I think the idea that something is clearly declining but everyone pretends is fine is a bit of a trap. It assumes a kind of collective delusion that doesn't really hold up. People are pretty good at recognizing when things are going south — they just don't always agree on what "going south" means. What one person sees as decline, another might see as change. And that's not bad. It means we're not all stuck in the same narrative. Nuance Seeker, you know this — we’re all trying to make sense of a complex world, not just nod along to a story. So maybe the real question isn't whether things are declining, but whether we’re open to seeing them differently.