Kick-Ass

[gbeenie]

In my experience, the "Oh No! Civility is on the decline! Western civilization stands poised on the brink of ruin!" argument is composed of the following base elements:

Nostalgia for a period in time that never actually existed - 100%
Knowledge/understanding of human history - 0%

[ScottotD]

In my experience, the "Oh No! Civility is on the decline! Western civilization stands poised on the brink of ruin!" argument is composed of the following base elements:

Nostalgia for a period in time that never actually existed - 100%
Knowledge/understanding of human history - 0%

[Nunyerbiz]

In my experience, the "Oh No! Civility is on the decline! Western civilization stands poised on the brink of ruin!" argument is composed of the following base elements:

Nostalgia for a period in time that never actually existed - 100%
Knowledge/understanding of human history - 0%

I don't know if this is exactly accurate. I'm sure there were naysayers from days of yore who foresaw the decline of civilization... and the proof is sorta in the pudding. We aren't reading this fancy interweb device in Latin... great civilizations have been poised on the brink of ruin before and have gone over the edge. 

[Pak-Man]

Yeah, but predicting the downfall of our civilization is like saying, "You're gonna die some day." This is more like saying, "You're gonna die some day- From this movie!"

[Nunyerbiz]

Hah! Fair enough... I'm certainly not trying to say that the chicken little crowd is fully justified in their chicken little-isms... Just that I'm not sure if you can state with 100% certainty that moral depravity or lack of civility has never contributed to the downfall of a great civilization.

[Tripe]

Just that I'm not sure if you can state with 100% certainty that moral depravity or lack of civility has never contributed to the downfall of a great civilization.

Depending on how one defines lack of depravity and clean living, Gibbon argues that Rome fell for the complete opposite reason really.

[Nunyerbiz]

Just that I'm not sure if you can state with 100% certainty that moral depravity or lack of civility has never contributed to the downfall of a great civilization.

Depending on how one defines lack of depravity and clean living, Gibbon argues that Rome fell for the complete opposite reason really.

Well, that's kinda my point really... If we could talk about history in terms of 0% knowledge versus 100% knowledge versus wishful thinking versus nostalgia... then Gibbon wouldn't need to argue anything to begin with.