Europe is Dead. England is the icing on the cake.

I hope to have a good 40 years ahead of me yet. Just hoping that I get through it and am gone before the US and Canada hoist the green flag of the Caliphate.

Didn't the Royal Navy end slavery? (At least outside of muslim countries.)

so when england subsides to being a non-descript vague pudding, what will fill it up??
it will be an interesting read in 200 years ..
I imagine that a new ingredient will spice up the future blandness..

This is a joke right?

A nation that has contributed so much to the world including our sense of justice and government is committing suicide. Fin de siecle....

OH GREAT

I'm waiting for Winston Churchill's five volume "History Of The English Speaking People" to be burned any day now.
And while we're at it how about Shakespeare and yes Bacon... Oh and don't forget that Britian only subjugated its empire and never provided any technological,judicial nor governing/organisational skills to so much of the world.
Mankind truly has the brains of a microbe in that he never learns by his own history and therefore is doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

ENOUGH...Go for it Britain...toss yourself on the dung heap of history...lemmings of the sea unite!

musings of an old ex-brit

Correct me if I wrong but didn't Karl Marx expect Britain would embrace communism. If he did it looks like his time frame was a little off but better late than never.

Any way we could send Taliban Jack or the Liberal lights over there to speed up the process. Of course with no right of return.

Everyday more lefty rats eat away at the foundations of civilization.

Obviously a leftist, agenda-driven "report".

"Three quarters of teachers felt obliged to tell students about the danger of patriotism. The survey suggested neither pupils nor teachers wanted patriotism endorsed by schools." I question that. Loaded questions, push polls, distorted statistics ... I suspect that large numbers of mainstream teachers, students and parents aren't quite so leftist as this "education institute" purports to show.

Unfortunately, given the leftist nature of the BBC and most of the British MSM, we'll almost certainly not hear of any negative reactions and efforts concerning this "report"

More justification for Home Schooling.

The authors added: “It is hard to think of a national history free from the blights of warmongering, imperialism, tyranny, injustice, slavery and subjugation, or a national identity forged without recourse to exclusionary and xenophobic stereotypes.”

This is a textbook example of attempting to make the perfect the enemy of the good. I think that the authors exaggerate in their descriptions; however, not so much that a student of history is unaware of what they are attempting to state. The problem is that British History needs to be compared to the histories of other great nations and the contrasts demonstrated. These authors also need to point to an example of a nation's history they approve of - by the above quote, it appears they believe no such nation has ever existed.

Stephen Harper:
"Now I know it's unfashionable to refer to colonialism in anything other than negative terms. And certainly, no part of the world is unscarred by the excesses of empires. But in the Canadian context, the actions of the British Empire were largely benign and occasionally brilliant."

I think I might change "occasionally brilliant" to "often beneficial" but other than that it sound great to me.

“Are countries really appropriate objects of love? Loving things can be bad for us, for example when the things we love are morally corrupt. Since all national histories are at best morally ambiguous, it’s an open question whether citizens should love their countries.”.....Dr. Hand, co-author of the report.

Want to bet there are some mommy issues going on with Dr. Hand.

In a saner age, when people had autonomous minds, this kind of crap scholarship would have been laughed into oblivion, let alone ever make it to some pinhead politician for consideration.

The saddest part, as with every insane British nanny state directive, the sheeple lift their grazing heads for a minute, sniff the wind for a minute, then resume their oblivious grazing until the next ludicrous edict.

We could be ten years behind them. Never surrender.

Amazing how many years ahead that some people can see.

'Suicide of the West' is a good read and incredibly accurate considering he started it in 1959.

'Liberals, unless they are professional politicians needing a vote in the hinterland, are not subject to strong feelings of of national patriotism and are likely to feel uneasy at patriotic ceremonies.'

'Patriotism and nationalism, too, are non-rational and discriminatory. They invidiously divide, segregate, one group of men (my group) from humanity, and do so not in accord with objective merits determined by deliberate reason but as the result of habits, customs, traditions, and feelings inherited from the past. Patriotism and patriotic nationalsim thus come under liberalism's logical taboo.'

Good read on where 'liberalism' has been taking us.

Well I guess the title pretty well tells us eh?

PS

That is 'Suicide of the West' by James Burnham.

Cold, too cold, starting to lose control of faculties, need more anti-freeze.
Well ok, coffee will do.

America Alone says it all.

but check this out. - it aint just the UK ,
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article3283690.ece

*
"because British history is “morally ambiguous”

yeah... that must be why everybody's beating
down the doors to immigrate to africa.

