The West Is Dead?
Dean
Whenever Mark Steyn writes on foreign policy, he's worth reading and re-reading. In yesterday's Telegraph he made a most provocative statement regarding President Bush's trip to Europe this week:
America and Europe both face security threats. But the difference is America's are external, and require hard choices in tough neighbourhoods around the world, while the EU's are internal and, as they see it, unlikely to be lessened by the sight of European soldiers joining the Great Satan in liberating, say, Syria. That's not exactly going to help keep the lid on the noisier Continental mosques.
So what would you do in Bush's shoes? Slap 'em around a bit? What for? Where would it get you? Or would you do exactly what he's doing? Climb into the old soup-and-fish, make small talk with Mme Chirac and raise a glass of champagne to the enduring friendship of our peoples: what else is left? This week we're toasting the end of an idea: the death of "the West".
The whole column is good. You can (and should) read it by clicking right here.
After reading his entire column, I suddenly came to the same conclusion: there is no more "the West." It ended when France and Germany refused to help oust the fascist dictator in Baghdad and chose to see America as the real enemy.
It's all just trade alliances from here on out.
How foolish that we ever thought it otherwise.
jan
You also might take a look at the portion of Washington's Farewell Address I quoted in my birthday post yesterday.
Thanks for point this out. It's chilling and reminds me of the opening of Suicide of the West, when Burnham looks over political maps of the world.
We can take care of ourselves, and if the Euroweenies think they can do the same, let them go right ahead. After all, they have such a successful track record of handling things themselves.
But if they stand in our way - such as breeding terrorists - then they should be treated the same as our enemies.
"My fathers have labored and I am weary"
(He was explaining why just just sat around contemplating and never did much.)
Europe has had a pretty terrible century, and even though most of those now expressing world-weariness are too young to have been a part of it, I do think there is something profound in the idea of trans-generational exhaustion.
Big changes are coming, bad changes. By the start of the 22nd century Europe, possibly the whole world, will be a very different place than it is now. Russia will be gone, replaced by numerous little American protectorates and colonies. The People's Republic of China a true democracy. America herself an imperial power, and looking for a way out.
Non-Russian Europe? Recovering from revolts, rebellions, and social upset. We could well see European nations besides Russia disappearing, to be replaced by new. France shrunk down to the area around Paris, while Brittany and other areas enjoy full independence. Spain broken up into the republics of Navarre, Leon, Aragon, and Castile. Germany a confederation of autonomous states.
Europe has pretty much burned out. It will be a hard time before she recovers.
Wow. Sounds a whole like the dark ages.
In Germany, there’s a group of pro-American/Israel anti-fascist Communists called Antifa. The Antifa movement appears to be spreading throughout Europe.
According to the New York Times, some European Jews are aligning with the European center-right because the European Left has aligned itself with anti-Semitic Muslim groups. (this is the New York Times, so it would be wise to check this against a more reliable source).
While ‘old European’ governments are fairly anti-American, and there really is nothing to lose in our relationship with them, new Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic) is relatively pro-American.
All of Europe isn’t hopeless, but alliances have been changing for a while.
"Thanks for point this out. It's chilling and reminds me of the opening of Suicide of the West, when Burnham looks over political maps of the world."
A profound book that was and is. As was and is Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West. Yes, the rest of the West died with Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh. It is now left to America alone to hold up the torch. America is the last citadel of the high culture of the West, the Egypto-Greco-Roman, Judao-Christian, Celtic-Nordic-Gothic, Catholic-style, Faustian, Western European-North American high culture, the culture of Bruno and Beethoven, the culture of Shakespeare and Einstein, the culture of cathedrals, skyscrapers, contrapuntal music, the differential calculus, exploration and conquest from Vikings to astronauts. The Ego striving for the Infinite.
Well expressed and humbling. I honestly stopped and asked myself, "Do I measure up?"
While our colleges and universities beat into kids diversity, tolerance, and self-esteem, perhaps they could find time to a) teach the kids who this folks are, b) help them understand why their achievements transcend cultures and generation, and c) why we have an obligation to build upon their accomplishments.
Iconoclasm entertains and makes us feel temporarily better about ourselves, but it doesn't liberate the spirit or improve the mind or advance society.
If we, as a culture, are to survive long enough to achieve such an alignment, we need to start now to root out the rot of political correctness. Self-defeating ideas like multiculturalism need to be replaced with the true values and images of Western Civilization and what the bloody exercise of centuries of struggle toward enlightenment and freedom really mean. It's not just what a bunch of dead white guys did, it's the rise of civilization.
It is probably the most enjoyable history I've ever read, and it would make a fine 300 or 400 level history class.
"Self-defeating ideas like multiculturalism need to be replaced with the true values and images of Western Civilization ... "
What exactly are those?
Without an external and objective source of values, I believe that no society can survive long. A society needs a concensus of values to survive and thrive. All internally based sources of values are subject to change over time. They are also subject to disagreement and losss of concensus. This is what has happened in the US. One day abortion is horrific, the next, its a civil right and act of compassion. One day life is sacred, the next day Terry Schiavo will be murdered by a judge and this called 'enlightened'.
With the abandonment by the US government of Biblical values as its underpinning, and its replacement by internal, "feelings" based values, I believe we don't have long to go before this country declines. I'm sad about that since the USA has been the finest country in the past 2000 years of civilization. A truly great and good country filled with decent and well meaning people.
The Bible is of course a crucial part of all that, and nothing would have been the same without it. Then again, without the freedom to question the bible, and to disagree with its importance and interpretation, things wouldn't be the same either.
