The oft-bewailed decline of intellectuals in the so-called west, which has quickly spread to the so-called east, and the concomitant rise of entertainers and charlatans of all kinds, including buffoons at the helm, is nothing unprecedented. And nothing worth bewailing. It has been revisited regularly enough since antiquity and across the globe. Assyria, India, China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Arabia among other great civilizations are replete with such ignominious ebbs. By and large, they come upon in times of plenty. And these are the best of times for the intellectuals, the learned, and the wise to turn inwards. As well as to stick close together for warmth, if for no other palpable reason. For the times of plague are always not long in coming, when their words and deeds will come handy once again. And how. Or so pathetically consoles himself or herself many an intellectual now in the doldrums. Perhaps even I.