How were single men allowed to wield so much power over life

something something nationism

There is no such thing as social "progress", you've been lied to, social forms follow a cyclical pattern while only technological history forms a vaguely linear pattern.

I dont know, brutallity is as old as human kind, we probably just get shocked more by the murders of Stalin or Hitler just because they are so relatively well documented and recent, and totalitarianism is not really a new thing.

>>2543382
This, you were sold a bill of goods and you bought it Hook Line & Sinker.

things get better overall, but they began with utter and complete misery and there are spikes of things like this because they're always a social possibility

>>2543438
>This is what liberals actually believe.

>>2543382
>>2543420
This is true, too many people confuse technological progress with social progress. Things today are relatively peaceful because of a relative abundance of resources which encourages good-feelings. If resources become scarce again, you can expect a return to barbarism since that's always lurking right underneath the surface even in good times.

>>2543506
Beyond even that, its because of the Pax Americana. Peace is kept in first world countries by the presence of an overwhelming Leviathan whose economic interests demand such a peace.

People look at this peace, barely 70 years old, and act like first world countries can never go to war again.

Industrial progress is volatile, social change isn't.

However, When economies go wrong, some DICTATOR will take the opportunity.