They Call Themselves "Progressive"

So what kind of person has to label himself "Progressive?" Obviously somebody who believes he (or she) understands real progress better than the rest of us. Because if you are a Progressive it implies that everybody else, let's face it, is a Regressive, or maybe just a Stagnant. It's a smirky, self-flattering way of saying you're a lot better than the rest.
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Like the preacher who is focused on nothing but sin, Progressives must emphasize the alleged flaws of other people. They need to pinpoint those flaws, to feel important. Because Progressives make it clear that the real obstacle to Progress is Other People. In fact, if you really ask a "Progressive" what other people are like, you're likely to hear that much of humanity is either ignorant or evil.
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All of Political Correctness, the dominant cultural theme of the Left, depends upon such allegations and accusations. It is incredibly shallow and superficial - but it is also very effective as a power-play. If you can put the world at a disadvantage by implicitly accusing them of sin, you can also manipulate and oppress others, conscious of your own moral superiority. Evidence is not required. It is the pervasive McCarthyism of the Left.

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Talking about progress and how how progressive were the trends that changed our society in the last 50 years or so, let's think of an experiment.

Let's say we meet a foreigner, who is absolutely unfamiliar with our culture. We take him to the video store, where we rent a typical movie from each decade - one from the 50s, one from the 60s and so forth. Once our guest watches these movies, we ask him to rank them - from the most progressive to the least. Which one, do you think will be rated the least progressive? Would the results be any different if instead of movies, we ask our guest to rank books, songs, artworks, magazines or anything else that leaves our high-tech out of the picture?

Somehow I have an impression that this hypothetical foreigner will find modern "post-Christian" culture regressing, if not - a dying culture. Am I being too pessimistic?