*

Perhaps the "ambiguous morality" of political correctness, DDT bans,coddling of terrorists and the damage wrought by the Labour Party, could also be added to the curiculum.

Here's a thought - teach history, warts and all, without the presentism bias and revisionism about the evil industrial revolution (also known as Marxism). After all, socialism has delivered such prosperity to citizens.

It could be called "Revisionist British History - the New British Disease."

And do remember to include a section on the Islamic slave trade, which began in Africa long before the Magna Carta and continued well after the abolition in the UK.

I don't actually mind this. History should not be propaganda or indoctrination, but an honest and objective description of what has gone before. Questions of right and wrong, pride and regret, are best left for the students to decide - if they even choose to do so.

But this also goes for the opposite type of indoctrination - that is, turning history into an extended rant against "white imperialism".

So far as warning students about the "dangers of patriotism", that is not the teacher's job. It's also ludicrous - doesn't anyone believe that mindless nationalism is a big problem in modern-day Britain?

I don't actually mind this. History should not be propaganda or indoctrination, but an honest and objective description of what has gone before. Questions of right and wrong, pride and regret, are best left for the students to decide - if they even choose to do so.

But this also goes for the opposite type of indoctrination - that is, turning history into an extended rant against "white imperialism".

So far as warning students about the "dangers of patriotism", that is not the teacher's job. It's also ludicrous - does anyone believe that mindless nationalism is a big problem in modern-day Britain?

"Everyday more lefty rats eat away at the foundations of civilization."

Well said, Dave.

When sharia law is established in Europe and Canada in 20 years, we will all be saying:

"First, they took away the history, but I was not a(n)historian .........."

Look out! Warren is upset!

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/02/01/warren-kinsella-an-open-letter-to-the-liberal-party-of-canada.aspx

*
funny... these guys aren't doing too much whining about colonialism...

"Government forces and rebels in Chad have been clashing northeast
of the capital N'Djamena, prompting the former colonial power France
to send in reinforcements to help the army."

"Rebels say they want to overthrow President Idriss Deby if he does
not accept a power-sharing deal."

*

I'm proud of my Scot/Irish/English background and saddened for those trapped in the hopelessly PC EU. If we had greater control of our own country I would suggest we open the borders to the political refugees from British Empire to come to the U.S. Unfortunately we are only an election away from the same Hell.

Sounds like the sort of education program the British tribes would have come up with so as not to offend the Saxon settlers. Don't see too many Celtic place names in England these days do you?

Too funny "morally ambiguous". Forget patriotism. Just allow the students to compare and contrast the the worlds countries. Compare arts, science, freedom, literature, health, life spans, wealth, war, peace, religious and cultural evolution etc. The students would quickly come to their own conclusions as to nations and cultures ranking.

How very sad.

Canada will be next. The Northwest Mounted Police, Vimy Ridge, Billy Bishop, the RCAF, the Medak Pocket... All will be ignored in Canadian classrooms.

Very sad.

Finally, someone is going to take that whole morally ambiguous, "Defend yourself from invasion by the Nazis" thing and put it in it's proper context.

Won't this also make some forms of Holocaust denial possible? After all if the British are now just as bad as the Nazi's and Britain's part in ending Nazism is now not to be celebrated, doesn't the other side of that coin mean the lamenting of Germany's defeat?

Or are they just going to do what Canadian schools have done to WWII and just talk about mistreated Japanese Canadians and Women in factories?

My, this is certainly more direct than the weasels of multi-culti collectivism usually get. Amazingly similar to the mindless bleatings of the Afrocentric school supporters in Toronto.

Just keep all this in mind for the next election, eh?

We're only a few years behind Britain on this. I'm sure Richard Warman and others like him believe that patriotism, like freedom of speech, is an American concept. Those on the Canadian left are, I'm sure, keenly aware of the "dangers of patriotism", if only because those contemptible Americans are such a patriotic lot. Again we see that any form of indoctrination is strictly forbidden, unless in the name of religion, in which case it's beyond reproach.

Actually it gets worse. The EU has intentions of increasing its own power at the expense of nation-states.

Under the personal leadership of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU breathed life into the rejected constitution, which contained the building blocks of a United States of Europe. The new treaty will shift power from nation-states to Brussels in critical areas of policymaking--such as defense, security, and energy--where the United States finds more traction on a bilateral basis. It will restrict the sovereign right of EU member states to determine foreign policy and poses a unique threat to the Anglo-American Special Relationship. Above all, it is a treaty that underscores the EU's ambition to become a global power and challenge American leadership on the world stage.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Europe/wm1789.cfm

Kate: Just a suggestion. You might want to follow this throughout 2008 at SDA. Thanks.

