The prevailing sentiment has shifted from “faith in man” to “belief and Evil.”
Once our salvation, progress is now just an inevitable disaster. As well, our once-lauded freedoms are toxins we must mitigate with discipline.

As we withdraw into the negative, finding ways to hunker down and control ourselves, sniping at others to do the same, we move backward, or to the side, in a kind of cowardly crab walk into hiding.

The ramifications of our guarded retreat away from “communal trust” or “faith in man” is to vacate an advantageous position, which is quickly claimed by the very things we abhor.

It may seem a slight distinction, but to center disaster as inevitable has dire psychological effects that distort our actions toward self-centered competition and consumption rather than the open collaboration necessary to overcome.