Last month for WAWR I wrote that I picked up The Decadent Society by the lone staff writer at NY Times thats supposed to be their “conservative” columnist.  I bought it after I read this review by Peter Thiel.  It turns out Thiel’s name comes up several times in the book, none of them regarding anything negative.  I guess if you kiss his ass enough times he’ll give you a shout out.

This is my review of Laughing Dog The Dogfather Imperial Stout.

The book itself is broken into multiple parts, where Douhat explains multiple facets of a single premise:  we’re stuck in a rut, but its a comfortable rut to be in.

The first part of the book is called “The Four Horseman”.  Those being Stagnation, Sterility, Sclerosis, and Repetition.  All of these are simply symptoms of societal decadence as he describes it.  Stagnation being the point in time where economic growth is a point where the majority live comfortably relative to each other.  While inequality exists as it always has, in general the key difference in how you and I might live isn’t terribly different than Bill Gates.  He and I share access to the same basic needs.  He has running water, a climate controlled home, a refrigerator, a car, etc.  I have all of the same.  There are however, luxury goods and services he can afford that I certainly cannot, and I am certain he has a better car than I—several in fact.

The disparity is his ability to create and market products on a large enough scale to accumulate wealth over his lifetime that I have not.  The most basic levels for both of us, however are covered.  This is what accounts for stagnation because in the past, marketable good and services met basic needs, today those are all met for so many the incentive to go further for nearly all of us is not there.  In essence, why build a better mousetrap when there is no infestation of mice taking your food?  With this come sterility, where a decline in birthrates occurs when a society reaches the point of decadence. Sclerosis where the society essentially falls back on past successes rather than improves and moves beyond them.  This ends in repetition where society goes into a form of groundhog day, and relives the best of itself over and over.  The example Douhat gives are most easily seen in popular culture.  My generation for example doesn’t have a cultural phenomenon like Star Wars or The Beatles, we just borrowed those from Boomers, repackaged and resold them—poorly for the most part.

In a conversation somebody pointed out to me once the 90’s never really ended.  He’s right in that sense, because that was really the last time anybody was willing to try anything new.  Check out this list of comedies. Never mind the rankings, that isn’t the point; see how many were made in  the last 10 years (Three. One I have not seem and two of them aren’t even funny).

The next part of the book is where he goes on to describe how we got to this point.  He doesn’t really assign blame, but attempts to take an honest assessment of factors.  Yes, he does spend time talking about politicians and their role in facilitating all of this.  My initial impression of this book still holds.  This reads like all of his columns:  he is good at identifying the cause and effect but not always to the right conclusion.

Captain’s Log: We’ve been locked down for six days. I’ve been using a copy of Harry Potter for toilet paper. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi.

The underlying warning is societal decay is a gradual force from within that suddenly collapses upon itself when faced with a outside threat that otherwise would not be an issue when the society was at its peak.  It is not a book to recommend to a mid-wit while locked down during Corona Virus, as it will probably scare the Hell out of him.

It does end on a high note.  Which is where Peter Thiel comes back in. Essentially there is still a group that is willing to risk their fortunes in places where we previously thought no fortune could be made.  Douhat specifically cites the burgeoning space industry to effectively move us out of the rut and into a new frontier.  New technology creates new markets, new markets creates necessities we never though we could live without.

It going to be 108 degrees tomorrow, so this is probably going to be the last time I review one of these for a while.  I thought I would be in the mood for it, but I wasn’t.  Laughing Dog makes a competitive entry that maybe goes a bit far with the bourbon notes but I was overall happy with it.  The stout is not so much like burnt coffee so that may be why I noticed the whiskey more.  Laughing Dog The Dogfather Imperial Stout:  3.9/5