I think this is about the perversion of the word “nationalism”. Because of their horrible wars, the Europeans have themselves convinced (as does a lot of academia in North America) that nationalism caused the World Wars. It didn’t. Fascism did. But they think if they can remove national identity and become transnational, then all will be well, wars will be prevented.

I agree it is a bit silly to go around like Paul Martin and the Librano$ used to do during elections saying “I love Canada … but Stephen Harper does not love Canada”.

It is indeed silly to love a country or the company you work for. Love should be reserved for your family. But it is OK to love liberty and the freedom it gives you to choose who you work for. The sovereignty of Canada makes liberty possible for us to make the necessary compromises to occupy this land and keep the evil forces of fascism out. Therefore Canada represents the liberty we love for our families and that’s how we end up saying “I love Canada”.

In that context, “loving a country” can be a debatable point on semantics. But semantics is not what these transnational utopians are lecturing to the poor Brits. They are saying because corruption exists in Britain and things are not perfect, therefore they must attack the whole country’s morals. That’s like a Dr. cutting off your head to get at a pimple.

Why don't we deport all the west's leftards to North Korea and shoot them if they try to come back?

News Flash!
7.2 earthquake felt in the area of the British Isles and North-west Europe.
Warning: Those living along the coast advised to move 100 miles inland.
Scientists suspect cause is the cumulative effect of 115,000 Canadian war dead turning over in their graves.

Every day, the lefties do something that just increases my hatred and contempt for them. I simply cannot comprehend why anyone with a smidgen of intelligence would go alone with garbage like that. Is socialism truly the doctrine for mentally retarded individuals?

Warwick, its because the shipping would be too expensive.

This is a cross post:

I bring up the "Apartheid High" issue here because, if anyone—Colby Cosh at the National Post today—thinks "Afrocentric" schools won't be hot beds of revisionism to downright lies, as well as incubators for radical Muslims, who will, among other subversive things, be studying Arabic as an “international language", is naïve to the nth degree. As I’ve noted before, I don’t believe there are enough authentic educators, versus the legion of PC impostors in the system, with either the brains or integrity to make the correct pedagogical and moral choices needed to provide the kind of schools ALL of our children deserve, let alone those with pathological problems.

I’ve spent some time in “Afrocentric” schools—those with large populations of black students—where far more emphasis is put on Martin Luther King—an American: what irony!—and any number of others with dark skin than Canadian history, the product of which is the free society in which these black students and their families enjoy all kinds of privileges and perqs. (For many of them, welfare recipients, this is on the back of the rest of us: by omission to propaganda—for one thing, check out Canada’s history textbooks—our public school systems basically allow, even encourage, black—and all other—children to dismiss and hold in derision the host culture.)

Many teachers in such schools are politically motivated, lefty cheerleaders with mushy brains. A sense of proper order and adult authority, and the lack of intellectual rigour in these (and, BTW, most other public) schools is often palpable. The administrators are by far the worst: political correctness is both their religion, and the altar on which they’re prepared to sacrifice any teacher of integrity, who’s actually colour blind re matters of accountability and discipline. (I’ve been the victim of this travesty myself and know countless colleagues who share the same, demeaning, dangerous-for-all-of-us experience.)

As a society, as a civilization, we’re committing suicide.

Most people here know that I’m a committed Christian—very used for the past 15 years to keeping my opinions off the public record. (Now, why would that be?) I believe entirely that our “death wish” has everything to do with the fact that we’ve become a secular society—very fertile ground for multiculturalism and its twin, moral relativism.

As a British-background (family here for over 200 years) Christian, who’s lost just about everything of my cultural identity in the public square—thanks, Trudeau—I have a pretty firm idea not only of where I come from and who I am, but of how I feel about that: damn proud!

I know one does not have to be either Christian or descended from British stock to feel the way I do. But, I posit, that, in Canada, as the respect for both the political and judicial institutions the British, including members of my family, bequeathed to this country, and the Judeo-Christian foundation on which they were built, has dwindled, so too has the sense of a strong cultural and personal identity, which is not prey to the sinewy, deadly tentacles of political correctness.

That’s my take on it. I believe the Christian part of the puzzle is accurate for—ironically !—Britain as well as the non-British West. What do others think?

Why has the West so colossally lost its integrity, pride and guts?

Phantom,

Send them in the leaky boats. If they sink mid-way, humanity would be better off.

As someone who can (similarly to Citoyen Dion) claim British citizenship it is saddening to realize that England has become the most politically correct nation on earth.

Every week brings a new absurdity. Only Mark Steyn could bring humor to this sad spectacle.

