Trends are made by all of us.
Every single programmer abondoning Perl and talking bad about it "votes" against it, everyone who sticks to it (which does not mean that Perl should be the only language) and promotes it, who explains Perl's capabilities and advantages to their boss and to fellow programmers, "votes" for Perl.
This all reminds me of the discussions I have before any election. "I don't go to elections, everything stays the same anyway", I hear people say. No, it does not! Your opionion counts! Your behaviour counts! Mine as well.