David, Why. Don't you just say it is all Obama;s fault to cement your ideological affinity with Trumpian troglodytes, and then make all of us feel things will get better because Betsy DeVos will get "that old time religion/ Western Civ" back in the schools?
74
Of course this entails ignoring the waves, and waves, and waves of oppressive strong man populist movements that have surged even as far back as Rouseeau (who first surmised the need.) Hitler, Mussolini, Jackson,D'Annunzio, Bakunin, the BJP, Goldwater anyone?
Revolts against the liberal upper class claiming their right to rule in the name of rationality, anti-imperialism and a conditioned equality go as back as well . . the liberal upper class making these claims.
Revolts against the liberal upper class claiming their right to rule in the name of rationality, anti-imperialism and a conditioned equality go as back as well . . the liberal upper class making these claims.
46
The support by Obama and previous presidents for such democratic-institution-dismantlers and dictators as the Saudi royal family, Egypt's Sisi and Mubarak before him, etc. etc. seems to torpedo much of this article's premise -- also not sure how Obama's military support for the Saudis in their staggeringly vicious (ongoing) slaughter of the people of Yemen fits into this narrative. And the creepy focus on 'Western' civilization as the savior of all mankind and beacon of reason and justice seems a little too nakedly bigoted for these pages --
53
Spoken as only a white man can speak. Yes, western civ gave us great ideas, progressive ideas, along the way. But as Susan Sondheim once stated, "If America is the culmination of Western white civilization, as everyone from the Left to the Right declares, then there must be something terribly wrong with Western white civilization. This is a painful truth; few of us want to go that far. … The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine ballets, et al., don't redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history; it is the white race and it alone—its ideologies and inventions—which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself."
115
Mr. Brooks,
You are 100 years too late. The crisis of "Western Civilization" was World War One (not to mention WW2), which destroyed the belief in progress. Your thesis is simply incorrect.
Really, you should probably stick to something beside world history, because you do not know that of which you speak.
You are 100 years too late. The crisis of "Western Civilization" was World War One (not to mention WW2), which destroyed the belief in progress. Your thesis is simply incorrect.
Really, you should probably stick to something beside world history, because you do not know that of which you speak.
2
More.. governments,. begin to look like premodern mafia states, run by family-based commercial clans. It's a tragedy waiting to happen in a society divorced from Dharma “Do not perform an action for the reward it may bring. Perform it because it is right; it is dharma.”
India is a deep dharmic society "creates and sustains individual and social conditions where each individual, in his or her own being, and in relationship with others, is able to explore the potential of his or her life and bring it to fruition in such ways that he or she can"
Here human situation was always seen with “many eyes and spoke[n] with many tongues,” and “particularly in the higher reaches of Indian thought, one finds propositions that assert and deny a thing at the same time, or assert of a thing two opposite attributes simultaneously”. Understanding the universe was vital to Indian philosophy, .. The fundamental truth was that “sovereignty is of dharma, not of the king,” Badrinath Chaturvedi.
"For nearly five hundred years of western Christianity; a hundred and fifty years of British liberalism; a century of modern science; and more than half a century of Marxism -— each of these tried to change India, and was itself quickly changed. Neither harmonised, nor absorbed, but all of them just neutralised, their main force defused, scattered. And that was because, in each case, Indian civilisation and its foundations were not understood, or have been understood wrongly” Badrinath, Chaturvedi
India is a deep dharmic society "creates and sustains individual and social conditions where each individual, in his or her own being, and in relationship with others, is able to explore the potential of his or her life and bring it to fruition in such ways that he or she can"
Here human situation was always seen with “many eyes and spoke[n] with many tongues,” and “particularly in the higher reaches of Indian thought, one finds propositions that assert and deny a thing at the same time, or assert of a thing two opposite attributes simultaneously”. Understanding the universe was vital to Indian philosophy, .. The fundamental truth was that “sovereignty is of dharma, not of the king,” Badrinath Chaturvedi.
"For nearly five hundred years of western Christianity; a hundred and fifty years of British liberalism; a century of modern science; and more than half a century of Marxism -— each of these tried to change India, and was itself quickly changed. Neither harmonised, nor absorbed, but all of them just neutralised, their main force defused, scattered. And that was because, in each case, Indian civilisation and its foundations were not understood, or have been understood wrongly” Badrinath, Chaturvedi
33
Brooke was raised within a liberal family and then he grew up to think government is his enemy and started his smear campaign against public education, secularism, science, health care, and yes, ration thinking toward anyone that is not white. What has happen is people like Brooke has brainwash his white brothers and sisters into this horrible thinking of "me first."
24
Let's spend less time on the liberals and the conservatives, the extreme Republicans and the extreme Democrats, the Red States and the Blue States. Let's spend more time pumping up the middle, where collaboration, cooperation, and progress take place. Rodney King put it nicely in May, 1992, following riots in Los Angeles: "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? … It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice … Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out."
Unless we spend more time on the solutions for all people, the problems will never end. Courses on Western Civilization affect a small percentage of our most elite citizens. The focus must be on building up the center (and majority) of our society, both in the US and abroad.
Unless we spend more time on the solutions for all people, the problems will never end. Courses on Western Civilization affect a small percentage of our most elite citizens. The focus must be on building up the center (and majority) of our society, both in the US and abroad.
98
The current system of unregulated capitalism has allowed a select few to gather immense wealth. That wealth, distributed more generally though the population would have created more purchasing power, satisfaction and belief in system in the general population. The current system has failed to deliver for the average fellow and until it does there will be pressure for change. We can only hope that the pressure will not lead to tyranny.
66
Mr. Brooks writes as though he's never actually been to any of the college classes that he derides. Critique of a Western civilization narrative that ignores its shadow is rooted strongly in advocacy for the ideals of enlightened civilization - equal rights, equal protection under the law, commitment to the shared commonwealth, compassion for all beings, the encouragement of creativity and the discouragement of greed. It is absurd to blame the continued erosion of our shared moral foundation on the work that scholars and students have done to call us to our highest ideals and question the self-congratulatory nature of our whitewashed Western narratives.
82
Civilizations rise and fall depends on the adaptability of the governments in charge. If they are supported by the people, they can have a long life, but if they oppress the masses for the benefit of the privileged wealthy, their life will be short lived.
Taxes are hated by most everybody, but there are many services provided by the government that cannot be offered by the private sector. Infrastructure, law enforcement, national defense and environmental regulations are all and more the obligation of a national government. They all require taxes to pay for them. It is common sense that the well to do and the very wealthy benefit to a much higher degree than the poor or working populace. Health care is headed towards a public provider rather than private insurance.
Without question, many of the nations Brooks mentioned are in a state of crisis via interior politics. The slow plodding pace of democracy has soured many people that have become used to fast response times in their every day lives.
We survived both WW1 and WW2 when the world was in crisis. We will survive the huge political crisis many nations are in now. It will result in a different way of governing most likely, but we are not at risk of another dark ages.
Taxes are hated by most everybody, but there are many services provided by the government that cannot be offered by the private sector. Infrastructure, law enforcement, national defense and environmental regulations are all and more the obligation of a national government. They all require taxes to pay for them. It is common sense that the well to do and the very wealthy benefit to a much higher degree than the poor or working populace. Health care is headed towards a public provider rather than private insurance.
Without question, many of the nations Brooks mentioned are in a state of crisis via interior politics. The slow plodding pace of democracy has soured many people that have become used to fast response times in their every day lives.
We survived both WW1 and WW2 when the world was in crisis. We will survive the huge political crisis many nations are in now. It will result in a different way of governing most likely, but we are not at risk of another dark ages.
15
The promise of democracy, whether stated outright or implied, was progress for everyone, people of all colors and creeds. That our lives would improve over time, even if some of us suffered. We held on to it, in spite of systems of oppression, with the understanding that the benefits of democracy would naturally also be transferred to those 'less fortunate' over time.