But Canadians should not be smug. Imagine a couple of years of a Dion government propped up by the contemptible Jack Laydown.

Pray for England.

Well, lookout, I certainly agree with your post. I think I could actually write a book about that topic. Here a just a few thoughts.

I believe entirely that our “death wish” has everything to do with the fact that we’ve become a secular society.

I think if we were to look at the American example we can remember that what worked was when the theists (primarily Christians) and the deist humanists agreed as much as possible to be non-sectarian rather than secular.

I think one other large change was a factor. Today the term separation of church and state primarily means that if anything can be traced to a Christian influence then it must not affect public policy in any way. (I used to think it applied if it could be traced to any theistic belief but we are seeing more and more Islamic influences.) The original idea meant something else. I think we all know that the original American idea was intended to be a restriction on the state creating its own church and an attempt to not repeat the European problems. However, it also meant something else. It meant that the church had a role in society - and it also meant a limit to the state in some other institutions. I am referring here to the idea, particularly, of schools. It is a relatively recent idea that schools are the domain of the state - they used to be the domain of non-state actors such as parents, churches, or private organizations. These non-state actors still operate in this domain, of course, but the state actor dwarfs all others combined.

Well, like I said, I could write a book on this. My wife and I have home-schooled our children for about 15 years now.

What do you call a thousand Lefties at the bottom of the ocean, Warwick?

(Not that I could ever counsel such a thing, to channel Richard Warman for just a moment.)

Brent Weston, we're on the same page.

Of course, Canada has no doctrine of separation of church and state: the lefties, if they weren't so ignorant, might be very displeased to know that they revere an AMERICAN doctrine! This doctrine also, does not mean, as you point out, freedom FROM religion, as it has been erroneously interpreted by activist American judges and, in Canada, by the functionaries of our public institutions.

I altogether admire you and your wife for home schooling your children: a very wise choice. I hope this option won't be banned at some point. As you know, the state keeps an eye on this movement, and, like the Internet, would be all too happy to reduce its influence.

When the rigours of home schooling are behind you, Brent, write that book!

It's just like the way schools in Canada stress the Japanese internment rather than the bravery of our soldiers.

But why do they do it? One simple reason. If you can show that our nation's history is not valuable because it is bad, then we have no reason to rely on past morals or values to dictate how we should act today. We have a blank slate and don't have to abide by the regular rules of conduct that our forebearers thought were necessary.

It's just another way to throw off all the moral shackles that some members of our society wish we didn't have.

If, on the other hand, our history is something to be proud of, then the people who lived a century ago may have known something important and acted well, and we should emulate them. And since the people who lived a century ago tended to be religious, tended to believe there is a right and a wrong, tended to believe that responsibilities must be met, then we must at all costs discredit them so we can recreate society the way we want.

I don't think people consciously think that way; it's just what happens.

SheilaG, I altogether agree with you. Thanks for your thoughtful posts.

"By 2050—earlier, probably all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron — they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like "freedom is slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."......Orwell, from "Nineteen Eighty-Four".

Poor Orwell, when he described the totalitarian state fashioned on the Nazis he never dreamed his beloved socialism would be what has destroyed Britain so thoroughly. Oh, the irony.

If you spend time at wikipedia looking up Orwell, there are plenty of idiot lefty academics postings that still don't get the paradigm shift.

When one reads online Brit newspapers that are overflowing with examples of PC insanity, and combines that with the (apparently unprecedented, except perhaps for the 1950s exodus), outpouring of native born Brits, (primarily English), heading to Australia, NZ, Spain, etc, it's evident that 'Great' Britain ain't.

Poor Orwell, when he described the totalitarian state fashioned on the Nazis he never dreamed his beloved socialism would be what has destroyed Britain so thoroughly. Oh, the irony.
Now that's a key point. I wonder how many know that Orwell was a socialist.
The most striking thing I ever read from Ludwig von Mises was that socialism mutates into fascism because the socialists don't have the stomach to actually do what needs to be done to bring their programme to fruition.

Er, reader tip: Don't be a fool like me and read Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty in the morning and watch a Dem debate. Truly mind-blowing experience. Actually, same deal with listening to McCain!

This is really sad...and SheilaG -- right-on!

Time for an update to the song:

"Drool, Britannia! Britannia drools away! Britons e'er will be slaves.

The nations once so blest by thee,
Shall n'er in their turn to tyrants fall;
While thou shalt fade as reason flees,
To be dread and pitied by them all."

