https://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/08/11/on-decadence/
The American Interest
Decadence may be an inevitable outgrowth of modernity, but it doesn’t necessarily presage decline and fall. Liberty, properly understood as based on self-discipline, is the best bulwark against social and moral decay.
“D
ecline” we Americans and Westerners mope about daily; “fall” most of us still hope to postpone. Decadence, it would seem, is the mean between the two.
The much-overused decline and fall trope, fixed permanently into our abstract vocabulary ever since Edward Gibbon’s
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire took a then-experimentally post-Christian Western Europe by storm, was meant to demonstrate the mortality of all human constructions. Oddly enough, however, Gibbon did it in spite of the Enlightenment’s discovery of progress by retreating to the oldest trope of all the cyclical, organic metaphor of birth, growth, decay, death. Much of the 19
charged as soon as he is released. his condition upgraded to serious. an inmate who stab ad sheriff s deputy before escaping a detroit courthouse has been caught after a 13 hour manhunt. police say abraham pierson was awaiting robbery and weapons charges when he bolted the courtroom. jenna: in california a serious situation for firefighters in san francisco. they re battling a wildfire tearing through a popular wilderness peaker. the fire spread five square miles is only 45% contained and now forcing even more people from their homes. our claudia cowan is live in our san francisco bureau with more on this. claudia, it s a big fire but it is not the only one that is burning today in northern california. reporter: yeah, we have several out here in the west, jenna. warm temperatures and erratic winds are certainly not helping the situation but crews are getting a handle on the two biggest wildfires. let s start with the morgan fire. this started on sunday near
down from 40 miles an hour maybe to minimal tropical storm intensity. we ll keep you updated. kate, chris? we ll be watching it through the week. thank you so much, karen. the concern is hurricanes down there along the eastern seaboard. out west we re worried about fires. let s get to michaela for the latest. it has been delivering as such. let s bring you up to date on the situation in san francisco and around the bay area. officials optimistic they will contain the morgan fire sooner than expected. as of last night, the fire seemingly stopped spreading. another california fire, the clover fire, grew to 2,500 acres and damaged or destroyed 20 structures. an inmate who authorities say stabbed an officer outside a detroit courtroom and escaped wearing his uniform now back in custody. during his escape, police say 25-year-old derrick white who also goes by the name abraham pierson car jacked a mini van which was later recovered.
responsibilities. reporter: after stabbing the deputy several times in the neck, pierson snatched his clothes, keys, cell phone and radio, bypassed building security by taking the prisoner elevator and watched right out the front door. he then car jacked a mini van outside police headquarters. the woman was screaming, help, help! he s got my car! help! reporter: her vehicle was found smashed into a cluster of trees two miles away. he said get out or i ll kill you. and i got out. reporter: soon after, pierson disposed of the deputy uniform. it was found underneath this red jeep. there was no break in the case until late in the evening when someone spotted him walking near interstate 94. pierson, seen here in the back of a police car, is now back in jail. he faces at least 11 additional charges. you can bet he does. what a story. now we re told that the deputy who was stabbed is 63 years old. the good news, did he not suffer