'If You Ask Me the Cause of All This Modern Unrest'

Everyone’s a diagnostician. Everyone comes equipped with a pithy theory. Listen:

“It’s the result of Board School Education—”

“It’s the popular Press—"

“It’s the selfishness of the Working Classes—”

Or, the selfishness of the Wealthy Classes. The Elites. The Kids Today. All of those are popular. Take your pick.   

“It’s the Cinema—"

“It's the Jews—”

That one has come surging back of late. An oldie but a goodie.

“Paid Agitators!—” [a variation on “Outside Agitators,” once an explanation for the Civil Rights Movement]

“The decay of Faith—”

'The disintegration of Family Life—'

“’I put it down,’ I said, ‘to Sun-Spots. If you want to know,’ I went inexorably on, ‘if you ask me the cause of all this modern Unrest—’”

The quoted material is, in toto, a brief entry, “At the Club,” in Logan Pearsall Smith’s More Trivia (1921). Even a century ago there were things to complain about and solve with easily digested explanations. Smith (1865-1946) is best-known for writing: “People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” Wise words. He also wrote: “What’s more enchanting than the voices of young people, when you can’t hear what they say?” Minor writers are a major blessing.

[Smith’s four trivial collections are published in one volume, All Trivia (1933).]