The Four Horseman Are Bored, And Yet Declinism Continues To Rise
Throughout history, declinism has hurt democracy.
In 1495, under the gothic spires of San Marco, Girolamo Savonarola ranted like a medieval doomsday podcaster to a jittery crowd of Florentines. Clad in Dominican robes so worn they practically begged for a GoFundMe, he raged against the moral decay of the city. Divine judgment, he declared, wasn’t just on the horizon — it was double-parked in Florence.
Cue The Four Horsemen…Savonarola proclaimed they were already galloping toward Florence — “…one white, the second red, the third black, and the fourth pale.”¹ Pestilence would ravage the city’s children. Famine would empty their bellies. War would graffiti their piazzas in blood. And death? Well, death doesn’t need an intro.
Not a cheery guy, that Savonarola.
But Savonarola wasn’t just the apocalypse hype-man; he made it a local event. In 1497, he masterminded the Bonfire of the Vanities — a cultural purge so extreme it makes today’s book bans look quaint.
Florentines tossed jewelry, art, clothing, and cosmetics into the flames, convinced…
