Last night I watched a documentary about King George VI which contained lots of archive footage of political events and state occasions many of them during the war.
It struck me that, despite the turmoil of the times, society, in terms of its attitudes to power and the establishment, was so much more trusting and compliant than the attitudes we are experiencing now.
In fact you could argue that part of the reason for people voting leave in the Brexit referendum was a nostalgia for a previously more stable and predictable society. But it has had the opposite effect. The ensuing chaos has left us feeling even less "strong and stable" than we did before.
Likewise in the US. The unpredictable madness of Trump has thrown things up in the air to such a degree that I heard someone comment on a podcast that the next incumbent is going to have a challenge working out what "acting presidentially" even means any more let alone how to do it!
But no matter how uncomfortable all of this change is making us feel in the short term I am increasingly confident that in the long run it will make us stronger.
The falling apart of the myth of stability and predictability that is so carefully maintained by the state and the media is in the long run a good thing. It is waking us up from the collective dream state that we have been conditioned to think is normal.
It feels painful at the moment but questioning things is good for us. It makes us work harder at seeking truth. It makes us feel more alive.
The Obvious? 