Western civilization HAS been on the decline, since the mid 16th century. These things take time you understand, and it isn't always in readily identifiable ways. It isn't a ball rolling down the hill unencumbered either, there are stops along the way, snags, which slow it down and icy patches which speed it up.
If you are tired of hyperbole, and I don't mean this rudely, seriously, I don't mean this rudely but perhaps you need to take a break from these kinds of forums. The underlying purpose of political forums is for the disenchanted to vent their frustrations. As such, hyperbole is like the poor, it will always be with us.
But to your comment; if idiocy such as this, as far spread as this, isn't a sign of degradation -- what criteria do you feel fits the bill?
I mean, me myself find using shame as a political weapon to advance what I and many others find as shameful behavior turning right and wrong topsy turvy on its head, and making the individuals who are in the right, who are following the law, who are properly identifying those who are in violation of it as the bad guys...Yeah, I pretty much would say that is a clear cut indicator of a downward trend for our society. Not only the use of said weapon, but the motive for which it is used, the violation of national sovereignty and all that that goes with it.
