However, late in the evening I sat and listened to Pink Floyd, and I've got to say I felt privileged to have experienced it, even vicariously. I was almost in tears. I am by no means the world's biggest Pink Floyd fan, but it stood out as proper art and it made me think that, well, we aren't a completely crap species. Whereas watching Madonna and Coldplay had made me suspect that we were.
I don't feel completely optimistic that changes can or will be made, and I notice that younger people are even more cynical and pessimistic than me, sadly. But women got the vote, slavery was abolished throughout most of the world, people started listening to sexually abused children, the church stopped burning heretics. At the time it must have seemed that these changes were impossible.
I also think that when the pendulum swings too far, people become sickened. People who feel threatened sometimes want a harsh leader for a while, but then they feel horrified at what they have brought about. I think that will happen with Bush, and with the current economic order. Things will suddenly flip over.
