Many in the news media have readily compared the current economic situation to WWII, commenting on the deficit spending, the national debt, the unity that needs to pull the country together. The initial reaction is that a worthy analogy has been proffered. Until, that is, we realize that people aren't dying by the thousands.
The tendency to compare our economic woes to events in history is a fine exercise, and ought to take place so that we can learn to "not rewrite history." Comparing it to one of American history's most devastatingly tragic wars, however, is stepping beyond what is acceptable. To compare portfolios to people not only offers little true comparative value (by what measures can you compare such estranged variables?), it also demeans the value of a life to dissatisfaction with quality of living, to not having the most enjoyable job, to not being able to buy a new television. To me, setting TVs and ethos on the same footing is dastardly distortion of our analytical ability.
Recently I have read too many articles and news stories that relate life with living standard. Perhaps this is due to the dying off of the generation that could easily make an unequivocal distinction between the two. If that is the case, I fear what further hijackings of history and distortions of morality will surface as we move progressively away from experiences of real danger, and start equating (illogically) commercial woes with issues of life and death, making ourselves both foolish for doing so and negligent of reflective ability regarding true tragedies of our history. The future will tell the outcome, if only it can remember where it has been.
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