Of course, the rapid decline of the West in today’s world depends on multiple and immensely powerful factors—especially the dynamics of economic and military power. But much is already written about that every day. However, there are other causes that only the non-submissive dare to speak of, while we witness how, in many schools, no one takes on that role.
One such cause—an important one—is how we have gradually allowed the beauty that, since Sappho and even earlier, formed part of humanity’s desirable dream, to be soiled. The market—now amplified by screens—has succeeded in injecting a desire for ugliness. While the most valued works of art have shifted from masterpieces like the Nascita di Venere to objects such as a urinal, many bodies today are covered in tattoos that reject the aesthetic of the Gioconda.
More troubling than the outer decay we see is the inner emptiness we feel. Many minds and hearts have lost their drive for the dreams that once made life far better than what our ancestors endured. Dreams and values like love, family, friendship, and meaningful work are being replaced by hobbies and lifestyles that either ignore those ideals—or worse—delight in their destruction. Violence floods the screens. Old friends’ dinners that used to revive our spirits have become impossible or unpleasant, tainted by betrayal and emotional wounds that leave lifelong scars.
This is how the solidarity that strengthens any society, any collective, begins to fall apart. And in the West, it is crumbling in ways that are not mirrored in other regions—such as parts of the East. Perhaps the future lies in one hegemony replacing another—not necessarily better or worse. Or perhaps the future will be more egalitarian, salvaging the best of every culture together. What it will be depends, in no small part, on schools: on whether there are still brave individuals within them willing to name what is beautiful and what is ugly—unafraid of the loud, ignorant voices who label such clarity as outdated and demand constant transgression by flooding stages, museums, and homes with growing ugliness, replacing friendship and love with rivalry, scorn, and deceit.
Emeritus Full-Professor at the University of Barcelona. Number 1 researcher in Google Scholar Scientific ranking in the categories of "Gender Violence" and "Social Impact". Director of REVERS-ED.