Naiveté Through the Ages

      In watching a bad 90s film about "the youth having it their way!" (Yes, the one that came to your mind likely applies because those movies are numerous and cliché) I wondered if in 20 years I will appear that way to those who come upon what I have created. The clichés in these films are centralized around a faintly thought through notion that "society is bullshit!" and "the youth will have it their way!" (Not that they have a better idea of how to run things). It is so miserably naive. In watching it it is hard that people were so childlike in their responses to issues that seems elementary now. On a second thought though, it is those naive people in the 90s who seeded so many of "the new ways of thinking" that have become so integral to our worldview.

       In the films and television programs of the time that naive revolutionary spirit was everywhere and the issue of accepting gays and lesbians, for instance, was pushed so fervently. Seeing these shows today the issue seems like it was made a spectacle of in how much the topic of gays and lesbians gaining acceptance was pushed with such naive radical fervor. It almost seems like a moot point to us now but we may forget how naive society as a whole was for these "revolutionaries" to seem so naive to us well into the 21st century. For the naive to be the "enlightened" the rest of society must be very blind indeed. We must remember to be thankful for the work that certain dreamers carried out, for although much of society is still ignorant they are much less so because of those who spoke out.

       Each thinker from the ancients to our modern age is submerged in the mode of thinking of his or her time. It is the slight deviation from this that influences society into losing some of the ignorant modes of thought they once held. It is the goal for the revolutionary thinker to be relatively free of naive blunders of thought that are typically seen in the general populace. That blindness is so difficult to see. It is like standing within fog but being unaware that it is there. The deciding factor when judging people from the past is on the ideas themselves, and so naiveté is acceptable when one remembers to separate the idea and ad hominem judgments.

       This reminds me that my critical judgment of my own work is both a good thing but also that in the process of editing my work I do not need to be so fearful that the minuscule detail, means success or failure. I realize that my own naiveté is just fine for such a quality is typical. I am willing to point out as false what the general society of today deems as acceptable at the risk of humiliation if I make an error in judgment. I must remember that error is normal on occasion. It is more acceptable today to stick one's neck out and take a chance in speaking from one's heart so I don't have much to fear. Each decade sees some construction of the blocks leading with each ascending step to greater heights of awareness, and so my struggle, I feel, will be much easier than that of those that came before me. Perhaps this is naiveté.