Tradthot has a good question. My theory is the powers in control want all Western nations (their native people) to die, therefore they are bombarded with ugliness, contradicting and nihilistic belief systems, and deprived of any higher purpose that would cultivate life. In reverse, this implies that beauty in the arts/fiction, architecture, and a life based on a coherent belief system with a grand higher purpose (*cough* Traditional Christianity) would cultivate life.