Why Do Many Societies Crumble?

During our history class, we discussed why many of the civilizations that we created could potentially run into major troubles. I believe that the reason why many of our classroom teams made civilizations that wouldn’t be able to survive was similar to the reason why many early and current civilizations and governments actually have crumbled.  

The overlapping issue that most of our created civilizations had was that when we didn’t think enough about how citizens can get access to basic necessities and stay safe while doing so created them.  Instead, we focused on complex aspects of the civilization such as governmental systems and religious practices.   This shortcoming led to many groups, including ours, to have to come up with new ideas on the spot (while being questioned by Mr. Moran) that answered how citizens would obtain the basic things they needed.  These answers were not well thought out and therefore lacked rationality. 

I believe that the problem we had while creating our own civilizations is very similar to problems that real world societies continue to have. This issue is that the individuals who lead civilizations often focus on preserving their territory or conquering other land.  But these creations are not as vital to people as having a stable food supply, a clean water source, and sufficient protection.  These developments would only be vital to civilizations that can easily provide for the basic needs of their people. Instead, often times leaders get so involved in other matters that they forget to prioritize what people really needed.  When the people living in a society aren't provided with their basic needs such as food and water or other things that they consider to be basic human rights, then they often revolt against their leadership.  The result is chaos, destruction, and sometimes the end of a civilization.   If basic human needs cannot be met, everything else that has been established crumbles.

To refer back to a previous blog, maybe a utopia is possible, but only under circumstances that a society builds on the principle of keeping its citizens healthy and happy.