The erosion of democratic ideals among the public, as I see it, has been proportional to the power grab of would be oligarchs and corporatist interests as the sole informers of public policy on the national stage, with the goal of assuming every advantage and resource. The closer we come to resembling an oligarchy, the less it seems those patterns of oppression are likely to change. The less invested we are in the belief that our struggles and suffering will eventually improve to a better solution.
Laying blame on higher education seems misplaced.
The erosion of democratic ideals among the public, as I see it, has been proportional to the power grab of would be oligarchs and corporatist interests as the sole informers of public policy on the national stage, with the goal of assuming every advantage and resource. The closer we come to resembling an oligarchy, the less it seems those patterns of oppression are likely to change. The less invested we are in the belief that our struggles and suffering will eventually improve to a better solution.
Laying blame on higher education seems misplaced.
51
Western Civilization is doing fine in many countries. We've come through bad times in the US before. Is this a small pendulum swing or cataclysmic? I try to stay optimistic because we have been so lucky in our lifetimes and our view is so short. I just wish we could learn from others and get a better system of government than our current Lobbyocracy, before we destroy the middle class and the planet.
39
I recently completed 5 years working in Saudi Arabia. I wish more Americans could have the experience of living for an extended period in such a country, where freedom is so constrained and where basic rights are still denied to so many.
And yes, I knew some wonderful, warm, good people there. But that doesn't change the reality of the social/political conditions.
And yes, I knew some wonderful, warm, good people there. But that doesn't change the reality of the social/political conditions.
42
How different, ultimately, is Mr. Brooks's complaint about challenges to the "Western civilization narrative" from the claims of those who defend the confederate flag as an expression of "tradition" or "culture" while ignoring its indelible association with slavery, or those who, more generally, whine about political correctness when it turns out that some seemingly benign majority sensibilities aren't so innocuous for people not in the majority?
Most of us have encountered situations in our personal or work lives where it turned out we weren't everything we cracked ourselves up to be. The adult response is neither to retreat into utter denial nor to collapse into abject self-recrimination.
These responses, particularly the former, are seemingly becoming harder to avoid in the social/political sphere. Partly this is a matter of the long standing exaltation of the individual above all else. Arguably, it also has to do with Ronald Reagan, although not, as others here suggest, because of his hostility to government. Rather, his failure, for whatever reason, to distinguish reliably between objective reality on the one hand and imagination or faulty memory on the other has led us to where now emotional authenticity is taken as the measure of veracity. Such radical solipsism is hardly a useful modus operandi, given that, as the late Ivan Illich observed, industrial society sentimentalizes what it destroys.
Most of us have encountered situations in our personal or work lives where it turned out we weren't everything we cracked ourselves up to be. The adult response is neither to retreat into utter denial nor to collapse into abject self-recrimination.
These responses, particularly the former, are seemingly becoming harder to avoid in the social/political sphere. Partly this is a matter of the long standing exaltation of the individual above all else. Arguably, it also has to do with Ronald Reagan, although not, as others here suggest, because of his hostility to government. Rather, his failure, for whatever reason, to distinguish reliably between objective reality on the one hand and imagination or faulty memory on the other has led us to where now emotional authenticity is taken as the measure of veracity. Such radical solipsism is hardly a useful modus operandi, given that, as the late Ivan Illich observed, industrial society sentimentalizes what it destroys.
30
As I grow older, I am increasingly grateful for the broad, liberal arts curriculum that I was exposed to at Colgate University in the 60s and 70s. I was taught to think both critically and creatively about a broad spectrum of topics. We thrived on a skepticism that promoted further inquiry, learning, and self-discovery. Far too many of our present leaders are products of narrow-focused, professional diploma mills. They lack the necessary tools for productive public discourse on matters that affect the daily lives of their constituents. Their lack of understanding breeds cynicism, lethargy, and despair.
102
I read the linked article by Heather MacDonald and her treatment by college students was destructive of our basic liberties, as is everything Donald Trump has said and done. We are all, right, left and whatever, inhabitants of this present culture and its deformations at the present time probably reflect the actual physical reality of our times: industrial civilization is pressing on the carrying limits of the planet and we all feel this almost instinctively. The theology that has allowed the present world population has so fueled an inequality that underlies every problem of the era, from racially segregated ghettos to terrorism. Where Brooks is right is that our salvation can only come from reaching back into the rational roots of this civilization and redesigning it to serve all human life. And a little study of Marx along with Aristotle would not be out of place.
44
I can't believe how disconnected Brooks has seen with the future developments of Civilization over the years.
Civilization is determined, eventually, in getting it better. And it will.
Civilization is determined, eventually, in getting it better. And it will.
Long before Western Civilization there was Eastern Civilization. The West would do well to look further than Egypt, Greece and Western Europe for it's roots. Some of the greatest Western scientists and thinkers have gleaned theories of greater understanding into the workings of the universe and patented technologies based on ideas from say the ancient Indian scriptures. Antiquity may erase the evidence from our collective minds about the interconnectivity of humanity however the nature of the universe is diversity. The teachings of Krishna for example from the greatest poem ever written, the Mahabharata, 10 times as long as the Odyssey and Iliad combined may yet teach us that we are all eternal souls and children of God having a temporary material experience and that we are not these bodies!
10
The rise of government paralysis in the US started with the rise of Newt Gingrich. Deeper than that was the end of the Cold War. The GOP felt free to deviate from the boudaries that insured the unity of the US government.
Our founders were creatures of the Enlightenment, the intellectual and philosophical movement that fostered liberty, tolerance, progress in science, and the foundations of constitutional government.
Amazing that the so-called conservatives, who continually rant about respecting our founders and the constitution, actually act in direct opposition to the very essence of their great gift to us, our representative democracy.
We need to educate our citizens right now - time is of the essence - about what was perhaps the greatest intellectual flowering of all time, the Age of Enlightenment, and all that it gave to us and to the world.
Amazing that the so-called conservatives, who continually rant about respecting our founders and the constitution, actually act in direct opposition to the very essence of their great gift to us, our representative democracy.
We need to educate our citizens right now - time is of the essence - about what was perhaps the greatest intellectual flowering of all time, the Age of Enlightenment, and all that it gave to us and to the world.
42
Put as overly simply as possible, the city on a hill where democratic values have been practiced has always been a gated community. As long as there were outsiders who could be exploited, an economy benefiting the insiders could function. Now that the outsiders are demanding to be treated like insiders, the system is in crisis because we have not adopted a way of doing business that can provide the economic underpinnings of an inclusive democracy. The new nationalist movements are exactly efforts to maintain the old situation, but ultimately the horse is out of the barn.
Possibly, we are going through a dialectic of political thought where the Howard Zinn antithesis is currently winning against the Durant thesis. Hopefully, there will be a synthesis where the Durant system is extended to the populations, internal and external, whose oppression is highlighted by Zinn and students of colonialism and neocolonialism. Delivering on the democratic promise to these new members will require some kind of economic change. We need to agree what can work and then put forward the democratic system with the new modifications as a valid choice.
Simple, right?
Possibly, we are going through a dialectic of political thought where the Howard Zinn antithesis is currently winning against the Durant thesis. Hopefully, there will be a synthesis where the Durant system is extended to the populations, internal and external, whose oppression is highlighted by Zinn and students of colonialism and neocolonialism. Delivering on the democratic promise to these new members will require some kind of economic change. We need to agree what can work and then put forward the democratic system with the new modifications as a valid choice.
Simple, right?
28
It wasn't colleges and universities that ushered in talk radio and think tanks promoting free-market fundamentalism via mass media. Because the tools of intellectual discourse provide ongoing critical analysis and evaluation does not mean they're no longer valued and useful. Rather, what has happened is a decades-long propaganda campaign in service of libertarian ideology succeeded because it was tailored for consumption by people ever less capable of critical thinking. Keep in mind that the Republican establishment has welcomed Trump with open arms. He is their dream of total dominance come true.
