God only knows how long the discussion about the “decline of the arts” has been going on; if it’s anything like the nostalgia for the “simpler times” of one’s youth, probably since the age of Socrates. (That is not an exaggeration, by the way; Socrates is quoted by Plato lamenting the “disrespect”, “bad manners” and “contempt” shown by youth in his day.) In a thoughtful new essay, The New Republic‘s Jed Perl parses the statement, reminding us first – and correctly – that the word “decline” implies historical inevitability, and that saying such things with any attempted gravitas is foolish. (FULL ARTICLE: Jed Perl, The New Republic)