Fair enough. The story is complex. Actually, I believe what is happening now is that the Greek aspects are overtaking the Biblical aspects. Hence the return to values and behaviors that are essentially pagan.
I also believe that America is populated with the cream of Europe, that fled a decaying culture and created itself based on much more of a Biblical outlook than Europe.
Its an excellent history, and I'm looking to replace my set lost some years ago in a move...I doubt that any mainstream college would permit it, however; it'd probably be put down as racist and imperialist in content.
That command is "Go forth and name all the beasts." Agnostic as I am, thats the one thing that keeps me from denial of religion entirely. The idea that we are made to discover creation for ourselves, anywhere and everywhere, seems to be far higher and better than the worshipful praise-noises for which so many think we are here. It strikes me that so many who speak of a Biblical outlook turn a blind eye to this first duty.
And to link this meander back to the topic, America still seems to be the most likely nation to continue discovery. For while iconoclasm is an American virtue, so is unbridled curiousity, and we're better at it than anyone.
A civilisation cannot outlast the religion out of which it grew - what happened is that America kept its religious foundations and indeed is reviving them in modern times, while Europe can well be described as post-Christian; and it is dying because in becoming post-Christian, it killed off that which made it European.
To me, it will be an interesting study of the development of societies to see how things turn out in Europe over the next 50 years (I've only got to live to 90 to see that) - essentially, I see three distinct cultures in Europe; about 10% are still Christian, and about 5% Moslem - both of these cultures are submerged under the predominant post-Christian culture. What will be interesting to watch as the post-Christian culture dies off is which of the submerged cultures, Christian of Moslem, takes over Europe...the Christians have the current advantage of numbers, but the Moslems have the advantage of birth-rate and immigration (Christians in Europe do have a much higher birth rate than the post-Christians, but it is still much lower than the Moslem birth rate...part of the equation will be what happens to Moslem birth rates in future years).
If the remnant of Christians rises to the fore, then we will see the "re-Europeanization" of Europe...if the Moslems end up on top, then we'll see Eurabia.
I don't know if I believe that. The only example I can think of is the Roman Empire and they didn't lose their 'religion'. Before Christianity they didn't really have a religion as we know them. They had gods. Lots of them. Their opinion was that if you worshipped something as a god, it was a god. They worshipped emperors and then they didn't. They took Mithra, (and incorporated a lot of Mithra ceremonies into Christianity). They had religious ceremonies, but no 'religion' like Christianity or Judaism or Islam. It was just a collection of things they worshipped. And they didn't all worship the same gods. They let people worship whichever god they wanted.
I would suggest that when a civilization loses it's moral underpinning they can't last. That's one of the reasons the (western) Roman Empire fell, they became weak and decadent. They had been decadent for centuries, but they were still strong. "Come back with your shield or on it." changed to "pay that guy to go fight for us."
I agree and think it will be Eurabia, no contest.
I don't believe Christianity will be back as the foundation of American civilization. The reasons are:
1. The US government has become militantly secular and to an extent anti-Christian.
2. Low overall Christian birthrate (although it is higher in some quarters)
3. Significant Christian divorce rate (impacts ability to transmit their way of life to the next generation).
4. High level of material prosperity - the challenge of decadence
What will take its place? That remains to be seen. The most significant development, as far as I am concerned,is the very modest American birthrate as well as high divorce rate. These 2 indicators, I think, are the pulse of the civilization. They don't tell me the nature of the civilization, but they do indicate if it can survive.
The West also refers to a short-lived anti-Soviet alliance which obviously no longer exists.
Also, I'm pretty sure John is mistaken about the first commandment.
"Be fruitful and multiply"
"Be fruitful and multiply" was told to Adam and to Noah, but not to Moses. (Genesis 1:28 and Genisis 9:1)
(Yes, I had to look that up--I'm Catholic.)
Read it again. It precedes Eve.
The true FREEDOM alliance has always been the Anglosphere. Some citizens of England, Canada, Australia, and, yes, even the United States have forgotten this very important historical fact. German Democracy, in its current form since German reunification is less than 15 years old. The French have had how many "Republics" since 1776? And the Eastern European Democracies are, with the exception of Poland, even younger than Germany. Spain? Anybody ever heard of Franco? Belgium? Weren't they still a monarchy 60 years ago? Italy? Portugal? Greece?
And even with the conversion of continental Europe to "Democracy," they still have not converted their social systems into a meritocracies. Racial divisions are much more pronounced in Europe, as their inability to assimilate immigrants is showing. Racial tension in America is a result of us ADDRESSING race, not ignoring it.
The French Revolution was a revolution based on bitterness and resentment toward the ruling class. But all they did was install another ruling class in its place - and another, and another, and another, etc. Conversely, the American Revolution was based on 1) our own sense of self-competence to govern, and 2) the unwillingness of England to recognize colonials and full-fledged citizens of England, e.g. "taxation without representation."
Unlike the French revolution, in America there was no widespread desire to PUNISH English loyalists. In fact, we retained much of British culture and government within our new Repuclic, e.g. English common law. In America, there was only a simple desire to be free. Finally, our Revolution was based on the principles of John Locke, Adam Smith, and Thomas Paine. The French Revolution was bound up in the philosophies of Rousseau, who rejected even the authority of God - something America has never yet done.
"The West" is truly the New World, and that is mostly the culture of the USA. Most of Latin and South America is considered "Third World." The fetish of English Monarchy notwithstanding, the current and former members of the English Commonwealth are our closest international relations, and it will be a long time before that changes.