54
Start by reading the 1919 poem by Yeats 'The Second Coming' where he states the "...the center cannot hold...". Mr. Brooks is right when he says the center-left and center-right are no longer viable politically. The 'why' of that has and will be written in many books, some will point one way and some in other directions.
The the only answers that people in fear currently turn toward are reactionary or authoritarian, which is nothing other than a failure of the imagination. As long as fear predominates no true answers will rise. Courage for real change must predominate before the cycle we are in delivers ideals that promise human evolution that brings dignity to all of us.
Social justice is the cornerstone for a new and vital form of governance. If not, consider the final 2 lines of Yeats' poem as this will be our fate:
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
The the only answers that people in fear currently turn toward are reactionary or authoritarian, which is nothing other than a failure of the imagination. As long as fear predominates no true answers will rise. Courage for real change must predominate before the cycle we are in delivers ideals that promise human evolution that brings dignity to all of us.
Social justice is the cornerstone for a new and vital form of governance. If not, consider the final 2 lines of Yeats' poem as this will be our fate:
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
7
I come from Asia. We study math and honor students that excel in science. In your society, study the Kardashians, and honor football players. Who will own the future?
102
Interesting way to think about our situation. I tend to think it's more like the 30's. Economic malaise beginning in 2001 and peaking in 2008 and continuing today has pushed people losing in this environment into casting about for any relief - even going as far as electing the Donald. The Enlightenment and Rationality aren't going away, just on vacation while citizens of many nations experience an emotional catharsis and experiment with extremism of various kinds.
5
Dear Mr. Brooks,
The rise of the strong person in the world is due in very small part to the failure of educating on or the demonization of western civilization. Instead it is due to the failure of our leaders in the beloved western democratic civilizations to protect the 99% from the 1% and from the corporations, which have consolidated wealth and power, furthered income inequality, and not prepared work forces for globalization. This failure is pushing many in the world towards people who are selling, albeit in many instances falsely, salvation and relief. It's easier to have faith in a face than a faceless institution.
The rise of the strong person in the world is due in very small part to the failure of educating on or the demonization of western civilization. Instead it is due to the failure of our leaders in the beloved western democratic civilizations to protect the 99% from the 1% and from the corporations, which have consolidated wealth and power, furthered income inequality, and not prepared work forces for globalization. This failure is pushing many in the world towards people who are selling, albeit in many instances falsely, salvation and relief. It's easier to have faith in a face than a faceless institution.
33
Enduring change— a constant thing.
Enduring change— the ability to adapt to the aforementioned "constant thing".
Enduring change— the ability to adapt to the aforementioned "constant thing".
2
To quote from William Butler Yeats, "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Sadly, quite prophetic.
David Brooks quite elegantly articulated what I have felt and have been lamenting for a long time now: the loss of the center in politics. Having been brought up on John Locke, Edmund Burke and the writings of our Founding Fathers, I find it both sad and frightening to see what is happening both here at home and around the world. We are already seeing "the world that comes after" Western civ, and frankly, for all the failures and injustices that have come out of Western civilization, I do believe it will be far better than what is emerging now.
I believe, however, that what Brooks is describing is part of a broader historical battle for the human soul between the forces of light—progress, freedom, equality, rationality and hope—and those of dark—control, fear, inequality, segregation, selfishness and excess.
Perhaps the greatest sin of Western Civilization has been the arrogance to believe that progress was inevitable and that we are long past the Dark Ages. It looks to me like a new Dark Ages is upon us, only this time, we're armed with weapons of mass destruction. God help us all.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Sadly, quite prophetic.
David Brooks quite elegantly articulated what I have felt and have been lamenting for a long time now: the loss of the center in politics. Having been brought up on John Locke, Edmund Burke and the writings of our Founding Fathers, I find it both sad and frightening to see what is happening both here at home and around the world. We are already seeing "the world that comes after" Western civ, and frankly, for all the failures and injustices that have come out of Western civilization, I do believe it will be far better than what is emerging now.
I believe, however, that what Brooks is describing is part of a broader historical battle for the human soul between the forces of light—progress, freedom, equality, rationality and hope—and those of dark—control, fear, inequality, segregation, selfishness and excess.
Perhaps the greatest sin of Western Civilization has been the arrogance to believe that progress was inevitable and that we are long past the Dark Ages. It looks to me like a new Dark Ages is upon us, only this time, we're armed with weapons of mass destruction. God help us all.
1
While teaching is important, I believe the abuses of power and money are the culprit for our trust in the 'enlightenment'. That is not to say that there were no abuses of power in earlier centuries, but globalization has amplified the massive riches while media created both transparency and stomach-wrenching adulation.
Media has celebrated the mediocre and capitalism celebrates the materialistic.
When our governments are bought, when reason and science are disregarded, when we operate on moral double=standards, when our leaders confess to not reading books - we are setting a poor example what our civilization should aspire to.
Our Western Civilization needs to be practiced - not just read.
Media has celebrated the mediocre and capitalism celebrates the materialistic.
When our governments are bought, when reason and science are disregarded, when we operate on moral double=standards, when our leaders confess to not reading books - we are setting a poor example what our civilization should aspire to.
Our Western Civilization needs to be practiced - not just read.
18
I remember reading Vine Deloria's catagorical rejection of Western Civilization. He did it partly to make the point that Native Americans have been forced to reject everything from their cultural inheritance, and accept a full conversion to the ways of the people that conquered them. This book was difficult for me to read, and I didn't see the justice of it for several years. Now that we are facing multiple ecological disasters, it seems that a purely Native American philosophical point of way has many very convincing tenets. What Donald Trump is enacting is completely different from this. To my mind, he represents a destruction of all philosophy, and for no purpose other than Mr. Trump's self interest, and the interest of the obsolete corporations that run Washington to use the government to preserve their useless control over the economy. Economics was never meant to be a philosophy. And Trump doesn't impress any economists, either. His administration is clearly nothing but a kind of death of the brain, an aneurysm, a stroke. It may be that he has some psychiatric disorder, which would explain the perversity of what is happening under his cruel and capricious leadership.
Blame (economic) neoliberalism for a good share of this. if people are materially alienated you should expect that they will also become socially and politically alienated.
6
I work in a Charter HS in NM one day per week. For the first semester, the same male student voice would intone the Pledge of Allegiance every afternoon over the PA, always with at least one error in its recitation varying from week to week. While everyone, staff and students are required to stand, I have never heard anyone but the classroom teacher and myself recite the pledge as asked.
In reading this op-ed piece one might easily have missed the off-handed way in which Mr Brooks divvies up world leaders into two convenient categories- Obama, Merkel and others in one camp vs. Trump, Putin, Erdogan, et al. in the "strong man" camp.
His lumping Donald J. Trump in with the likes of iron-fisted tyrants Putin, Erdogan and Xi Jinping would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.
Putin, et al. are “strongmen,” not “strong men”- a not-so-subtle distinction glossed over by Mr Brooks, and worth commenting on here.
Anyone with a sense of history and and having lived through a brutal dictatorship knows full well the difference. Semantics matter.
His lumping Donald J. Trump in with the likes of iron-fisted tyrants Putin, Erdogan and Xi Jinping would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.
Putin, et al. are “strongmen,” not “strong men”- a not-so-subtle distinction glossed over by Mr Brooks, and worth commenting on here.
Anyone with a sense of history and and having lived through a brutal dictatorship knows full well the difference. Semantics matter.
15
If civilization is failing in the United States, it didn't start with our universities. It started with an assault on the middle class that began with Ronald Reagan and has continued to the present day. See Elizabeth Warren's new book for an analysis. All of the growth in income since 1980 has gone to the top 10%. The rest of us got zero.
Fix this problem and you'll fix civilization. Ignore this problem and we're all headed for a repeat of the dark ages.
Fix this problem and you'll fix civilization. Ignore this problem and we're all headed for a repeat of the dark ages.
32
I read the first volume of the Durant series. Somewhere in there they wrote about an early Greek city state where the legislators had to wear a noose when they rose to propose a law. If the rest of the legislators disagreed, then the noose was put to its intended use. I know it sounds like something out of an Aristophanes play, but such a practice might protect modern democracies from a great many legislative tricks.
