Mark Lewis at Townhall.com today has a thought-provoking article entitled The Decline of American Civilization. But, of course, American civilization is nothing more than a reflection of Western civilization as a whole. And Western civilization is being torn down systematically by the fascist far left. While I have consistently noted that uncivilized behaviors are against God's commandments and anti-Christian, Lewis simply notes them as a return to the jungle. Could it be that God's commandments are not meant to limit us, but to provide for the good of all of us? Just a thought...
Lewis, who has evidently given considerable thought to what it means to be "civilized" gives us a brief idea of what "civilization" is. Note that he doesn't define it, but rather speaks of a spectrum of behaviors that constitute "civilization." He also lists behaviors that constitute the "uncivilized."
“Civilization is an occasional and temporary interruption of the jungle.”—Will Durant.,/em>
“Civilization” or “being civilized” are not terms that are wholly easy to define. Vagaries and degrees can exist; it would be hard to argue that any human being is totally “uncivilized” or that any human being (or culture) has a monopoly on the term. We tend to think of “civilized” societies as those who possess at least a modicum of decent behavior and progress. Perhaps “civilization” can best be defined—though possibly not with total accuracy—as a distinction between man and the animal kingdom, or in the word Durant used, the “jungle.”
Animals—despite some idiotic Leftist claims today—don’t have morality, art, economic goals, religion, science—things that we have often considered to be representative of “civilized” societies. Some animals do, on occasion, show some features of what we might call “civilized” behavior, but such is not planned by intelligence; it is wholly by instinct and a desire for self-preservation. The “jungle” isn’t “civilized” in any intelligent definition of the word. “Civilization” is an offshoot of humans created in the image of God, yet with a crucial, important conception: God gives man freedom of moral choice and thus the freedom to descend into barbarity and the jungle if we choose to do so. As the quote from Durant suggests, and any good historian will tell you, such has happened in human history and not necessarily infrequently. Not many of us would call the Nazis “civilized.”
Thus, there is a standard of behavior—again, not always clearly or distinctly defined in human activity—which we can call “civilized” vs. “uncivilized.” When people sink below a certain standard of decency, responsibility, concern for their fellow creatures, and wise, virtuous conduct, it would be hard to call them “civilized.”
Lewis goes on to list 6 specific things that a "civilized" people do not do, but that we are doing. This is what he means by the decline of American civilization. It is not that these things did not exist in America, but that they were frowned upon, and people who did them were ostracized or even punished. But under the fascist far left, we now mainstream these things such that nobody sees them as wrong. We have thus descended into barbarity.
1. Civilized beings do not kill their own offspring for pleasure or self-gratification. There are indeed some animals who do occasionally kill their offspring; a male bear, for example, might kill his own cubs to have sexual access to the female again. Quite frankly, this sounds a lot like abortion to me, at least in principle—the destruction of life for the carnal gratification and selfishness of the parent, in this case, the mother. We accept male bears doing this as simply part of their nature; they aren’t “civilized,” they are acting by instinct, and as a result, we cannot hold them morally responsible for their behavior. But that’s the point. The killing of one’s offspring is not “civilized” behavior, and in creatures who do (supposedly) have moral “sense” (humans), it becomes a reprehensible, uncivilized act. All the more because it is done deliberately and primarily for ultimate carnal gratification. A baby would be a nuisance; the procreation of the species, which is the ultimate purpose of the sexual act, is no longer in view. Pleasure is. This isn’t “civilization,” it is barbarity gone to seed.
2. The mutilation of children for sexual purposes is also a distinctly “uncivilized” act. As noted, some animals will kill their offspring. Perhaps there are some who mutilate their children in order to produce a creature they can eventually have sex with, but I know of no such creature—except humans. What the Left is doing to America’s children today is beneath barbarity. It is savagery in the basest meaning of the term. Civilized people do not mutilate their own children. Period. Anybody who believes that conduct is proper is as uncivilized as any creature can be, even below the most monstrous of animals.
3. Contrariwise, civilized people nurture and care for their children, educate and discipline them, and protect them from uncivilized predators. It is called “the family,” and it has been the foundation of every civilized society in history. The more a society destroys the nuclear family, the less “civilized” it becomes.
4. A civilized society knows the difference between males and females. Even animals do. Any society that doesn’t have descended beneath a jungle level. Nature cannot be destroyed, and civilization can be advanced.
5. A civilized society knows that all its collective parts should contribute to the well-being and advancement of that society. It will structure itself in such a way as to accomplish that. A civilized society does not encourage wanton, degraded, degenerate, slothful—or uncivilized—behavior. It isolates the animals inside it in order to protect its civilization.
6. The glorification of violence and sex in a society is uncivilized. These things appeal to the most squalid nature of man, his most carnal appetites, not his noblest. Uncontrolled lust and violence are characteristics of the lowest common denominator of humanity. Jungle instincts must be restrained, contained, and overcome for civilization to exist. Any society that refuses to do so will suffer dire consequences, as indeed we see in America today.
I feel the need to make a clarification here. Lewis speaks of the glorification of violence (and sex) as uncivilized behavior. One could opine that a civilized people would not need weapons and thus should be disarmed, rather like the Morlocks. I am sure that is not what he meant. In a civilized society, weapons of all sorts are seen as tools. One should be as proficient as possible in the use of one's tools. But one should never see the use of these tools as somehow glorious. Wanton slaughter of anything, either man or beast is to be seen as barbaric. The ancient Aztecs bloodbaths are thus uncivilized, as were the Nazi death camps, the various genocides throughout history, and the removal if American Indians from ancestral lands. The gross slaughter of the buffalo was another example. Self-defense is necessary for the barbarians are always among us. Te killing of animals for food in as humane way as possible, by contrast, is necessary to the survival of civilization.
Lewis paints a fairly dark picture of the uncivilized behavior that we see in the news in American cities today and points the finger for its development at the fascist far left, the Democrat party. But the Democrats are using the barbarians today as tools to gain power. Once they are firmly in control, they will not need them, and just as the Nazis eliminated the Brownshirts, the Democrats will eventually crack down hard on the barbarians. But by then it will be too late for the rest of us.
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