One theme in our societal decay is the loss of focus on reality. A concrete example of this is the trajectory both fantasy and science fiction underwent during the 20th/21st century:
Philology -> Tolkien -> Dungeons and Dragons -> Queer dungeons and dragons/glowfic/etc
Industrial/Science books for children -> Heinlein -> Star Trek -> Queer Space Opera/glowfic/etc
You end up with the same mush in both cases, but with slightly different aesthetics.
@jdp something similar to this has been bouncing around in my head, but not articulated this well
i'm pretty sure that queer stuff isn't the only degenerate end though, see also the power fantasies that fill bad manga/fanfiction
some threads to pull on here:
-what circumstances lead to people abandoning reality? has this happened before?
-what's the deal with the current attractor state(s)? why is it compelling, what void is it filling, how can we channel this in a more interesting way?
