2024 Predictions: Dark Ages vs. The Enlightenment

By Colleen O’Connor

Flip a coin.   50-50 chance of winning.

Use a slingshot.  The further back you pull, the farther ahead the stone reaches.

Or just start hoarding toilet paper and water.

Seriously, who knows.  Global chaos abounds.  The knifing of the South Korean opposition candidate is most recent example.  Throw in mass shootings, financial uncertainty, the rise of dictators, wars on several fronts, another supply chain disruption in the Red Sea and the once highly anticipated release of the salacious Epstein papers becomes dull.

So, what to expect.  Honestly, more of the same.  Earthquakes (Japan’s latest 7. 5), floods, droughts, weather extremes of all types in an election year with divisions similar to the Civil War.

Do not despair.  Starting with 50-50 chances, history finds wonderful progress after nightmare eras.  For example, World War 1.  That horror was followed by a period of some prosperity, a warning about another World War, and women’s right to vote.

Women banded together, resisted President’s Wilson’s pleas for wives, mothers, daughters and friends to support the sale of War Bonds.  To win their help, Wilson promised to support a constitutional amendment to grant women’s suffrage.  The U.S. and allies won the war, but Wilson originally tried to renege on his promise.

More pressure was brought to bear and the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage, was ratified on August 18, 1920, ending almost a century of protest.

After World War II, America and her allies again prevailed over evils as prevalent as today’s,  won the war, dominated world affairs for decades, found prosperity in a new middle class, helped found the United Nations and enjoined serious financial and military alliances.

It was done by helping rebuild devastated countries.  And trying to keep the A-Bomb and nuclear weapons under civilian control. (See: Oppenheimer the movie).

More wars. Less security. Korea. Vietnam.  Gulf.  Afghanistan.  Iraq.

So, too, with American financial strength. The gulf between have and have-nots is monumental.  The generous state of California boasts a $20 minimum wage.  While the count of millionaires, multi-millionaires and now multi-billionaires proceeds apace.

The world’s 10 wealthiest people got nearly half a trillion dollars richer in 2023. Meanwhile, Gen X has the largest wealth gap of any generation.

Add Artificial Intelligence, Chatbot AI, Generative AI and the Dark Web to the mix and fears of a future “Dark Ages” –without humans– looms large as a prediction.

Enter Ronald Reagan’s famous lead-in line, “I have to believe…” — an introduction he used for many of his pronouncements.

I, too, “have to believe” there exists more enlightenment among humanity than evil.

Case in point.  The Israel/Gaza war.  President Biden refuses to call for any common sense “cease fire” while allowing Netanyahu free rein.

So, more horror to come, amid U.N. charges of “genocide.”

Yet, “only 15 percent of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in his position after the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, according to a survey released Tuesday.

More sane than insane.

Amid coming U.S. primary presidential caucuses and the general election, an overwhelming majority of voters want neither Biden nor Trump (with his near 90 indictments and dozens of trials, appeals, and court civil and criminal filings pending).

More sane than insane.

Still, America’s institutions are buckling.  Church scandals. Congressional political gridlock amid attempts to revive Civil War states’ rights’ fights. Schools under siege, (colleges deemed irrelevant, coaches and teachers accused of abuse).  Courts delivering decisions that are both ignored, undermined, or delayed indefinitely.  Medicine questioned in a pandemic era and now amid another outbreak yet another COVID-variant; illegal immigration, abortion rights, and dirge in gerrymandering, redistricting and voter suppression, especially among minorities.

Polarizing. Distrust dominates.  Anger, discontent, and a barrage of negative, click-bait driven “news,” and ignorance are writ large. American is backsliding.

So, how to channel Reagan’s “I have to believe”….?

Simple.  Do it yourself.   Think.  It is “not right or left.”  It is “right or wrong.”

Deciding, “this is wrong” is easy.  It only requires emotional intelligence. And an open mind. Not a graduate degree or an AR-15 assault rifle.  Just common sense.  And the courage to vote.

My prediction?   More of us will choose The Enlightenment over a repeat of the Dark Ages.