It is best to note that the British commoner has little voice in anything these days that goes on in Britain; they are being run into the ground by Leftards and political correctness gone amuck. The British certainly do not like what is going on, but until they light the fire in their bellies and unite as one, they will be sucking up this crap.

Lookout and Brent. Our death wish comes from becoming a secularist nation? Give your head a shake.
Every leftist I know goes to church. Mickey mouse beliefs don't help anyone develop the critical thinking skills necessary to stay away from the PC crap coming out of Britain.
The conservative side of the political spectrum might have a little more success in numbers of people if we could shed the religious wing nuts.

Isn't it Gordon Brown's Britain, these past 8 months?

Britain is being sodomized by the Muslims. Like the farm animals that the Muzzies "bother' on a regular basis, they continue to take it and just carry on as if nothing has happened. I weep for the country of my ancestors.

SheilaG and lookout make some very valid points. First we have at least two generations who instead of being taught Canadian history have received the leftist revised version. One can almost summarise it with White-man bad, all others good. Now one learns of the proposed school for Black in Ontario which will teach yet another version of history. Perhaps there are already various schools teaching other revised versions - forget about Quebec.

Common sense should tell us that when we remove the glue that holds us together as a nation/country we shall cease to exist as a nation/country.

Sigivald - of course, that's obvious. "Tony Blairs's Britain" refers to the cumulative damage done by a decade of Blair. All of the garbage going on Blair put in place.

Opinion, Warren Neily. How about some evidence (and even some critical thinking)?

Re: "Every leftist I know goes to church." Let me guess: to the United or Anglican Church, I'll bet. With due respect for the remnants of true believers in those denominations, leftists don't tend to go to churches that take Christianity seriously.

BTW, the percentage of Britons who go to church is minuscule, so I doubt very much if their lack of critical thinking skills has anything at all to do with church going. ('Same for you, I'd imagine.)

As for, "The conservative side of the political spectrum might have a little more success in numbers of people if we could shed the religious wing nuts": wrong again, Warren. One of the best antidotes to PC is an authentic Christian belief. The problem with too many of our so-called Conservative parties is they aren't conservative enough. (Think Ed Stelmach.)

Half baked opinions and sneers aren't enough, Mr. Neily. I think you need to go back to the drawing board.

God save the Queen,
God save the English from themselves
God save us all!!!

lookout, Brent Weston:

The secular lack of ethics rather has produced not the separation of church and state, but of the preferred absence of church, temple, etc from the public square.

The unmistakable elitist opinion is that people of a faith perspective have nothing to offer the nation state in terms of instilling or informing a moral framework or indeed a conscience.

Unconscionable things happen in society precisely because people have lost or thrown away their moral compass.

The structural nihilism posed by unrestricted abortion on demand in the West is just the opposite reflection of the 'life is cheap' propositioned by the raving of the Islamist.

The Morgentaler enthusiasts are just as fanatical as the Islamists, though the objects of their destruction are obviously diverse.

The premier movements of the 'life is cheap doctrine' are most singularly demonstrated by the secularist manifestations of communism and national socialism both political movements with their origins on the left. cf Jonah Goldberg's text on "Liberal Fascism".

Ever notice how the most vocal proponents of 'assisted suicide' hail from the leftist end of the political spectrum as did the euthanasia movement in the early 30s.

Communism, national socialism, and nihilistic secularism all share the characteristics of subsuming an individual, in varying degrees, to the altar of statism. The fatal flaw in all the above mentioned -isms is that they attempt to rather replace faith with statist perspectives.

In short, the state has become an ersatz hope for authentic faith. It is a misplaced faith in the 'perfectibility of man' that results in distorted manifestations of 'stato-cratic' interventions into the freedom of the individual.

The communist will say if only we smash religion there will be peace in the valley.

The national socialist will say if only we smash the Jews, Christians, etc. there will be peace in the valley.

The rabid secularist will say if only we have unrestricted destruction of the contents of the womb, assisted suicide, euthanasia will there be peace in the valley.

Similarly, the Islamist raises the cry, if only we smash the infidel, then there will be peace in the valley.

Notice how the achievement of utopia on earth depends on eliminating someone or something that is politically constructed as a 'problem'?

A system of politics that depends on a 'culture of death' will not last because it is fundamentally flawed by radically subsuming another individual to the will of another or group of others.

There is no freedom in the destruction of another's freedom; rather one has just another form of tyranny. All of these systematic -isms fail for they have a fundamental lack of respect that the freedom of the individual ends where another's nose begins.

Political homogeneity, through the steadfast refusal to recognize differences, is a form of fascism.

In short, there is no hope in political homogeneity when it requires subsuming the individual to the will of another.

