[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by peter12

Not feudal times or necessarily any times. I just don't believe in the absolute progress of humanity. So certainly people "back then" weren't as miserable as moderns would like to believe. We're pretty miserable now by any standards anyway, rates of anxiety and depression are soaring.

Also, you consider the degree to which autocratic bureaucracies and governors interfere in our daily lives. We are not at all autonomous, much less so than say a Greek citizen living in Athens 2300 years ago.

Okay, using "Soaring rates of anxiety and depression" to illustrate that people in the middle ages were better off is just silly. I'm guessing there aren't a lot of stats to back up that anxiety and depression weren't an issure 500 years ago, but I'm willing to bet living hand to mouth at the whim of your local lord probalby wasn't good for general morale.

As for your assertation that we aren't as autonomus as a Greek citizen living 2300 years ago, well it's that "Citizen" word that totally ruins your argument. Sure I suppose it's debatable that they had more autonomy than we do now, but what you're not mentioning is that that group of citizens made up a small minority of the general population. For everone else, including most women, personal freedoms were clearly nowhere near what they are now, and that's to say nothing of the rather large population of slaves.