Fertility declines in not just the us, but to take a strong case, finland, right? Which his had in spite of all its social supports for child rearing. Thet aren't single sex spaces,. They aren't spaces where women go to be women and men go to be men; they meet in the dating market. I think readily available, constantly available pornography pushes men away from women. It makes them less marriageable, makes them literally more impotent in certain ways. And is a sort of under appreciated aspect in the decline of men.
For Ross Douthat, decadence isn’t necessarily a moral judgement, but a technical label for a state that societies tend to enter—and one that is perhaps much more normal than the dynamism Americans have come to take for granted. In his new book, he outlines the cultural, economic, political, and demographic trends that threaten to leave us to wallow in a state of civilizational stagnation for years to come, and fuel further discontent and derangement with it.
On his second appearance on Conversations with Tyler, Ross joined Tyler to discuss why he sees Kanye as a force for anti-decadence, the innovative antiquarianism of the late Sir Roger Scruton, the mediocrity of modern architecture, why it’s no coincidence that Michel Houellebecq comes from France, his predictions for the future trajectory of American decadence – and what could throw us off of it, the question of men’s role in modernity, why he feels Christianity must embrace a kind of futurist optimism, what he sees as the influence of the “Thielian ethos” on conservatism, the plausibility of ghosts and alien UFOs, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded February 25th, 2020 Other ways to connect