Aeon has been advertising Wampole’s essay as mainly a history of a bad idea. It starts with that but goes to much more interesting places, relevant to many arts, fan to master and lowest to highest brow. Very highly recommendedhttps://aeon.co/essays/the-idea-of-cultural-degeneration-has-an-unsavoury-pedigree …
my friend group (and my marriage!) straddles red-tribe "God is displeased with the increasing immorality" and gray-blue-tribe "if people pay for X, then by principle of revealed preference..." and so I am extra attuned to "I like your conclusion but I already know the counter..."