I have been thinking about this for a long while. Knowing where we have gone in Western society, and what the trajectory seems to be, how long until it all comes crashing down?

I am in my mid 30s. I am of a generation that was fortunate enough to witness the effects of no-fault divorce happening on all sides, and thus, be equipped to handle this reality more effectively. Eventually, the majority of your friends' parents would be getting a divorce. They would then be either living with only the mom, or shifted between homes every so often. You'd lose some friends through this, as they might have moved cities/schools, or you might see them leave the neighbourhood to be with dad every other weekend, if dad was lucky. When you went to their houses, you'd hear mom complain about how horrible dad is, and the new man was already in the picture. If it happened after they were a certain age, where they were allowed to choose the parent to live with, they would choose the one who set less rules. Eventually that would run its course, they would switch parents. Sometimes their surnames would change to their mother's maiden name, or to some hyphenated surname. (My dad always told me to avoid women with a hyphen... wise words).

Seeing this as a normal part of everyday life, I grew up dreadfully afraid of divorce. I saw successful men destroyed, and cut off from their kids. Many became alcoholics, or became worse alcoholics than they already were. Their money would be spent on legal fees, as they desperately tried to win an unwinnable court battle. Damn those sneaky lawyers who gave them false hope! They knew it was unwinnable.

I committed myself early to the idea of a prenup. I wanted to get married, but only if there was a prenup. In the few relationships I was able to manage, I would bring this topic up. It was always met with tears. This is the topic that destroyed my relationships, looking back. It's when I revealed that I know how this whole thing works, without actually realizing I had done so.

I'm no Chad. I started out skinny, with a big acne problem, before I got into fitness. This brings me to the next part of this post: the existence of the Chad concept. The fact that we even have a name for it, and universally understand who Chad is, tells me we have a society with big problems. Chad is lucky, but not too lucky. Chad gets all the sex, but he is also distracted from forms of fulfillment outside of lust. Chad's the guy in your group of friends who has herpes. He's also the guy who is more susceptible to all forms of drama. I used to envy Chad, but now I pity him, for his life is truly more difficult than my own. He is more easily presented with opportunities to fuck up his own life, and be diverted to a negative trajectory overall.

We know that historically, empires last about 300 years, give or take. They go through different ages: Pioneering, Conquest, Commerce, Affluence, Intellect, and finally, most importantly, Decadence. Great empires have collapsed upon themselves, by their cores rotting away and being unable to support what was built on top. Everything happens in cycles. In the West, we are very obviously in the Age of Decadence. Nobody else has escaped this, and I don't think it's different this time.

So my question is, how much longer? Is it a slow burn, or a quick explosion? 30 more years? 1 more year? This is where I'm confused.

And what replaces it? Looking at societies that have existed for the longest periods, certain lessons are learned through the collapse. The West, whose star member is the USA (roughly at the dreaded 300 year mark), has many lessons to learn still. I look at religions, and see codes of conduct that have been created. I can't help but think these were due to lessons learned. Why wait for sex until marriage? In the past there were very practical reasons, such as ensuring paternity. Today we laugh at this concept. But think about all the problems it would avoid today. No worrying about consent, the marriage contract obviously gives sexual consent. No regrets about that drunken orgy, because in a society where today's sexual behaviour is socially unacceptable, the likelihood of one even happening is significantly lower. No long list of partners and emotional damage from each one to bring into the marriage. No diseases. We could wipe out STIs if we wanted to. Of course these rules came from practicality! But now this idea is unpalatable, just as marriage has become unpalatable to us. (Also funny that for the religious, sex starts after marriage and for the non-religious it stops after marriage!)

And when we do return to this mode of thinking after the collapse, how long until we forget? There is nothing new about sexual depravity, though it is promoted as a "new" and "modern" way of thinking by its proponents. The Greeks beat you all to it thousands of years ago, along with many others. There is nothing new here.

MGTOW is a way of life that will not result in offspring. This kills society over time. Are we the ones who kill this thing by opting out? It's so obvious that things don't work as they are, so it will be changed one way or another for balance to return.