In cities big and small, groups and companies that are in decline often try to conceal bad news about their performance or popularity.
An easy way to attempt this is to change the unit of measure by which the group reports membership, readership, production, popularity, etc.
To disguise a precipitous decline in production, for example, a group might change the unit of measure by which it reports success.
So, they might declare that they produced 3,000 gallons in 2012, and had another great year in 2013 by producing 3,000 quarts.
The change in the unit of production is a trick, to preserve the illusion that they’re still producing 3,000 of something. Of course, they are producing 3,000 of something, it’s just that it’s 3,000 of something much smaller, and only one-fourth of the previous size.
Wait long enough, and they’ll be compelled to report production in pints, cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. Still three-thousand of each, perhaps, but three-thousand of ever-smaller units.
One should care about this change in measurement only slightly. It’s true that it’s meant to work a deception, but it scarcely matters.
First, the overwhelming majority of people in a community are easily sharp enough to spot the supposedly crafty sleight-of-hand. They’ll see through it.
Second, as a group declines in production or popularity, they become increasingly irrelevant, and their attempts to conceal their decline matter less because, having truly waned, they’ve not the influence or importance they once had. They can say what they want, but it matters less and less.
And that, all said and done, is what decline means.