Comments by "" (@SG-js2qn) on "How Civilizations Die, According to Arnold Toynbee" video.

This is not quite on the mark. What happens is that success puts air under the wings of the hedonists, and hedonism destroys everything: relationships, communities, economies. Difficult times push people to behave in moral ways, which builds good faith relationships and civilization. In China and Russia, they've figured out how to prevent morality from breaking out, by using state-sanctioned crime and religious corruption to keep people in a hedonistic state. Thus their countries are in a slow boil of self-destruction - never prospering for long - and the rulers keep on ruling. This method of rule has been copied into Islamic nations, like Iran. The last thing any of these countries want is an outbreak of real morality and civilization building.
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