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woo len clothing, in Anarchism, Socialism, women's dress, madness, suicide,
nervous diseases, drug addiction, dancing, sexual license, all of which were
combining to produce a society without self-control, discipline or shame
which was 'marching to its certain ruin because it is too worn out and flaccid
to perform great tasks.'33
In the days before television and the CD, poetry, plays and novels were
the equivalent of today's electronic mass consumer fare. Nordau was
indicting all of pop culture.
One of the most visible popular artists of the day was Oscar Wilde. In
1895, his play The Importance of Being Earnest was a huge success. His books
were widely read. His humor was quoted everywhere. But Wilde's sexual
habits were exactly the kind that all good citizens knew were destroying
England. Oscar was a homosexual.
When the flamboyant author filed a libel case against the Marquess of
Queensberry, Wilde, rather than the Marquess, suddenly became the subject
of scrutiny. A series of trials luridly pictured affairs with male prostitutes, a
valet, a groom and even a boat attendant. The newspapers flew into a fit of
moral outrage. Cabbies and newsboys derided Oscar's sins. His books were
removed from the stores. Two young noblemen implicated in similar
activities were quietly let off the hook. But Wilde was sent to prison for two
years. The incarceration drained the life from him. A mere 36 months after
his release from Reading Gaol, Oscar Wilde died. He was 46 years old.
Oscar Wilde's imprisonment did not save England. Nor did the
publication of Nordau's irascible book. But both gave the English the
comfortable illusion that they had some sort of control over their unpleasant
fate. And both distracted Britain from that fate's actual causes.
Since the early 1970s, America has experienced a decline similar to that
which afflicted Victorian England. For decades, our exports exceeded our
imports. That began to change in 1971. In 1973, we were victimized by an oil
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