The first thing anyone has to do, is to to understand the society he lives in. This is not easy, because most societies discourage this - and sometimes discourage this violently.
And one of these societies was the one I grew up in - America in the 20th Century. It did not burn heretics at the stake - but it instilled a fear so profound, most people were not aware of it.
America has been described in many ways, mostly praiseworthy - but in the middle of the last century it could also be described, usefully, as a nation of scared people. And I mean really scared.
When people get this scared, they are bound to react in strange, unpredictable ways. And to produce an antisocial society - one that is not good for people.
How did this happen? Very innocently, as part of our effort to improve ourselves - when we were no longer a Medieval Society, but a Modern Society. Not so long ago, actually.
The big change came with the Reformation - these revolutionaries, who did not intend to be revolutionaries, but reformers - set in motion huge changes - that nearly tore the Western World apart. Changes we are still living with today.
The lesson here is easy to state - societies can only change slowly, and this rate of change was greatly exceeded by the Industrial Revolution.
People drew the logical conclusions - something much bigger than them, was in control - this something was not good for them - and they could not possibly challenge it.
Enough to scare anyone.
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