Maybe we as a society didn't have any real challenges or threats since WWII and at the same time were the most wealthy and self-focused individuals in the whole history of humankind might be part of the answer. The change in focus to the "me" generations and materialism with smaller families and for this current generation much later marriages if at all are part of this spiral I think.

Lookout, I think religion used to provide a place to gather as a community, to meet and share common values. Though I am not religious I think we have lost something here and I think part of it is respect for each other. When we see religion as shown by the muslims it is something to fear, the opposite of Christianity.

As you have pointed out so eloquently this vacuum has been replaced by the dogmatism of the left. This destructive disease has permeated so many of the vital pillars of our society, the education system, the courts, healthcare and our governments to the extent where we feel paralyzed to react because of political correctness. The education industry is killing our history and society by a thousand small cuts.

We seem to race around content to let the nanny state take over more and more of our lives as we are too busy and don't care. Witness the fact that an almost solid 30% of voters will always, always blindly vote Liberal.

Hopefully the rising threat of islam will wake us out of our lethargy but maybe not. Remember the old axiom: Empires aren't murdered, they commit suicide.

"(Relativism) is not an explanation of our decline, but a symptom of it. The reason it cannot be an explanation is that it finds nothing to explain. To the question 'Why do things get worse so fast?' it can only return 'They don't get worse, only different...'"

In the essay "The Revenge of Conscience" J. Budziszewski of the U of Texas says we don't "gently waft into the abyss but (rather) violently propel ourselves into it" not because of a lack of conscience but, paradoxically, because of the strength of our conscience; repressing "the law written on the heart" is like "the compression of a powerful spring so that it buckles to the side."

His essay mostly deals with the moral angle around western behaviours such as abortion and euthanasia, but certain passages are also perhaps apt descriptions of collectivizing progressives -- the "anti-patriots" -- who by welcoming values destructive to our own civilization's contribute so mightily and blithely to Britain's, and much of the rest of Europe's, decline:

"Violation of (any) basic human bond is so terrible that the...conscience must instantly establish an abnormal one to compensate; the very gravity of the transgression invests the new bond with a sense of profound significance. Naturally some will find it attractive...(..)...Isolated from the community of moral judgment, transgressors strive to gather a substitute around themselves. They don't sin privately; they recruit. The more ambitious among them go further...society must be transformed so that it no longer stands in awful judgment. So it is that they change the laws, infiltrate the schools, and create intrusive social-welfare bureaucracies."

"Unhooked from justice, justification becomes rationalization...the ordinances (that are written) depend on each other in such a way that we cannot suppress one except by rearranging all the others..."

Hans Rupprecht at February 1, 2008 5:30 PM
Damn good post, Hans! Coincindentally, I'm in the middle of Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism..

Not sure if anybody mentioned this, but I'm thinking of one of Steyn's great lines about the lack of assimilation: "You can't assimilate to a nullity".

"morally ambiguous," indeed. Dr hand et al, should then deliciously find no moral ambiguity in beheadings. That's a pretty clear posit of whatever your morality dictates. Certainly reduces the clutter of intro and circum-spection.

EDB: The Revenge of Conscience. That looks most interesting. I've googled the title and printed it for some weekend reading. Thanks.

with Britain rewriting history, Taliban Jack gives it a go too.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080131/layton_afghanistan_080131/20080131?hub=Politics

Four legs good, two legs bad.

Hans, Dave, and EBD, thank you for your fine, insightful posts.

Dave says, “Though I am not religious I think we have lost something here and I think part of it is respect for each other.” I think so too and I like to think, Dave, like you, that we'll wake up before it's too late.

Re the abortion issue. There's actually some debate going on at the National Post: what a change, to see the pro-life position intelligently presented—which isn't difficult, if the media will let one speak—in a MSM outlet. Hans, you write, “The structural nihilism posed by unrestricted abortion on demand in the West is just the opposite reflection of the 'life is cheap' propositioned by the raving of the Islamist.” A very interesting proposition: I think you are absolutely right.

EBD: Wow! Between you and the Texas professor, in quotes: [W]e don't "gently waft into the abyss but (rather) violently propel ourselves into it" not because of a lack of conscience but, paradoxically, because of the strength of our conscience; repressing "the law written on the heart" is like "the compression of a powerful spring so that it buckles to the side." This sounds altogether plausible and would also account for what seems to be the utter hypocrisy and lunacy of the left.

Absolutely the main reason why Western Civilization is going down.

Western Civilization has lost its pizzazz--and far more besides.

As I said to a dear friend years ago when asked by him what I intended to do about this loss of confidence in our British/Judeo-Christian heritage in wimpy Canada: I intend to make as big a nuisance of myself as possible.