Columnists like David Brooks have contributed greatly to prevailing cynicism by supporting fraudulent neo-con positions and policies that have no democratic base while attempting to maximize power and wealth for financial elites. The hijacking of democratic discourse profiting aggressive policies such as the Iraq invasion by GWBush have enormously abetted cynicism and disenchantment with Western values seen today as a figleaf for oppression and warlike policies. Fraudulent populists such as Trump, Le Pen or Erdogan are picking up the pieces and no one knows how the forming cultural and political chaos will end.
9
Key beneficial concepts of Western civilization from the rights of individuals, property rights, fair trade, liberty, the right to dissent, religious tolerance, a free press, the scientific method, logic, justice, capitalism, material progress, and so on have always been imperfectly realized, but they have provided a framework for human advancement superior to the tribalism, rigid theocracy, intolerance, conformity, and intellectual stagnation that permeate other systems and world views. Slavery existed long before there was a Western civilization and it was eventually abolished by Western nations, sometimes though force of arms. Feminism and women's rights are historically an outgrowth of Western civilization and it is still Western values that are the in the forefront against FGM, honor-killing, wife beating, and forced marriage. The criticism of Western civilization should be against its failure to realize its ideals and to highlight hypocrisy when acting contrary to them. However on campus too many are busy attacking the ideas of Dead White Western Men without a clue what they are attacking to see that they are constructing a counter "civilization" of tribalism, violence, conformity, repression, and intolerance that is backward and intellectually bankrupt.
34
In large part Western civilization depended historically on the exploitation of weaker nations and groups, whether at home or abroad, to fuel its lofty ideals and practices. With decreasing resources, coupled with increasingly empowered poorer nations the equation is changing, and it becomes ever harder to finance the liberal lifestyle, which does not flourish among people who are hungry, and even less so when those people have potent weapons.
If we are to continue to enjoy the fruits of Western civilization, and they are indeed sweet, we will have to find a way to share those treats with others less fortunate, because borders are no longer what they used to be. What has been seen cannot be unseen. If all men are indeed created equal, then it is time to practice what we preach or admit that is was all a convenient excuse to enjoy ourselves at others' expense without feeling too guilty.
If we are to continue to enjoy the fruits of Western civilization, and they are indeed sweet, we will have to find a way to share those treats with others less fortunate, because borders are no longer what they used to be. What has been seen cannot be unseen. If all men are indeed created equal, then it is time to practice what we preach or admit that is was all a convenient excuse to enjoy ourselves at others' expense without feeling too guilty.
Sadly, we do not have the luxury of blaming all these cheesy autocrats anymore..What is wrong is inside us and until we fix that--we get exactly what we deserve....Our reality is we have allowed ourselves to cling to old ideas and embrace values that diminish our sensibility and humanity. We live in fear and ceased to celebrate diversity and courage a long time ago.......Fear is our soul's new cancer.
15
So the root cause of the rise of kleptocracy and strongmen across the world is political correctness in the classroom. Not the concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands. Not the rise of the military-industrial-national-security complex that needs endless war for endless profits. Not the undermining of science by fossil fuel companies and the religious right for their own ends. Not the gaming of the system by various mafias, from Vladimir Putin's oligarchs to Wall Street. Not the grinding poverty, environmental destruction, and political oppression across vast swaths of the globe. Nope, it's the fault of those liberal postmodern morally relativist professors, teaching their students about Maya Angelou instead of Erasmus. Good to know!
32
"Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, the need for a public square that was religiously informed but not theocratically dominated" writes Brooks. Unfortunately, reasoned discourse was overridden by advertisements and partisanship, property rights created unfair distribution of property and the propertied dominate the public square. We must do better, otherwise the warning in the last sentence of the last paragraph of the article will materialize.
7
The problem is not the way civilization is being taught, the problem is the way civilization is being run. Since 1980, all the income gains in the United States have gone to the top 10%. The rest of us got zero.
Fix this problem and civilization will take care of itself. Ignore it and all the history professors in the world won't save you.
Fix this problem and civilization will take care of itself. Ignore it and all the history professors in the world won't save you.
12
Mr. Brooks:
If the end point of Western Civ. is unfettered global capitalism, perhaps it is time for us to find a new inspiration for the future. Too many have too little. Too few have too much. This is not where the progression of western ideas leads us. How did you manage to miss this slight problem in this column?
If the end point of Western Civ. is unfettered global capitalism, perhaps it is time for us to find a new inspiration for the future. Too many have too little. Too few have too much. This is not where the progression of western ideas leads us. How did you manage to miss this slight problem in this column?
22
"This Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, ..." So number two on the list of values is property rights? And not a peep about human rights? Speaks volumes, Mr. Brooks.
18
David Brooks, it has predominately been your republican party that has systematically called into question the legitimacy of our institutions: The Press, the Courts, the common idea that we all contribute what we can to our Nation in the form of taxes and responsibilities, the Democratic Party, and finally our Government itself. All have been laid to waste by the so called libertarian ideal of every MAN for HIMSELF. Your party has ignored women at best and passed laws to denigrate them at worst.
It was men like Dick Cheney and George Bush who called democrats and others who opposed their invasion of Iraq anti American. Even for opposing his tax cuts for the best off Democrats have been called the enemy.
Our civilization is in peril because vast numbers of US have become convinced that our neighbors are the problem, not those who control the wealth and information flows as currently exists.
"Now various scattered enemies of those Western values have emerged, and there is apparently nobody to defend them."
President Obama spent 8 years trying to defend them while your party did its level best to de-legitimize him and his goals. Goals that could have led to a cohesion of National identity had republicans in government met him half way while he bent over backwards to meet them half way. Never happened. Your party big shots committed sedition when they met to vow never to allow him a victory.
Look in the mirror, David.
It was men like Dick Cheney and George Bush who called democrats and others who opposed their invasion of Iraq anti American. Even for opposing his tax cuts for the best off Democrats have been called the enemy.
Our civilization is in peril because vast numbers of US have become convinced that our neighbors are the problem, not those who control the wealth and information flows as currently exists.
"Now various scattered enemies of those Western values have emerged, and there is apparently nobody to defend them."
President Obama spent 8 years trying to defend them while your party did its level best to de-legitimize him and his goals. Goals that could have led to a cohesion of National identity had republicans in government met him half way while he bent over backwards to meet them half way. Never happened. Your party big shots committed sedition when they met to vow never to allow him a victory.
Look in the mirror, David.
32
Too many Americans are growing up in our post /11 traumatized world and the longest war in our country's history Defunding our public school music and art courses and running continuous cycles of negative political ads and commentary produces general ennui. We are all to blame. Leadership starts at nursery school.
6
I teach at a private university and was raised in a moderate-to-conservative milieu. The caricature of the intolerant liberals on campus is a ridiculous cartoon. It bears no relationship to the careful, thoughtful colleagues and students I encounter on a daily basis. I will leave the "master narrative" debate to others. But for the record, our universities are not collapsing into re-education camps.
36
It is absolutely disgusting to see David Brooks blame others--he, a man who has firmly supported the Republican class warfare against the poor and lower-middle class and the neo-fascism of leaders like Paul Ryan and Chief Justice Roberts in their constant fight to increase corporate power and oligarchic dominance and undermine democracy by restricting minority voting and battling to prevent majority election of the president. Worried about the decline of democraticcivilization and those who didn't stand up for it? Look in the mirror.
