Dangers for western civilisation | Zuby

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I put this here because I admire Zuby and I agree that “modern Western civilisation is... in the process of undermining every pillar that made it so successful and prosperous.” 

Put another way: our western civilisation is being attacked. And we -- the people living in that western civilisation -- are sitting by, making excuses, or ignoring it. 

 

The West is being attacked at universities throughout the west. It’s not just hatred or Israel, or Zionism, or love of the Freedom for Palestinians. It’s outright hatred of the west. And all it stands for. Because they don’t understand, have no knowledge or feeling for, what the alternatives are. Which are awful. Socialism or fascism. Both lead to penury and servitude. 

Hamas, for example. It is a thoroughly fascistic Nazi outfit. It admires Hitler. Their leaders say “Hitler was great but should have finished the job”. They call, specifically and repeatedly, for murdering of all Jews in the world. Not just of Israel, but of all Jews. That’s what “genocide” means. 

Then there’s Hamas’ other horrid views: their homophobia, their misogyny, their sectarianism, their hatred of minorities, their hatred of free speech, their hatred of free assembly, their hatred of other religions and beliefs, their hatred of elections (“once we’ve won one, we’re done"). A thoroughly horrid organisation, bent on destroying our hard-won freedoms and tolerance. 

And yet... a shockingly, a disturbingly large number of people in the west -- at first at universities and now more widely -- openly praise Hamas, openly worship this group of genocidal islamists, who are prime haters of the west.  At which we, the rest of the west, just look on, or explain, or excuse, or even praise.

What on earth is wrong with us? What is wrong with the West?  

Zuby puts it down to “hubris, complacency, malice and folly.” A decent start. 

• Is it our hubris? Maybe so, maybe we feel we’re invulnerable. But no civilisation is invulnerable. 
• Is it our complacency? Most assuredly. We are constantly told that “you’re exaggerating the problem”. 
• Is is our malice? Well, not ours. But certainly it’s the malice of our enemies. Who now live in large numbers in our borders. 
• Is it our folly? Most assuredly. And I think that’s the worst one. Our folly. That is our wilful ignorance. We turn away our faces, because the problem is too big. At first it was too small, and we could ignore it. Then it was too big to handle. 

It’s a all bit like the question “how do companies go bankrupt?”, to which the answer is: at first slowly then all of a sudden. 

How do civilisations fall? At first slowly, then all of a sudden.