At every opportunity, I not only DON'T fall down and say "Walk all over me," I begin to articulate what Western/Judeo-Christian Civilization has done for our country--and for all of the countries fortunate enough to have Western/Judeo-Christian foundations.

By God's grace, I'm old enough to remember the blessings, mercies, and genuine democratic freedoms we live under just a few short decades ago.

It's true: A people who don't know their history are destined to repeat all of the most heinous mistakes of their forefathers/mothers.

Blame the new dispensations of our so-called "public educational systems," which have lionized multicultural (sic), secular, humanist values over Western, Judeo-Christian values.

Kyrie Eleison.

In defence of George Orwell.
Orwell went on his little oddysey to working class northern England. "The Road To Wigan Pier". He knew poverty as a deliberate entry into the lower end of the system. Orwell was surprise to meet with Union leaders and find that the values THEY THEN espoused were those of the insular middle class. Lace curtains and all.

Orwell asked a leading socialist about the hint/promise to sharply curtail the elitism of the so-called public schools. Harrow, Rugby and Eton. The socialist big wig then told Orwell he fully intended to use his position to send HIS sons and daughter to those same schools. Orwell was dismayed.

Orwell disliked doctrinaire socialists, he was never part of them. On this Orwell is mixed up with so-called "socialism".

The damned communists have won. Crawled like sewer rats into the system and re-named themselves.

MND, I'm going to follow your fine example and download "The Revenge of Conscience" myself, to read this evening.

I see it's from the excellent Catholic publication, First Things, the brainchild of the estimable Father Richard John Neuhaus. (He grew up Lutheran, of American parents, in the Ottawa Valley. He was involved in the civil rights movement and was a "man of the left". No more. And he's now a Roman Catholic priest. Yeah! My opinion.)

It's a beautiful, snowy evening here. My husband, I, and one of our daughters are going to walk—our car's snowed in—to a nearby restaurant for dinner and, all the while, I'll be looking forward to reading Professor Budziszewski's article. So, thanks, MND, for giving me the idea. And thanks, EBD, for mentioning it.

Lookout

I love First Things. I read it cover to cover and so does my 17yo daughter.

I have posted on this before, but a great article by Joseph Bottum on "Death and Politics" posits that the politics we have now are partly because of how we see and honour our dead, including our war dead. Or rather how we don't. It is very thought provoking...

http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5917

[quote]Above all, it is a treaty that underscores the EU's ambition to become a global power and challenge American leadership on the world stage.[/quote]

Brent Wilson,
We will refuse to accept their surrender and become their Guardians. Shit! we could have skipped Vietnam if that had been an acceptable option. (Ho Chi Minh came to us "before" going to China)

On Topic:
If we don't learn the Good/Bad/Ugly how do we make individual decisions?. Who tells us how to vote?

Valencia, thank you so much. It's a good weekend to stay in so I'll have lots of reading to keep me occupied!

Just finished 'The Enemy At Home - The Cultural Left And Its' Responsibility For 9/11" by Dinesh D'Sousa.

I'd highly recommend you pick it up at your local library. I've often considered the point of view of the 'average Muslim' who abhors the sewage pit that is the liberal/left face of 'American culture'. In the past they could ignore it, but in the world of satellite and internet, it sweeps through their culture as readily as anywhere else.

As Dinesh says, "Nothing discredits freedom in the eyes of traditional Muslims so much as the equation of freedom with what they perceive as gross immorality and licentiousness. For many Muslims, it is not freedom but moral depravity that is today the distinguishing feature - and leading export - of American civilization. When traditional Muslims see how freedom is used in America, they become increasingly convinced that the Islamic world is better off without this kind of freedom."

I don't entirely disagree, though I am the last to apologize for the excesses of Political Islam (an horrific example of which we saw today).

When I see David Letterman doing his schtick with Jessica Alba, her referring to his 'lady' - her being the baby carrier of his child and him asking "How about your baby's father, how's he doing"? Or Brittney Spears tongueing 'Madonna' for the national cameras and going panty-less for the papparazzi. Or the new 'Grand Theft Auto' game for teens that is about to introduce drunk driving and strip clubs into it's current repetoire of whores, pimps, gangsta's and carnage.

Muslim's have lots to answer for, but they at least have a moral foundation for their beliefs, while we in the west seem to have caved in to the basest, most craven of moral relativism.

