Thursday 21 July 2005

The west's suicide bomb

Once again Cox and Forkum are on the money with their cartoon, The Real Suicide Bomb, inspired by a line from Mark Steyn's A victory for multiculti over common sense . Steyn's most important point is one expanded by Robert Tracinski, that "you can't assimilate with a nullity - which is what multiculturalism is."

In the battle for civilisation in which we're presently engaged, it is crucial to know what in fact the values that support civilisation are. As Steyn notes they are more than just eating fish and chips, playing cricket and sporting appalling leisurewear.

The best defence I've yet seen of western values over the suicidal nullity of multiculturalism is George Reisman's 1992 'Education and the Racist Road to Barbarism.'
From the perspective of intellectual and cultural content, Western civilization represents an understanding and acceptance of the following: the laws of logic; the concept of causality and, consequently, of a universe ruled by natural laws intelligible to man; on these foundations, the whole known corpus of the laws of mathematics and science; the individual’s self-responsibility based on his free will to choose between good and evil; the value of man above all other species on the basis of his unique possession of the power of reason; the value and competence of the individual human being and his corollary possession of individual rights, among them the right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness; the need for limited government and for the individual’s freedom from the state; on this entire preceding foundation, the validity of capitalism, with its unprecedented and continuing progress, capital accumulation, and rising living standards; in addition, the importance of visual arts and literature depicting man as capable of facing the world with confidence in his power to succeed, and music featuring harmony and melody.

Once one recalls what Western civilization is, the most vital thing to realize about it is that it is open to everyone...

Race is not the determinant of culture. Not only is Western civilization open to the members of every race, but its present possessors are also potentially capable of losing it, just as the people of the Western Roman Empire once lost the high degree of civilization they had achieved. What makes the acceptance of the “Eurocentrism” critique so significant is that it so clearly reveals just how tenuous our ability to maintain Western civilization has become...

(If you want to get your hands on Reisman's article in pamphlet form, Libertarianz are offering a copy free with every new Libz membership. Download a membership form here, and just write 'Reisman offer' at the top when you send it in. As they say, for a limited time.)

1 comment:

Deadman said...

Yep - Criticize a terrorist, get labeled a bigot by the Left. Criticize Muslims for not condemning terrorist actions, get labeled an ignorant bigot by the Left.

However, I don't see any of those doing the critiquing flying to Muslim countries to do outreach work. Mostly they're "just sittin and cryin at home".