The hollow souls cultivated by the political/economics of mature capitalism began to deal with their dillemma by translating the spiritual emptiness into high art. The mastery of despair, the extolling of the criminal, the escape into hero-worship and the cultivation of a tolerance and even an appetite for degeneracy – these were the central themes of haute coutoure in the first half of the 20th century in Europe.
That it produced monsters was only part of the problem; it also subverted the common sense of civil society and distracted even the most earnest and well intentioned Westerners from the proper pursuit of a life based on good values. The world of high culture became the instrument of decadence.
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