Featured photo: Future | © mykedaigadget from Pixabay
In addition to writing and everything that goes with it, it has probably been the ability in the Western world to distinguish between the factual and the relational level in communication.
Some of us who are older still remember the democratic titans at the beginning of our Federal Republic, who had the biggest and wildest verbal battles in Bonn, only to meet up again afterwards to play cards and drink a few alcoholic drinks. Less inexperienced contemporaries saw this as foul play - far from it!
Even in the military, great importance was attached to carefully preserving the differences in levels and roles - especially in communication. They even created their own zones to strengthen the relationship level after major content-related disputes; it was forbidden to bring "the service" into the mix. However, it was precisely there that I was able to witness the disintegration of our own culture quite clearly over the decades.
And so, slowly but surely, not only is the written word in our society disintegrating, but with it our language is also disintegrating and, quite logically, so is the brain and memory of our society.
It is also no longer surprising that fewer and fewer citizens are able to distinguish between a content-related and a relationship-related level, or even recognize or want to recognize the different roles that a person can take on.
Everywhere, necessary differences are being leveled out and sacrificed on the altar of egalitarianism. And so it is no longer noticeable that globules and hocus-pocus are now being glorified as science alongside increasingly eloquent but meaningless anglicisms, and entire (educational) parks are being set up for this purpose.
Communication now takes place almost exclusively on a relationship level, the roles have already been reduced to two: consumer and doer - whatever you want to understand by that - and we all have to love each other, preferably in a unisex form. But best of all, our big brother, who, as we know, can change quickly - but that should no longer matter to any of us at all.
Because we are all swimming in the same soup, a soup that has already ruined entire societies in Africa, the Arab world and Asia, and we immediately reach for the knife if someone doesn't love us: We are all the same! And anyone who isn't will be slaughtered.
Yet it was the small but subtle differences that made our Western societies successful — and also the opportunity to make what you wanted out of your own life.
"Depending on the state situation and the dictates of fate, we will either advance or fall by the wayside, but in any case we will be active and not succumb to fear and thereby fall into inactivity. [...] But if you find yourself in a less favorable state situation, you must withdraw more into private life and occupy yourself with science, as if on a dangerous sea voyage you should immediately enter a port, not wait for your release, but resign of your own accord."
Seneca, De tranquillitate animi V 4–5