20
The trouble with Western Civilization is that it considers itself as the only unique, exceptional and greatest of all civilizations. As a matter of there is none other in the rest of the World. It's self declared superiority has been it's undoing. The self-appointed, self aggrandized Western Civilization in the guise of guardians of peace have really added fuel to the fire. They have plundered the countries and left them missing out on important Revolutions like the Industrial Revolution. Everywhere, where the countries have been colonized, deaths, destruction and impoverishment has followed. The Settlers war on American Indians, The Spanish in Mexico and South America, The British in the Indian subcontinent, carving out Kuwait from Iraq and thrusting European Jews on a land where the indigenous people were just pushed to the periphery - to name a few. Western Civilization may been born in the womb of great, unselfish, futuristic principles. But unfortunately it has devolved into greed being the bottom line. The sophisticated West has only introduced sophisticated weapons in countries where there were none. ISIS, AL Qaeda, when did it come into existence?The huge conflicts we are now witnessing, all have some roots in Western Civilization onslaught. Of course, like Brooks only Western Civilization survival is consequential, never mind the destruction wrought on the rest of the world civilizations.
"On American campuses, fragile thugs who call themselves students..." Dogwhistling! On the columnist! 15 yards! No first down!
In general, the "need to unapologetically defend Western Civilization" tone of this column is a little too in line with far right rhetoric. You have a valid point buried in here, David, but do you need to express it in a way that Richard Spencer would say "amen" to?
In general, the "need to unapologetically defend Western Civilization" tone of this column is a little too in line with far right rhetoric. You have a valid point buried in here, David, but do you need to express it in a way that Richard Spencer would say "amen" to?
7
It is easy to tear things down, but far less easy to build them up. When you tear down something upon which your world -- even your ideas -- is built, don't imagine that the paradise in your mind is what will replace it. In doing this, you're breaking everyone else's world, too, and releasing forces and passions beyond your comprehension and control.
"Imagine Western Civilization from the perspective of someone outside of it" is today the chief request. This is understandable and was inevitable. ... What has Western Civilization brought to the world, apart from its blunders, which, at the time, everyone was making? -- Saudi Arabia and Yemen didn't abolish slavery until the '60s. All human history is slaughter, pillage, oppression, not just Western history.
Western Civilization has brought us our ideas of human rights and democracy, of respect for difference. It's brought the idea of human dignity. Even the attacks upon it employ its own ideas in a self-assault. But socialism wrong-foots liberal democracy. Despite its crimes, its stupidity, people will not stop striving for the better world it promises.
Socialist influence has put us in a position where we self-flagellate and venerate our "victims," whose real, actual lives we romanticize. Postmodernism and socialism have made it hard to come together when we need to. If someone attacks us, well, we deserved it. But you're right: What comes after this will not be Utopia but more likely its opposite.
"Imagine Western Civilization from the perspective of someone outside of it" is today the chief request. This is understandable and was inevitable. ... What has Western Civilization brought to the world, apart from its blunders, which, at the time, everyone was making? -- Saudi Arabia and Yemen didn't abolish slavery until the '60s. All human history is slaughter, pillage, oppression, not just Western history.
Western Civilization has brought us our ideas of human rights and democracy, of respect for difference. It's brought the idea of human dignity. Even the attacks upon it employ its own ideas in a self-assault. But socialism wrong-foots liberal democracy. Despite its crimes, its stupidity, people will not stop striving for the better world it promises.
Socialist influence has put us in a position where we self-flagellate and venerate our "victims," whose real, actual lives we romanticize. Postmodernism and socialism have made it hard to come together when we need to. If someone attacks us, well, we deserved it. But you're right: What comes after this will not be Utopia but more likely its opposite.
4
Whoa, David! I found the Durrant's series to be informative, in an encyclopedic sort of way. It was hardly an in-depth, thorough study of civilization.
Western Civilization hasn't been a bed of well-reasoned discourse and roses. The past has had it's share of oppression, in the form of leaders and bigots—you may want to clean off your rose-colored lenses. The past was full of atrocities in forms of genocide (hardly a new concept), imperialism, and slavery. To deny this truth and paint the past as an ideal paradise of sorts is utter foolishness. To be sure, the current state of civilization has become far less than civil, but not so much so as you'd have your reader believe; you can't blame the universities for confabulating the idea of a history of oppression.
While the concept of Western Civilization's ideals and values is important, it is also important to be realistic. They are goals, not reality. The Durrant's books omitted much of the horror perpetrated by those in power. Rarely does great wealth and power result action prompted by love, compassion, and fairness.
And to harken back to the days of gathering in the exedra, exchanging ideas, tempered with the ideals of religion . . . was your set of the Story of Civilization published by Golden Books? Have you read any other history books by other authors? Have you studied religion? I think you have a mythological mind-set.
We may not be perfect now, but we never were.
Western Civilization hasn't been a bed of well-reasoned discourse and roses. The past has had it's share of oppression, in the form of leaders and bigots—you may want to clean off your rose-colored lenses. The past was full of atrocities in forms of genocide (hardly a new concept), imperialism, and slavery. To deny this truth and paint the past as an ideal paradise of sorts is utter foolishness. To be sure, the current state of civilization has become far less than civil, but not so much so as you'd have your reader believe; you can't blame the universities for confabulating the idea of a history of oppression.
While the concept of Western Civilization's ideals and values is important, it is also important to be realistic. They are goals, not reality. The Durrant's books omitted much of the horror perpetrated by those in power. Rarely does great wealth and power result action prompted by love, compassion, and fairness.
And to harken back to the days of gathering in the exedra, exchanging ideas, tempered with the ideals of religion . . . was your set of the Story of Civilization published by Golden Books? Have you read any other history books by other authors? Have you studied religion? I think you have a mythological mind-set.
We may not be perfect now, but we never were.
10
"Over the past few years especially, we have entered the age of strong men. We are leaving the age of Obama, Cameron and Merkel and entering the age of Putin, Erdogan, el-Sisi, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump."
The rabble are playing video games and shopping and could care less!
They have just enough bread and circus to prevent them from focusing on anything but order and suppression of the truly destitute other.
When climate change really kicks in all the tribal floodgates will be open as food and water and health and production dwindle to plague levels.
The rabble are playing video games and shopping and could care less!
They have just enough bread and circus to prevent them from focusing on anything but order and suppression of the truly destitute other.
When climate change really kicks in all the tribal floodgates will be open as food and water and health and production dwindle to plague levels.
6
Brooks has done very little to uphold these virtues which he now laments as passing us by. Should of spoken out like this years ago David.
David Brooks is the same guy who found in the corporate 20 seconds tv ads the slogans that made the agents of his milieu existentially proud. One simply needs to refer to his intellectually mediocre book(s) from the 90s. Article after article his horrendous vision of classification combined with a misused and misunderstood sociological jargon take him farther away from any credibility within the discipline of sociology. There is one thing he excels at though: at gaining access to MSM shows and newspapers.
2
Mr. Brooks fails to note that during the last 100 years it is effete, establishment people and "experts" like him, the Ivy League grads, the big government advocates, the self-anointed, anti-democratic elitists, those too sophisticated for religion, morals and patriotism were the ones in charge. It was they who made the mess, built and ran the schools and universities that at astronomical cost increasingly fails to educate the people. They were the architects of the Korean and Vietnam fiascos. They lied us into globalism, war after war and our rapidly decaying civilization. They turned the media into childish, corporatist, establishment lap dogs. What class was in charge? It wasn't Trump or the American middle class. Who has failed to account for the trillions spent in the last 100 years for us only to end up in this current mess with an absolutely corrupt, inbred and incompetent political system and government. Democrat or Republican? Two sides of the same coin. Who did all of this? If you answer honestly you may realize that it is time for a big change not more of the same elitist, top down c--p that Brooks would prefer.
Finally what is amazing is that the establishment still doesn't get it. The monsters they, the establishment egotists, created have turned on them. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein little did she know that she was predicting our future.
Finally what is amazing is that the establishment still doesn't get it. The monsters they, the establishment egotists, created have turned on them. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein little did she know that she was predicting our future.
4
A popular majority of US voters spoke for these ideals. But, an Electoral College designed to give bigoted white slave holders and 'yeoman farmers' a disproportionate say continues to do its job.
27
Brooks is right that the left has gone too far, but so has the right.
Right now the US has no national goals. We're not going to the moon because it is hard, nor fighting the fascists because it is right. Instead, we're tearing ourselves apart.
