this sounds – at best – like I’m advocating a strategy of fear or – at worst – world war, but I’m not … especially compared to the way some organisations and governments embrace this thinking to contain and control.
My point is if we only keep looking forward and either ignore – or glamorize – the pain, terror and tragedies of the past, then we may end up producing the sort of society our fathers, mothers and grandparents fought against … a society that doesn’t just produce selfishness, but meglamania.
There is an argument that everything in life has a ‘reset’ button when things are allowed to go on too far … I don’t know if that’s true, but if there ever was a time for a brand to start instilling values – not just material aspirations [ala my social capitalism rant] – then I would say that time is fast approaching.