Victor Davis Hanson argues that our modern world has become in some ways like the Medieval world of the past. To understand his comparison, we need to clear up some misunderstandings most people have about the Middle Ages.

Yes, it was a time of feudal wars, violent crime, and plagues. People lived in unclean urban conditions, rotting food, fouled water, and vermin. But science was advancing, and some of history’s greatest literature was also a product of the medieval mind. We marvel at the beauty of colossal cathedrals in Europe.

Our modern Medieval world has some of the same contrasts. “Our mounting urban filth, dangerous streets, and resurgent diseases are juxtaposed with brilliant revolutions in artificial intelligence, bioengineering, robotics, satellite technology, spaceflight, and cancer research.”

The difference is that we know how to stop disease, crime, and filth but apparently many of our leaders choose not to do so. Instead, vagrants and the homeless must be supported “at least from a distance or as long as he does not show up smelly on your doorstep.”

Of course, there is a cost. When mayors in many of our cities allow human waste and drug infections to collect and increase, deadly Medieval diseases return.

Here is the irony. “In New York, some of the richest people in the world sidestep rancid piles of rat-infested trash. In San Francisco and Chicago, some of the world’s greatest cancer researchers check their shoe soles for human feces before entering their space-age labs.”

Our modern world has become more Medieval than most of us would like to admit.