I consider myself a thorough-going declinist, which is easier than saying hell-in-a-handbasketist. And I am quite comfortable in that worldview. To be clear, this is not at all the same thing as doom-and-gloom pessimism. For us, the situation is hopeless, but not serious. For them, everything is forever hopeless and serious. The cramped and self-pitying view of these dour and sour pessimists is not for me. Avoid such people at parties, if you can. Dispassion and/or realism in the face of the overall fallenness of our world does not fit neatly into a binary choice between optimism and pessimism. It does not take a particularly perceptive person to note the weariness in our sagging old Western civilization. In the meanwhile, small kindnesses abound. If not exactly happiness, then certainly joy can be had, which is, anyway, far better and more lasting. Laughter, food and drink can still be shared and enjoyed around the table. Think “Love in the Ruins.”
In Praise of Declinism
In Praise of Declinism
In Praise of Declinism
I consider myself a thorough-going declinist, which is easier than saying hell-in-a-handbasketist. And I am quite comfortable in that worldview. To be clear, this is not at all the same thing as doom-and-gloom pessimism. For us, the situation is hopeless, but not serious. For them, everything is forever hopeless and serious. The cramped and self-pitying view of these dour and sour pessimists is not for me. Avoid such people at parties, if you can. Dispassion and/or realism in the face of the overall fallenness of our world does not fit neatly into a binary choice between optimism and pessimism. It does not take a particularly perceptive person to note the weariness in our sagging old Western civilization. In the meanwhile, small kindnesses abound. If not exactly happiness, then certainly joy can be had, which is, anyway, far better and more lasting. Laughter, food and drink can still be shared and enjoyed around the table. Think “Love in the Ruins.”