So, what else is new?

I am writing this in 2026, and I hear everyone lamenting the disastrous state of the world: wars, genocides, torture, wartime rape, deportations, massacres of civilians, and every kind of cruelty imaginable (those things that today are euphemistically and antiseptically referred to as “human rights violations”). One is tempted to reply: “So, what else is new?!” The history of humankind is always the same; it continues to repeat itself. Wars, genocides, torture, wartime rape, deportations, massacres of civilians, and every kind of cruelty imaginable do not constitute an exception but rather the most constant feature in the history of the human race.