As I have remarked here in the past, the feeling that the world is going to Hell in a hand-basket is a timeless feature of human nature. The world has always been, and will always be, going to Hell in a hand-basket. Still, one pauses: after all, there was someone living an ordinary life in Rome when it was sacked by the barbarians. It’s a matter of timing. You never know what you’re in for.

— Stephen Pentz, “Presence

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