Does Declinism Matter?
Rather than betting on declinism as an amorphous political force, we should take the hard route, the one that requires intellectual honesty. Perhaps, in the face of the huge challenges of climate change, or the various social injustices we’re still facing, it is useful to “scare straight” those who believe that nothing needs to change. But then, scaring straight has never been shown to be a particularly good strategy in law enforcement, either, and it might as well backfire.