The right preaches "self reliance," which is code for "you're on your own." Why do people endorse an idea that makes things so much worse for them? Meanwhile, the left howls about micro-aggressions and can't handle the idea that Charles Murray is SPEAKING somewhere nearby. Again, how can people fall for this stuff?
Anger is at the root of a lot it. Some are angry that society is changing and leaving them behind. They have a point. A gig economy is no way to national success. Others are angry that decades after various civil rights movements started, too little has changed. They're right, too.
I think we need to find a common cause and start pulling together. This means that people have to give: the government really should be helping people, and Charles Murray really does have a right to speak.
We must all pull together before we pull ourselves apart.
Right now the US has no national goals. We're not going to the moon because it is hard, nor fighting the fascists because it is right. Instead, we're tearing ourselves apart.
The right preaches "self reliance," which is code for "you're on your own." Why do people endorse an idea that makes things so much worse for them? Meanwhile, the left howls about micro-aggressions and can't handle the idea that Charles Murray is SPEAKING somewhere nearby. Again, how can people fall for this stuff?
Anger is at the root of a lot it. Some are angry that society is changing and leaving them behind. They have a point. A gig economy is no way to national success. Others are angry that decades after various civil rights movements started, too little has changed. They're right, too.
I think we need to find a common cause and start pulling together. This means that people have to give: the government really should be helping people, and Charles Murray really does have a right to speak.
We must all pull together before we pull ourselves apart.
26
I'm a moderate conservative from a far-right political socialization. I could not agree with you more.
A great man once said, if you are not in favor of freedom for your worst enemy, you are not in favor of freedom. I would add that those people will never have the freedom they seek for themselves, nor will they deserve it.
As much as it pains us all to admit this on hot button wedge issues like gay rights or abortion. We need to stop insisting that it is more important to pass universal legislation to defend those who we see as being harmed from the beliefs of those who do not share our values, than it is to orotect the rights of people to live in a society where the laws align with their beliefs. It's not pretty, but the solutions to all of the wedge issues dividing us can be had if we would just stop trying to resolve irreconcilable differences. Unless we are talking about slavery, you have the right to leave if you don't like it where you are, and this goes as much for the right as the left.
I am usually very critical of The Times because there are so many editorials asserting that the left's way is The only right way, and that the right is evil and stupid. I can honestly say that I am very proud of The Times for publishing this piece, which seems to recognize that the true enemy us the false dichotomy we have created for ourselves in the civil discourse.
Solving problems is not a team sport.
A great man once said, if you are not in favor of freedom for your worst enemy, you are not in favor of freedom. I would add that those people will never have the freedom they seek for themselves, nor will they deserve it.
As much as it pains us all to admit this on hot button wedge issues like gay rights or abortion. We need to stop insisting that it is more important to pass universal legislation to defend those who we see as being harmed from the beliefs of those who do not share our values, than it is to orotect the rights of people to live in a society where the laws align with their beliefs. It's not pretty, but the solutions to all of the wedge issues dividing us can be had if we would just stop trying to resolve irreconcilable differences. Unless we are talking about slavery, you have the right to leave if you don't like it where you are, and this goes as much for the right as the left.
I am usually very critical of The Times because there are so many editorials asserting that the left's way is The only right way, and that the right is evil and stupid. I can honestly say that I am very proud of The Times for publishing this piece, which seems to recognize that the true enemy us the false dichotomy we have created for ourselves in the civil discourse.
Solving problems is not a team sport.
4
"self-reliance" is not exactly code for "you're on your own"; "self-reliance" usually more closely approximates "yes, sometimes you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps, very often not, but always assume it will work, as it did for me, but then again, my "bootstraps" were a sizeable inherited fortune, but that's a minor detail." Basically yes, "you're on your own," but it has certain built-in claims about how the world works, usually suppressing quite important privileges the speaker, emphasizing his own grit and achievements, has used to advantage.
2
This is an appalling piece. First, he blames college professors for altering the narrative. However, many if not most of Trump's voters did not attend college, so they didn't imbibe any coherent narrative, except to rail at "intellectual elites." Additionally, why should college students or anyone else treat alt-right, white nationalists with courtesy and respect. In fact, it's conservative college students--contradicting Brooks' characterization of campuses as bastions of liberality--who invite these people in order to garner attention to themselves. If you want to maintain "Western Civ" values, you're surely not going to do it with flame-throwers. Sheesh.
10
1. Western Civ has been plenty oppressive as well as progressive. Nuance is the true first casualty of conflict. And here, too.
2. The 'thugs' on campus are opposing provocation, hate speech and propaganda from illiberal reactionaries. Are they not defending Western Civ?
3. Reinhold Niebuhr, "The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness." Read it.
2. The 'thugs' on campus are opposing provocation, hate speech and propaganda from illiberal reactionaries. Are they not defending Western Civ?
3. Reinhold Niebuhr, "The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness." Read it.
10
Western Civ has been plenty oppressive as well as progressive.
you mean there is no Chinese imperialism in Tibet or there was never Ottoman or Zulu imperialism. You need to study y our history to see that whites do not have a monopoloy on oppressive behavior.
You should also note what Chinese, Turkish and Zulu attitudes are towards their own oppressive (current) behavior relative to "western" behavior.
you mean there is no Chinese imperialism in Tibet or there was never Ottoman or Zulu imperialism. You need to study y our history to see that whites do not have a monopoloy on oppressive behavior.
You should also note what Chinese, Turkish and Zulu attitudes are towards their own oppressive (current) behavior relative to "western" behavior.
7
Nice fiction David. Donald is President ( i shudder to write those words) because of ignorance, fear and our collective failure to recognise the frustration of so many. By "collective" i do mean mostly on the political right.
The history of a move to the "strong man" in government results from many factors in Russia, Turkey, North Korea (no "move" was involved whatsoever.) But in Trump we find a physical coward, an ignorant intellect and a clinically narcacistic psyche. You are trying to rationale the irrational. Good luck with that.
The history of a move to the "strong man" in government results from many factors in Russia, Turkey, North Korea (no "move" was involved whatsoever.) But in Trump we find a physical coward, an ignorant intellect and a clinically narcacistic psyche. You are trying to rationale the irrational. Good luck with that.
13
Civilizations, in order to succesfully coordinate the actions of their citizens and prosper, need to be able to provide a widely accepted answer to three questions:
- what is the ultimate goal of life?
- what am I allowed to do to pursue such goal?
- If what I'm allowed to do conflicts with others, who should yield?
Mr. Brooks doesn't realize the kind of answers he was brought up to take for granted didn't start eroding 50 years ago, but 250 years ago (http://purebarbell.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/an-abridged-history-of-wester....
Our current predicament, indeed, derives from the lack of a widely agreed answer to any of them. Not to worry, this has happened a number of times through History and we always have found a new, more convincing (from the perspective of the times) set of values. Only beware of the transitions (http://purebarbell.blogspot.com.es/2017/03/the-shape-of-dominant-reasons...!
- what is the ultimate goal of life?
- what am I allowed to do to pursue such goal?
- If what I'm allowed to do conflicts with others, who should yield?
Mr. Brooks doesn't realize the kind of answers he was brought up to take for granted didn't start eroding 50 years ago, but 250 years ago (http://purebarbell.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/an-abridged-history-of-wester....
Our current predicament, indeed, derives from the lack of a widely agreed answer to any of them. Not to worry, this has happened a number of times through History and we always have found a new, more convincing (from the perspective of the times) set of values. Only beware of the transitions (http://purebarbell.blogspot.com.es/2017/03/the-shape-of-dominant-reasons...!
3
I think David Brooks has over reacted. Things are not perfect. But in time things have rebuild and improved. In comparison, China and Russia have improved through individuals over the years, like never before.
Civilization has constantly built and rebuilt. Brooks is too pessimistic.
Civilization has constantly built and rebuilt. Brooks is too pessimistic.
