Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Decadence
In a YouTube comment thread, a person challenged me to define “decadence” after I had described the cultural decline of Weimar Germany
I went with the following:
“I'm no expert and I would hate to use the cliche' "I know it when I see it" but generally, l'd say it's an excess where wanton pursuit of superficial and even dangerous pleasures override any constraints that stabilize society and offer standards that one would wish to pass on to future generations. I'm sure that such a definition can be challenged but…”I know it when I see it. 😉”