(Title: Joe Jackson, from Look Sharp)
Alright; I said something about my view of the position of and prospects for Western Civilization. This may take me a few pages, and for that reason I may “serialize” it over a couple of posts, or it may come out in one blob. Read on to find out…
I also foolishly said something about imposing some structure on it, i.e. a proper essay even. We’ll also see about that, but be warned that since I’m not getting marked on this I’ll settle for “coherent”.
Position is the logical place to start, and although less arcane than the future, it’s still pretty muddled, and opinions are like anuses, everyone has one. Some seem to have more than one, but I digress…
Well, my opinion then. To sum it up: we are equally balanced between absorption/obliteration and continued economic and cultural dominance of the world. This is fence sitting in fine style, except that I’m not a moral relativist at the end of the day: some things ARE better than some other things, say I.
In case I’ve not been clear about it previously, I do in fact prefer our flawed democracies to anything else out there, since what passes for our culture gives one the latitude to be a nudist or a born-again Christian (conceivably both) and still make a positive contribution to society. Diversity of ideas is a fine thing, but diversity (or lack) of standards is most certainly NOT.
There you have it; our very strength is also our (possibly terminal) weakness. “I’m OK, you’re OK” is bullshit as a philosophy and is a good intention which paves great swathes of the road to hell. I have touched on this previously , but the West needs a standard to rally around. (By standard I mean “flag”, “colours”, “eagle”, etc.) Religion is down and out in the post-industrial West, so I admit that I am at a bit of a loss for a rallying cry.
Yes, there is a good chunk of the Muslim world that wants to knock us all back to 700AD or whatever they’d number it. There are other possibly hostile forces at work (don’t ignore the Chinese, the Indians or even the Russians), but the “clear and present danger” is Wahhabi/Deobandi/ad nauseum Islam.
Their mindset (product of years of brainwashing for the most part) is completely at odds with any notion of progress. They’re agin’ it, full stop. Last I checked, it was “progress” or at least the idea of it, which got us electricity, rule of law, central heating, sliced bread, etc. In other words, the fact that I can do what I’m doing right now (typing this while eating M&Ms and listening to Rancid) has little to do with the systems that cover most of the world today and less-than zero to do with Islam in any way shape or form. Before you get on that thing about the Islamic world being a beacon of learning in the Middle Ages, think about how it was that they came to “preserve” those Greek and Latin classics. One word: Conquest.
If you take the head start they had due to the places they took over (
That is a statement of outrageous cheek to say the least, but I will defend it quite literally to the death. With a nod to Serenity however, that isn’t exactly Plan “A”. General Patton’s line about making the other s.o.b. die for his country is more my style. And our side needs a lot more of that attitude to tilt the scales the right way for our idea of civilization.
We stand near-paralyzed by our political correctness and Official Multiculturalism (not to be confused with the natural, cosmopolitan variety). I directed you to that paper by Edward Luttwak last time, and that covers the tactical aspects of it as well as or better than I could. The best example of why the Americans are doomed to eventual failure in
This gets us onto another sticky subject; do we want to do that sort of thing? The answer is of course “no”, but this begs another question; if not, then why are you playing an Imperial game by the rules of politically-correct Democracies?
Rightly or wrongly, I don’t believe in “Nation-building”. If the place has been unable to sort itself out by this point in history, it’s terribly presumptuous of us to think we can do it (with one arm tied behind our back) in one 4-5 year term of office. This assumes they actually want us there in the first place; that’s not usually the case, and whatever novelty we have on first arrival rapidly wears away…
I have a job and a life, so the books that could come of this outburst will remain unwritten (by me) for the moment. So, where do we stand? Well, we have a missionary urge to spread Democracy without the faith and dare I say it, ruthlessness, to get the job done, savages be damned. We’re on a very high horse, and there are a
The “Fifth Column” has already undermined us, and our worst enemy is us. Lack of perspective leads to questionable vision, if there’s any grand vision at all. And one of the truest clichés of all: if you try to please everyone, you please no-one.
I haven’t dropped any Kipling for a while, and this one came to me toward the end of this rant:
“As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!”
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