Discourse: Modern Decadence...So, has anyone else encountered the argument against Modern Decadence? That is to say, the idea that the modern consumerist era is unreasonably decadent across the board?
Discourse: Modern DecadenceLike, I've seen people making much smaller version of this often enough, arguing against whatever particular thing they don't like - sports stadiums, gay marriage, traveling vacations, video games, novels, fashion, television, internet entertainment, etc, etc. But I recently encountered a much more general argument, railing against all of these things at once, which was very impressive. :/
Discourse: Modern DecadenceTo be honest, I'm vaguely sympathetic - I do think there's a lot that could be said about how we spend our efforts in the modern era. But goddamn, what a fight to pick! You want to take on drivers, sports fans, gamers, fashionistas, novelists and avid readers, anyone who enjoys entertainment on television or the internet... Ooof. Good luck, I guess. :/
Discourse: Modern DecadenceAnd I really am sympathetic! If we were willing to cancel sports and high fashion and new video games and all that for a year, and dedicate the money and resources that went into them to solving serious problems... There's a lot that we could get done. Could probably solve world hunger, make a significant dent in global warming, fix the damn potholes in local streets, etc, etc... And that's not even mentioning the inefficiencies regarding cars and their infrastructure.
Discourse: Modern DecadenceBut of course, we're not willing to do that, and we're not going to be willing to do that. And even if we were, it would play merry hell on our economic system - I imagine all the professional athletes would have strong things to say about having their jobs canceled for a year, and that's only the beginning - what about all the people associated with these industries who aren't millionaires, and are living paycheck to paycheck? :/
Discourse: Modern DecadenceSo, in part it gets into our economic system - capitalism demands that you find something to sell, and if that means "encouraging decadence and wastefulness", well so be it, it beats not having a job. And if you want to talk about changing our economic system, well, that's it's own can of worms. :/
Discourse: Modern DecadenceSo, in conclusion: Yeah, I kinda do think our society is a little decadent and wasteful, but good luck ever getting a majority of people to agree on what parts in particular, let alone agreeing on what to to do about them. :/
re: Discourse: Modern Decadence@Angle And the job of critical sociology is actually to warn societies about the internal contradictions within them that may lead to their collapse. Think about the Roman empire's wars or about the impact of capitalism on our global civilization.