1
The failure or inability to maintain the institutions you have established is the classic definition of barbarity. Rome degraded and had barbarian Emperors; we have our first barbarian President. Let us pray for some philosophers.
9
This is the most depressing article I've read in a long time. If true, we can be all but certain that a global conflagration is inevitable. I hope I'm dead before then but I'm most worried for my kids.
4
I agree; I'm 68 and I'm so glad I'm not 18 and just starting out. I don't have children but I feel so sorry for those who do. All the more reason to wonder how so many people are oblivious to what's happening and think Trump is doing great. But then, "ignorance is bliss" may factor in here. I should probably try that.
6
I have to wonder about the contribution of dark money's efforts to endow right-wing, extremist professors in many of your country's higher institutions. I'm guessing that they would be as invested in the decline and disposal of Western Civ as anyone and, perhaps, that is exactly what is happening.
It sounds as if it might be passed time for a push-back. Surely, if right-wing "truths" can be bought, paid for and promulgated in American colleges, so too can the means for neutralizing such distortions.
It sounds as if it might be passed time for a push-back. Surely, if right-wing "truths" can be bought, paid for and promulgated in American colleges, so too can the means for neutralizing such distortions.
2
What is going on Mr. Brooks is the reality show of people changing the rules as it no longer suits them. This talk of Western Civilization and its great contributions were all fine, till all others (ie majority of the people on earth) started asking for their fair share of its resources by catching up through education, IT etc. Suddenly, there is the realization that there is no longer the high moral road, nor intellectual control over the local masses that constitute the West. It did not help that heinous wars were waged to uphold the Western values.
6
I'm actually optimistic that the arc of history that the Durants write about so well and so engagingly will continue in full force, and that the current era of illiberalism and strong man rule is a temporary steps backwards before we take two or three steps forwards. My optimism is born of the fact of information for free through the Internet, and the nascent but promising growth of electronic democracy, liquid democracy, pirate democracy, and many other forms of electronic direct democracy. This really is the antidote to illiberalism, ignorance, strong man rule, and elite power. And just as the Internet became inevitable because of its utility, electronic direct democracy is inevitable because of its utility.
3
Lord Brooks, the world is much changed since Oliver Wendell Holmes said "I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization." When questioned about whether he paid no taxes in A debate, Donald Trump said "that makes me smart."
Milord, the party for whom you still advocate views "tax" as a four letter word, an evil. That, as much as anything, is responsible for the decline of civilization.
Milord, the party for whom you still advocate views "tax" as a four letter word, an evil. That, as much as anything, is responsible for the decline of civilization.
17
Unfortunately, Mr. Brooks, in a weak attempt to provide some shade for the extreme conservative ideology that has taken over the Republican party, creates a false equivalency about left and right. The left has, and always has had, a wide array of factions, and that includes a relatively small number on the extreme left. As is often the case when there is a polarizing element on the right (think of the Vietnam War during Nixon's time), extreme left elements on campuses tend to be emergent. But there is little difference on the left between the era of Noam Chomsky and today. The vast majority of Democrats remain center-left. On the other hand, the GOP has moved sharply right and become ideologically rigid since the emergence of Newt Gingrich and Fox News. The GOP is the party that contains the radicals within its mainstream who want to "reduce it [government] to the size where...I can drown it in the bathtub" (Grover Norquist).
Mr. Brooks, there is nothing unusual about today's Democrats. Barack Obama was nearly a textbook case in centrism. Even Obamacare - that great "liberal idea" that conservatives decried and now can't improve upon - was a minor variant of a Republican program. If Democrats were nearly as leftish as you suggest, then Bernie Sanders would have easily beat the centrist Hillary Clinton during the primaries. That didn't happen. It is your party, Mr. Brooks, that has moved sharply away from the center and broken the civic model.
Mr. Brooks, there is nothing unusual about today's Democrats. Barack Obama was nearly a textbook case in centrism. Even Obamacare - that great "liberal idea" that conservatives decried and now can't improve upon - was a minor variant of a Republican program. If Democrats were nearly as leftish as you suggest, then Bernie Sanders would have easily beat the centrist Hillary Clinton during the primaries. That didn't happen. It is your party, Mr. Brooks, that has moved sharply away from the center and broken the civic model.
16
Worldwide corporatization, "Citizens United's" erosion of democracy — our governmental representation has been hijacked by lobbyists and we're supposed to be thrilled. This isn't simply about ideals, Mr. Brooks. You're too privileged to realize the overwhelming part your regressive party plays in it. They prefer a dumbed-down, easily-manipulated electorate herded like sheep — medieval comes to mind.
6
The bigger problem is that economic neoliberalism, starting in the late 70s, has eroded the system that provided for a strong middle class, which sustained the political middle. When 100% of economic growth goes to a few people at the top, and there are no significant changes with changes in parties, political ideas become more extreme. The controls on the economy and rights gained after the Great Depression and WW2 have been lost over time, with those benefiting controlling the discourse. Get an economy that works for everyone again, and more people will return to ideas of reasoned discourse, tolerance, and democratic values. We need a new New Deal, but it won't happen until the forces of the oligarchy, entrenched in both parties (but more so in the Republican party) are soundly defeated at the ballot. The danger is that when that happens, we need leaders that will put democratic values front and center, and not an authoritarian type.
1
For decades historians have tried to incorporate the topics of slavery, Jim Crow, and the mistreatment of Native Americans into the study of American history and for decades conservatives have accused us of being "anti-western civilization." For decades historians have tried to teach a fact-based assessment of colonialism and imperialism and conservatives have accused us of being "anti-western civilization." It is conservatives in fact who war against "western civilization." If that term means anything, it means the search for truth through a rational analysis of factual information. Conservatives want us only to study history with a selective approach to fact gathering, an approach that magically buttresses conservative ideology with regard to race and international relations in particular. Socrates would laugh at the notion that we are supposed to treat a construct like "western civilization" with unquestioning reverence. Of course, Socrates was attacked for having criticized the "wisdom" of the self-appointed "wise men" of his own day as well. Fortunately for academics these days, we can't be forced to drink our critics' hemlock.
9
Brooks just can't stand the truth.
Western civilization is conditioned by choices and the selection of choices from which citizens choose is the province and duty of Western elites which needless to add includes commentators and analysts such as Brooks.
Democracy is not an ideal system for deriving solutions but it is a good system for making choices as well as a fair one and it behooves elites to develop those choices honorably and well: that is their central and essential role.
And they are failing that duty: How else are we to explain the choices offered in recent elections; e.g., a Republican party of fifty years ago would never have allowed an animal like Trump to make it past the donor table much less promoted him as leader of the West.
What we are witnessing is a parade of poor choices and that has less to do with citizens and far more to do with the intellectual and moral failure of elites.
Western civilization is conditioned by choices and the selection of choices from which citizens choose is the province and duty of Western elites which needless to add includes commentators and analysts such as Brooks.
Democracy is not an ideal system for deriving solutions but it is a good system for making choices as well as a fair one and it behooves elites to develop those choices honorably and well: that is their central and essential role.
And they are failing that duty: How else are we to explain the choices offered in recent elections; e.g., a Republican party of fifty years ago would never have allowed an animal like Trump to make it past the donor table much less promoted him as leader of the West.
What we are witnessing is a parade of poor choices and that has less to do with citizens and far more to do with the intellectual and moral failure of elites.
6
"liberalism has been docile in defense of itself"
The core tradition of open debate was supposed to protect us, but that only works if we all keep up the energy of engagement. Sure, the GOP quietly "groomed" voters in neglected corners of the country into unquestioning acceptance of it's political manipulations, but where was the battle? Where was the push-back? Where was the defense of research (good journalism, scientific standards) as the ultimate instrument of truth-seeking? We conceded the field. It's time to stop doing that!
The core tradition of open debate was supposed to protect us, but that only works if we all keep up the energy of engagement. Sure, the GOP quietly "groomed" voters in neglected corners of the country into unquestioning acceptance of it's political manipulations, but where was the battle? Where was the push-back? Where was the defense of research (good journalism, scientific standards) as the ultimate instrument of truth-seeking? We conceded the field. It's time to stop doing that!
