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Sherm's avatar

"I’m not sure if knowing that Didion saw the same pathology 50 years ago makes it more, or less, depressing."

I would say that it makes it simultaneously more depressing, and less frightening. Depressing because it's about as solid of proof as you need that this is a "humans being human" thing, and we're going to have to fight it forever. Less scary, though, because it also means that it has also *been with us forever*. Yet, we still managed to vanquish diseases, drag billions out of grinding poverty, and even make it to outer space, even as we wrangled with it. Arguably, the weaker, more moderate version of it helped make those things possible. It's misfortune and hope, walking side-by-side.

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