I’ve written plenty on cultural decline. I am a novelist, a journalist, and a critic. It is important to diagnose what ails us, and to not run away from it. But we’re now more than halfway through the 2020s. What irked me about Garner’s column is that it would have been more useful four or five years ago. It would not have seemed, at least, so obvious. And it could not be blamed for ignoring what’s come to the fore since.