They do have a way out - instead of pretending to have achieved holiness on this subject, just not perpetuate the problem. Boring and mundane, yeah.
But this is actually the hardest thing to do for people of all European (in very general sense) cultures, even USSR had that “догнать и перегнать”, Europeans simply can’t admit that the best they can do in some cases is to not make matters worse. They always need to claim the crown.