TIME PROVINCIALISM | 2004-08-21
Today I have exactly the same problem explaining time provincialism that I had in the 1950's explaining New York City provincialism. Today people talk about "Modern Ideas" as if that meant something special.
Today people will say, "This is the twenty-first century so what you say is wrong" in exactly the same way the pope told Galileo that his idea that the earth was not the center of the universe was wrong. The pope told Galileo, "You are going against Church dogma."
Today people tell anyone who thinks a social policy is just plain wrong that, "This is 2004. Your ideas are out of date."
Does that mean that, in the year 2004, we have the Absolute Truth at last? Well, if a person quotes the calendar as proof that his ideas are right, that is exactly what he means: This is right, not because it makes sense, but because it is Modern.