Can We Talk About Death?

Commentary The human mind is aware of its own mortality, and that’s scary. We strive to manage this fear all the time, and a popular solution is to project it onto politics. Thinking the world is in decline distracts you from your own decline. Thinking the country is going to hell in a hand-basket is less painful than accepting the evidence of mortality in yourself. You’re seen as virtuous if you worry about the state of the world, but if you worry about your own decline, you’re seen as selfish and weak. This is all the more incentive to focus on the world’s downhill slide rather than your own....