What’s sad about a dying civilization is that the only people who see it are those who have these traits:
- Intelligent. 125 IQ points or above. It helps to have real-world experience, but that cannot substitute for what Nietzsche calls “sensitivity,” or a fineness of discernment.
- Sincere. They believe in the scientific method of finding truth and value truth and believe pursuing it is their salvation.
- Moral. They are, as a great author paraphrased said, at a state of moral attention at all times, being aware of how people’s actions will impact the world at large as well as other humans.
Everyone else is oblivious to consequences beyond the next paycheck, and cannot predict the outcomes of more than a single factor over more than a few days anyway. Thanks to the Dunning-Kuriger effect, they have no idea they’re incompetent, so they pick theories that make them sound smart (to them) but in fact disregard whole ranges of vital data. They are quintessential sophomores.
They like to use one-sentence, glib answers where thought is required; in that alone they reveal they are not sincere, intelligent or moral. But they think their cleverness hides the truth. It’s no wonder these things run in cycles: society gets wealthy, this enables people who are at the moral level of monkeys to become parasites, and then the parasites band together and make it illegal to point out truth, reality or other things that make unstable individuals experience self-doubt. They make monkeytime, or an age of irresponsible lack of accountability, the law of the land, even though it’s contrary to the laws of mathematics, information and nature.
As a result, the society plunges into dark ages for a while until a strongman comes along who legalizes reality and boosts people out of denial. Then the process of civilization can restart.
[...] Instead, you need to stand your ground and separate the smart from the fools, and either censor the fools or removing them, but either way, keep them from lowering the standard of your community, because they will, and soon your community will be only populated by people too silly to see they are selfish and destructive. [...]
Essential reading on this topic is Toynbee’s A Study of History. There is a cycle except its not a simple circle but a cone. A cone allows for growth and change in a culture while still experiencing these recurring self defeating societal tragedies. By Toynbee’s exhaustive analysis the “strong man” as you put it, is an essential element to rectify the path of the culture. This individual typically arises out of the bourgeoisie during a culture’s time of troubles.