Dr. Forbush Thinks

Progressive thought grew in the 20th Century. Many ideas grew out of the political thought of Karl Marx, but progressive thought grew in many other areas as well. We should remember that progressive thought is not only progressive political thought. The impressionists, surrealists and other modernists asked those interested in art to think about the world in different ways. Scientists brought quantum theory, relativity, evolution and even organic chemistry to the public and ask them to re-think their views of the world. Writers began to explore the inner thoughts of not only “normal” people, but also “ab-normal” people as well. Common wisdom of what it meant to be retarded was explored in “The Sound and Fury” and “Flowers for Algernon.” Common Wisdom about teenagers was explored in “Catcher in the Rye.” Even historians questioned once unquestionable historic “facts.”

The power to observe the world and understand the world in many different ways is the strength of the progressive movement. But, progressive ideas always move slowly through a culture, because people are not willing to forgo their old understanding of the world. This explains why progressive thought comes most easily to the young. This is because the youth in a culture have not been submerged in a culture as long as the adults in the culture.

New ideas of one type come much easier for the public when new ideas of another type are being accepted by the culture in general. Imagine a cocktail party, which took place in the early twentieth century. In conversation people may talk about the latest art, science and psychology. New ideas hadn’t been unleashed on a culture at such a rate in the history of man. If it were only one new idea every few years then the average person would occasionally consider an idea that challenged their thought structure. However, when one is challenged day after day new ideas become common place and therefore more acceptable.

The political ideas of both socialists and fascists were placed on the table of international ideas. People put their hopes into these political philosophies. People who put their hopes into the Socialist Philosophy believed that a world could be created where inequality would be destroyed. The wealthy wouldn’t call the shots, perhaps the shots could be called by anyone – even me. People who put their hopes in the Fascist Philosophy believed that a world could be dominated by one powerful group of people who could make the world better for that special group. Even though Fascist Philosophy was based on old ideas where one tribe or nation could create an empire the methods used to set this motion in progress were new.

Fascism was the backlash to Socialism that was spreading around the world. Both Soviet style Socialism and German-Italian-Japanese style Fascism could only be put into place by force. Most people were undecided as whether to support these movements, but military power changed all that.

After World War II hope and progress were at the forefront in popular thought. Before the end of the war the new ideas came in pieces, but hope was the one part of the equation that was missing. Many people believed that the power of science was demonstrated with the explosion of nuclear weapons on Japan. Suddenly science earned respect from the right side of the aisle. Since the right believes in might making things right – the traditional method of creating a better world – nuclear weapons became the ultimate weapons to achieve their ultimate goals. However, science being a progressive endeavor by nature led to debate and discussion on the proper way to use this newfound power.