On Earth As It Is . . .
I'm renaming and adapting my weekly essay. Why?
What have we done? And why?
Join me ‘On Earth As It Is’
Next Thursday: ‘God is Dead!’ (Nietzsche)
MY DEAR MULTITUDE,
The Algorithm tells me there are thousands of you. If so, who am I to argue with the Algorithm?!
Thank you, everyone, for reading my Thursday essay, Who Made Our Minds? As you can see, I’ve renamed it, On Earth As It Is . . . (read on to find out why).
Hi. I’m Paul Ham. I’m an Australian historian, part-time lecturer (at SciencesPo) and a moonlighting entrepreneur (e.g. I co-founded IVRE Paris, makers of the most beautiful silk scarves in the world!). I live in Paris.
It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to write for you.
We’ve probed some of the greatest, cruellest and most beautiful minds of the past 5,000 years. We’ve explored the ancient world. We experienced the rise of the great monotheisms. We voyaged through the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Revolutionary era. We entered the brains of prophets, priests and philosophers. We witnessed appalling cruelty, transcendent self-sacrifice and enlightened justice. See the archive!
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As we enter the 20th century, I feel it’s time for a slight change of direction . . . it’s time to contemplate the Earth as it is . . .
As it is here, not in heaven.
As it is, on the planet we call home.
As it is, in the course of the bloodiest century in human history . . .
When human civilisation ruptured and great cultures were destroyed and remade.
When hideous ideologies and unbending beliefs waged war on a world we dared to call ‘free’ . . .
When that ‘free world’ of liberty-loving people prevailed in the 20th century.
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Many people seem to forget, or couldn’t care less, that Western democracy won the 20th century.
Democracies defeated fascism and communism, on the battlefield and in the economy. It’s astonishing that I feel compelled to restate that simple fact.
Why? Because Open societies had much more to lose than Closed ones. The world wars threatened the loss of the one thing freedom-loving people cherished most: an idea of liberty. However crude, half-formed and unfairly applied, that idea was worth fighting for . . .
And by the end, odious regimes borne of Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Tojo and their satellites were destroyed or forced to abandon or change their ideologies. Only Cuba and North Korea still claim to be ‘communist’.
You speak of resurgent fascism? Today’s fascists and techno-feudalists think fascism will triumph over democracy. They clearly haven’t read their own history.
You speak of China? China is indeed something new. It’s obviously not a socialist state. It’s the world’s first example of Command Capitalism. Mao and Marx, China’s nominal saints, would have been revolted by the society whose foundational ideology they inspired.
China today, along with Russia and Trump’s America, are what I call Vampire Nations. Their methods and ideologies differ but the result is the same: states who prey on their people.
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Consider this: Not a single democracy, as we know it, existed in 1900; Germany was the most democratic country in Europe at the turn of the 20th century, offering full male suffrage. Only Australia and New Zealand gave votes to women.
But the allure of the idea of democratic liberty (i.e. being equal before the law, able to vote, to speak freely, pray as you wish and marry whom you love) forged the creation of about 120 full or partial electoral democracies between 1900 and 2000, according to Freedom House, the Polity Project and The Democracy Index.
Today, there are about 80-100 full or partial democracies, depending on your source. So we’re regressing.
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The extraordinary paradox of the 20th century is that, despite being the most destructive hundred years thus far recorded (the 21st may outdo it), the years 1900-2000 were also the most inventive: an age of discovery as much as one of devastation.
The 20th century produced a slew of breakthroughs in medicine, transport, science, hygiene, comfort and self-preservation.
Poverty levels fell dramatically: 70–80% of the world lived in extreme poverty around 1900; by 2000, 20-30% were in extreme poverty (according to Our World in Data, Bourguignon & Morrison and World Bank reconstructions).
Why? The freedom to think under Democracy - something its opponents take for granted (and they’ll be the first put up against the wall by the dictatorships they adore!) - inspired and animated an outpouring of life-giving inventiveness.
Note that most of these advances occurred in the last third of the 20th century, when more people were living in democratic societies, and the freedom to think and act was allowed to flourish.
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In the essays that follow, sent free to your inbox every Thursday, two questions, or themes, will guide us:
What have we done? And why?
Every essay will be sourced to the finest scholarship - just look at my previous bibliographies!
Yes, On Earth As It Is is free. Because I love doing this. But it comes at a cost in time and effort. So if you can see yourself tossing me a fiver once a month, that would help greatly, thank you.
We writers are being reborn as pamphleteers. We’ve returned to Grub Street, jockeying for the support of philanthropic readers like you!
Why not become one? It’ll be a fiver well spent! Think of the benefits you’ll get: a beautifully researched, weekly essay on the core themes of our time, plus automatic entry in my raffle (among other perks). The jackpot is a free dinner for two in Paris.
You’re welcome!
Ham
Onwards with love and courage.
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Next Thursday, 2nd April 2026: ‘God is Dead!’ (Nietzsche)
Selected sources and further reading:
