The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
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The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
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Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#2Eh, I grew up with the faces on TV constantly blabbering about the "decadent West" and yet my country and most of the ex-USSR has deteriorated worse than any western one.
My eyes kind of roll every time someone says decadent society as it reminds me of communist propaganda.
Not seeing much of those four horsemen, either.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#3Well, there's something you don't see very often these days: conservative intellectuals. The old stalwarts of Ross Douthat and the AEI. The problem is though, if you skip ahead to the conclusion:
> [T]he only thing more frightening than the possibility of annihilation is the possibility that our society could coast on forever as it is—like a Rome without an Attila to sack its palaces, or a Nineveh without Yahweh to pass judgment on its crimes
- arguing, effectively, that America is too comfortable and therefore must be destroyed? In some ways this feels like a quaint thing to worry about as a pandemic sweeps the US and police and demonstrators fight in the streets, but perhaps it explains the blase approach that has been taken to those events.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#4Well, there's something you don't see very often these days: conservative intellectuals. The old stalwarts of Ross Douthat and the AEI. The problem is though, if you skip ahead to the conclusion: > [T]he only thing more frightening than the possibility of annihilation is the possibility that our society could coast on forever as it is—like a Rome without an Attila to sack its palaces, or a Nineveh without Yahweh to p…
This comment would make sense on Reddit or twitter “maybe” due to how easy it is to fall into a bubble but on HN? This website regularly features content from conservative intellectuals.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#5Well, there's something you don't see very often these days: conservative intellectuals. The old stalwarts of Ross Douthat and the AEI. The problem is though, if you skip ahead to the conclusion: > [T]he only thing more frightening than the possibility of annihilation is the possibility that our society could coast on forever as it is—like a Rome without an Attila to sack its palaces, or a Nineveh without Yahweh to p…
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Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#6Well, there's something you don't see very often these days: conservative intellectuals. The old stalwarts of Ross Douthat and the AEI. The problem is though, if you skip ahead to the conclusion: > [T]he only thing more frightening than the possibility of annihilation is the possibility that our society could coast on forever as it is—like a Rome without an Attila to sack its palaces, or a Nineveh without Yahweh to p…
You say quaint. To me it seems remarkably out of touch with the real problems Americans face.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#7> But there is also the possibility of a worst case that he describes in a chapter titled “Catastrophe.” Suppose that climate change has created an uninhabitable equator. The aging advanced nations cannot sustain their deficit-financed prosperity. The population of Africa continues its rapid growth, resulting in a mass migration into Europe that meets increasing resistance.
Reading this reminded me a bit of reading the WHO and our own leaders (I’m Danish, we handled the pandemic decently) not to worry about Covid back in January.
Heh.
> In the past, each decadent civilization has eventually given way to a dynamic competitor. In our case, might it be Islam? China? Russia? An America led by a more capable populist president?
This also reads a little weird. The author is obviously well versed in history and the progression of civilisation, and as such, must be aware that we’ve always moved in a progressive direction. Sure it sometimes takes a few life times, but we’ve never moved permanently backwards before, so it would be rather strange if we started doing that now.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#8Well, there's something you don't see very often these days: conservative intellectuals. The old stalwarts of Ross Douthat and the AEI. The problem is though, if you skip ahead to the conclusion: > [T]he only thing more frightening than the possibility of annihilation is the possibility that our society could coast on forever as it is—like a Rome without an Attila to sack its palaces, or a Nineveh without Yahweh to p…
Lincoln believed that the civil war was God’s punishment fwiw.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#9> But there is also the possibility of a worst case that he describes in a chapter titled “Catastrophe.” Suppose that climate change has created an uninhabitable equator. The aging advanced nations cannot sustain their deficit-financed prosperity. The population of Africa continues its rapid growth, resulting in a mass migration into Europe that meets increasing resistance. Reading this reminded me a bit of reading t…
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Re: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
#10Ezra Klein had Ross Douthat (the author) on his podcast to discuss the book and it’s a great conversation. Highly recommend. It’s billed as a debate but it’s not at all contentious, at least I didn’t get that impression.
https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2020/6/17/21293202/ross-douthat...