It is absurd that Western “intellectuals,” most of whom lean to the Left, no longer revere Man’s capacity as an Intelligent Being, the manifest results of that capacity being the Cultural Ideas and Values which he embraces. To those obsessed with Inclusiveness, arguments based on cultural considerations are systemically denounced as expressions of Racism. To the brain-dead Left, Culture no longer matters!
I did my M.A. thesis on the novel “Ulysses” and have always been enchanted by the culture that produced Joyce, Yeats, Beckett, etc.. A couple of days ago The Blaze published a piece entitled “The Death of Ireland.” Due to the open border policies of the European Union, 1 in 5 of the citizens of Ireland are now foreigners. But it’s not their mere numbers that worry the author of the Blaze article, it is their values. In Galway, apparently, Mohammed recently surpassed traditional Irish names as the most popular choice for newborn babies. Ciaran O’ Regan, an Irish commentator cited in the Blaze article, says the Ireland of today is nothing like the Ireland of 20 years ago. What worries him is not the burden massive immigration has placed on services and resources, but the possible impact on Irish Culture wrought by the arrival of tens of thousands of Muslims whose values are utterly incompatible with those of their new homeland.
Raheel Raza is a Pakistani-Muslim Canadian affiliated with the “far-right” Rebel News Network. Cherishing her capacity for Reason over the dictates of the religion to which she was born, she has utterly rejected those medieval aspects of Islam that continue to infect millions of Muslims. But is it not absurd that “conservatives” in favor of a cautious approach to Islamic immigration should be damned as “islamophobes” by “liberals” who would nevertheless vilify any White Western Male who held the same views about Women as the average Asian or African Muslim Male?
The immigration issue is a complex one. Most Muslims are no doubt decent people who can hardly be held responsible for the indoctrination to which they have been submitted by various authoritarian regimes. While I am in no way recommending slamming the door shut on all Muslim migrants, those who have shown any support, online or elsewhere, for the oppression of Women, the genital mutilation of young girls, the persecution of non-believers, hatred of Jews, etc., etc., clearly ought to be denied entry to our Western Democracies. This is not racism but simple common sense! But so also is the belief that, even as we welcome millions who do not share our cultural values, we have every right to continue to celebrate the superiority of those values without being denounced as racists, White Supremacists, etc..
The intellectual vacuity of the Left is nowhere more evident than in its tactic of avoiding rational debate on the beliefs of “conservatives” by simply dismissing them as the products of various despicable biases. But are Raheel Raza and the wonderful Ayaan Hirsi Ali guilty of any form of racism or bigotry in their criticisms of Islam? Is the extent to which they cause “hurt feelings” the criteria by which we ought to judge the validity of our Ideas and Values? Yes, the history of the West is not without its abominations, but the contemporary Leftist insistence that the informing Values and Principles of our Civilization are in no way more progressive than that of all others, is truly idiotic.
Culture matters. Mindlessly swallowing the materialistic determinism of Marx, the Left focusses on socio-economic factors as the pre-eminent determinants of human outcomes. Those who have failed to prosper are never the victims of their own shortcomings. “Conservatives” however, continuing to define us as more than just another animal, see the Cultural Values espoused by any given Civilization as far more important to both its political processes as well as the well being of each and every citizen.
Bill Maher recently expressed his outrage that in Dearborn, Michigan, a mob of Muslims celebrating Al-Quds Day was, in addition to expressing its loathing for Israel, chanting “Death to America.” Insisting he is still a “liberal,” he seems befuddled that other so-called “liberals” are more likely to denounce critics of such behavior as “islamophobes” rather than denouncing the behavior itself. Its very simple, Bill. The informing, Neo-Marxist belief of the contemporary Left is that White, “Patriarchal,” Western Civilization is the most heinous force in all of history. For the thousandth time I repeat that I am in no way idealizing the history of the West. But when Maher says he continues to love his country, he is referring to the ideas that shaped it, to the never perfectly realized yet ever evolving principles that inspired its founders. He is referring to its informing Cultural Values. Oddly, whether he wants to admit it or not, his viewpoint is virtually indistinguishable from that of mainstream rational “conservatism.”
A brief example of Western Brilliance: 2500 years ago Socrates declared himself to be not a Greek or an Athenian, but a Citizen of the World. Amazingly progressive, he was in fact repudiating Identity Politics! It was Integrity and Intelligence that defined him and not his race, gender, sexual orientation, etc..
My point is simply that the citizens of countries such as Ireland who feel that their distinctive Culture is being contaminated by foreigners of radically different world-views, are not necessarily Racists. Ideas matter! That Britain’s Brexit from the European Union is habitually denounced in the Western press as an expression of Hatred, merely highlights the superficiality of the contemporary Left. While I am in no way recommending that the West turn away all Muslim migrants, I am absolutely certain that we have every right to continue to celebrate the superiority of our Western Values. It is simple common sense!