I said it before and I'll say it again, any socialist,anyone who votes NDP... heck anyone who believes in equality of outcomes instead of equality of opportunity is mentally retarded. Yes, sportsfans, Taliban Jack and his wife are suffering from an acute case of mental retardation, as is anyone who carries an NDP membership card. I defy a socialist to prove that he or she is more intelligent than my dogs (and yes, my dogs are killing themselves laughing at the thought right now).

Actually, this is a great idea. Give these fools enough time to "deprogram patriotism" out of British minds...and they'll leave the door wide open for we unsophisticated, boorish Yanks to invade and take over without firing a shot.

Our marching song as we land on Brighton Beach will be "Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over Here. GET USED TO IT."

I've got dibs on Buckingham Palace!

Surely a major function of any public system of education is to prepare children and young people for citizenship by inculcating them with a sense of moral responsibility and love of country.

Patriotism, like any other virtue may have its uglier jingoistic side, but that does not make it any less an essential component of moral character.

The post war culture of the baby boomers, and the 1960's hippie radicals worked diligently to tear down all other idols, so that only their own selves and their selfish wants should be worshipped. They long ago perverted the purpose of public education by removing its responsibility to train children for moral character, and so now, patriotism and love of country will be next on the chopping block.

The reasons for this is that there is no need to raise citizens, when there is no longer any citizenship. The state must become all - everything to everyone - and nothing higher must compete with it for the people's devotion. The existence of anything higher -whether God, family, or a grand ideal of a country and common heritage, that could compete with the state in the people's minds, must be squelched in order to achieve the objective of complete, totalitarian control. Any competing ideal such as love of God, or love of country suggests that the state's legitimacy is in its service to some other, nobler cause, but the goal of the modern state is for everything and everyone to exist only to serve it.

When devotion to God, family, and country has been transferred to the all knowing, all powerful machine, there is nothing left of humans but the beast. All the simpler then, to drive them like cattle.

Just finished 'The Enemy At Home - The Cultural Left And Its' Responsibility For 9/11" by Dinesh D'Sousa.
Posted by: no guff at February 1, 2008 8:17 PM

Do check out Robert Spencer and Fitzgerald at Jihadwatch archives. They believe his theory is fatally flawed.

The Islamic Republik of Britain.

"while we in the west seem to have caved in to the basest, most craven of moral relativism." I call it patriotism, pride. Being proud of ourselves and our heritage.

Rudy: "Surely a major function of any public system of education is to prepare children and young people for citizenship by inculcating them with a sense of moral responsibility and love of country."

When I suggested this very thing, when a supervisor asked my class at Teacher's College a few years ago what we thought we were doing, he looked positively scandalized and made it clear that I was some kind of dinosaur to even suggest such an idea.

'Turns out he was from the "therapeutic" school of thought: Never suggest to students what values or morals they might emulate, just "fix them up" when their irresponsibility and neglect of all of the values and morals that would have kept them healthy cause them dis-ease.

I've strenuously attempted to disregard his "advice," though it's an uphill struggle in the Orwellian Halls of Academe these days, as lookout so articulately chronicles.

batb - I highly recommend the article, "The Revenge of Conscience" by Professor Budziszewski (recommended by EBD yesterday).

It's a very clear and chilling account of how warped and completely twisted our societies have become, trying to "round the square" we've made by, in your words, "Never suggest[ing] to [anyone] what values or morals they might emulate, just 'fix them up' when their irresponsibility and neglect of all of the values and morals that would have kept them healthy [natural law] cause them dis-ease."

Budziszewski asserts that we, all of us, really DO know the natural law—I agree with him—but, as we compulsively heap transgression upon transgression, we have to keep making up more fantastical justifications, in order to prop up the pretence that we don’t know. (How Western societies deal with abortion is one of the examples he uses.) The incredible harm all this denial does, spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, intellectually, physically . . . from generation to generation, on both a personal and societal level, is staggering.

The article ends with the antidote that you and I both subcsribe to: God's forgiveness. Professor Budziszewski quotes from Psalm 51: "For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me . . . a broken and contrite heart, O Lord, thou wilt not despise."

Lent starts this week. (Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of the 40 days of Lent, leading up to Easter, is on February 6th.) If more people were willing to acknowledge their shortcomings—rather than their rights, the dead weight of which is crushing us: what a burden!—and both seek and grant forgiveness, we’d all BE lighter and see more light.

Kyrie eleison.

when it's gone it's gone.

No, otter, as much as Kate exhorts us regularly to not feed the trolls, denying them access to freedom of speech would, in fact, justify their position, and that, clearly, is not ours. Personal responsibility is what it is.

On the topic of the future of western society, and specifically, the future of Canada, I have a single word answer for those who continue to embrace the identity politics of multiculturism: "Yugoslavia"