23
In the history of our species, the interlocked phenomena of sexual
hysteria and the search for scapegoats allow the social beast moving down
the pecking order to ignore the forces shoving it toward the bottom. England
used Oscar Wilde to seize pop culture by the scruff of the neck and give it a
vicious shake. In doing so, Britain forgot the industrialists who had allowed
the new chemical and electrical technologies to slip through their fingers.
She overlooked the complacency that had eroded the international standing
of her schools. She turned away from the siphoning of funds into damaging
mergers and takeovers. Max Nordau's denunciation of pop culture did not
stop the British economic slump. It did, however, divert England's energies
from the tasks that could have saved her.
<< < GO > >>