The us feels more like a series of independent city states on our margins. Is decadencyclical? Or it just keeps on getting worse and worse? I think that it can be cyclical. There does seem to be a kind of low fertility trap that countries get into, where you have small families, growth and vigor slow down. And in that landscape, there's less support for having children, and so fertility rates stay low,. That drives economic growth rates lower. You and that sort of those things feed on another.
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