This sort of absurd, ultra-bleak reading of the remarkable prosperity of modern societies is not only embarrassingly wrong - and I saw a historian retweet this sincerely (!!) - but also helps fuel not materialist, left-wing politics, but rather reactionary right-wing politics ('RETVRN-ism').

Why blame geography when it's clear your friends were completely hollow from the get-go. It's not brainwashing if they never held any serious convictions in the first place.

Rethink this.