1
I am OUTRAGED that David Brooks has written this. He is as responsible as anybody in America for this crisis, with his use of his education to rationalize the destruction of the middle class and the rise of the plutocratic oligarchy. Paul Ryan, Brook's idol, is a wrecking ball for democracy and middle class prosperity, and a lackey of the super-rich. Brooks stuns me with is hypocrisy.
18
As a university professor I suppose I should apologize to Mr. Brooks for helping to destroy Western Civilization. Sorry, it was just one of those academic conferences that got out of hand. It seemed like a good idea at the time... Of course his thesis is nonsense. The Durants' "Story" was just that: a self-congratulatory story to make white Westerners feel good about their success, and never mind the human wreckage on which this success was built. To the extent that this Western model is in crisis, one can find numerous other explanations that seem more salient; the concentration of vast wealth in ever fewer hands and diminishing hope for the rest; economic success of Western countries built on labor and resources of the rest of the world; environmental degradation on a massive scale to further the economic interests of a small Western coterie; and efforts at suppressing the democratic interests of the majority to protect the economic interests of the few. I could go on, but I have to go teach my seminar on "How to resist the opinions of conservative NYT columnists."
41
Depression breeds social change usually not the right type.
The economic depression of the 30s bred Hitler, Stalin and World War II. The war served as reconfiguration and reload of Western values.
We are facing a similar time in that the recession of 2008-9 has germinated a similar strain of totalitarianism...what form of re-load should we expect?
The economic depression of the 30s bred Hitler, Stalin and World War II. The war served as reconfiguration and reload of Western values.
We are facing a similar time in that the recession of 2008-9 has germinated a similar strain of totalitarianism...what form of re-load should we expect?
7
Most conveniently left out is the carnage of World War 2. This is a glaring omission in the discussion of western civilization.
3
University professors are so powerful! All they have to do is start talking about multiculturalism and colonialism, and suddenly we have dictators rising in eternal democracies like Turkey and Russia. If those professors would just get back to teaching Western civ like they used to, maybe we could get to the great old days, like Europe in the 30's and 40's, when the Durants were publishing their history books.
7
Far too black and white! And not helpful either, confusing contemporary political trends with the pithy debates that are an essential part of historical inquiry. The voyages of discovery and the exponential increase in geographical knowledge, for instance, a good thing. The transatlantic black African slave trade, the bigges human-on-human crime perpetrated in all of History (and Prehistory), occasioned and facilitated by said same exponential increase in geographical knowedge, not so good a thing!
And so it goes. Western civilisation doesn't need to be defended, it needs to be studied. Critically.
And so it goes. Western civilisation doesn't need to be defended, it needs to be studied. Critically.
6
Personally I plan to support the enlightenment values of rational, evidence based thinking by joining the March for Science on April 22. Given the concerns you have raised in this column, is it too much to ask, Mr Brooks, that you too join in this public effort to speak out in support of expertise and competence? The GOP has aligned itself with "willful ignorance" as a way of approaching problems, particularly those related to the environment. Surely you don't support that.
March for Science ( https://www.marchforscience.com )
March for Science ( https://www.marchforscience.com )
8
So, was the enslavement of Jews by the Egyptians, enslavement and treatment of Africans by Europeans, the treatment of Native Americans by the U.S? Government, and the unspeakable horror of the Nazis agains the Jews the Western "Civilization" we're lamenting?
7
David, if you know your history of Western Civilization, you should recall that Athens, where democracy was born in 507 BC, was defeated by authoritarian Sparta, in the Peleponnesian Wars, 100 years later.
Those who dont remember history are, of course, condemned to repeat it.
Those who dont remember history are, of course, condemned to repeat it.
5
The NYT is certainly within its rights to publish the drivel authored by David Brooks and Ross Douthat. It is dishonest, however, to pass their musings off on the public as voices of reasoned American conservatism. In reality, they speak from the perspective of elite limousine liberalism. They are uncomfortable with "we know better than you," command and control progressivism, but believe that freedom and liberty must be judiciously regulated by self-proclaimed intellectuals and experts. For them, everything is relative and there are no fundamental principles.
People all around the world no longer wish to be governed in this way. You can call it a crisis of western civilization, but many of us see it as an effort to reclaim what once made Western desirable. And all of the scolding and name-calling by both progressives and their enablers among the moderate Republicans simply tells us that we are on the right track.
If the NYT honestly wishes to have conservatives on its editorial board, I would be happy to recommend a few names.
People all around the world no longer wish to be governed in this way. You can call it a crisis of western civilization, but many of us see it as an effort to reclaim what once made Western desirable. And all of the scolding and name-calling by both progressives and their enablers among the moderate Republicans simply tells us that we are on the right track.
If the NYT honestly wishes to have conservatives on its editorial board, I would be happy to recommend a few names.
2
The loss of many of the courses and subjects at our public schools, like Civics and History, are prime examples of how the wealthy voices of the right(R) have de-funded the learning that Brooks bemoans. The wealthy do not want the little people to get ideas is what Brooks is trying to avoid saying out loud - that would indict his party's "base".
And yet Brooks is still a repub shill. On these pages no less.
And yet Brooks is still a repub shill. On these pages no less.
10
And all of this because a few cloistered eggheads noticed that there was some hypocrisy and oppression along with the progressive values of Western civikization. Hmm. This is the old David Brooks we know and don't particularly love.
5
Despite having achieved highest forms of achievements in science & technology, and the spread of enlightened reason and democracy, the western civilization will forever be accused of having institutionalized apartheid, and over several generations slavery and racism.
We're on the downward side of the bell curve...and accelerating.
Please, Mr. Brooks. Don't be so pessimistic. Some things to consider:
The 1930's. A really APPALLING decade--the "low, dishonest decade" in Auden's famous poem. Depression around the world--not least in America--and believe me! number of people (albeit wrongly) feared the supposed dictatorial inclinations of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Abroad--what can I say? Hitler and Mussolini in their respective countries. Stalin introducing The Great Terror in the USSR. Militaristic governments in Japan--"government by assassination" as one writer put it. The worst war in human history just around the corner.
And go back. Go back. Go back. The murderous, utterly amoral states of the Italian Renaissance (yes, even with Michelangelo and Leonardo toiling away at marble and canvas). The Black Death of the 1300's. The horrendous break-up of the Roman Empire in 476 AD--said by one historian to be the single most crucial event in European history. Go back to the fabled, semi-legendary Dorian invasion of Greece in the years preceding Homer. Whenever he lived. Whoever he was.
Mr. Brooks, that's what civilization IS. We're ALWAYS struggling out of some dark age, some Cimmerian night somewhere--striving for the light--striving to do something--accomplish something. Things get worse. It's their nature to get worse. Let's not imitate them. Let's endeavor to BE our best--DO our best--and the rest? The rest is in the hands of Almighty God. What more can I say?
The 1930's. A really APPALLING decade--the "low, dishonest decade" in Auden's famous poem. Depression around the world--not least in America--and believe me! number of people (albeit wrongly) feared the supposed dictatorial inclinations of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Abroad--what can I say? Hitler and Mussolini in their respective countries. Stalin introducing The Great Terror in the USSR. Militaristic governments in Japan--"government by assassination" as one writer put it. The worst war in human history just around the corner.
And go back. Go back. Go back. The murderous, utterly amoral states of the Italian Renaissance (yes, even with Michelangelo and Leonardo toiling away at marble and canvas). The Black Death of the 1300's. The horrendous break-up of the Roman Empire in 476 AD--said by one historian to be the single most crucial event in European history. Go back to the fabled, semi-legendary Dorian invasion of Greece in the years preceding Homer. Whenever he lived. Whoever he was.
Mr. Brooks, that's what civilization IS. We're ALWAYS struggling out of some dark age, some Cimmerian night somewhere--striving for the light--striving to do something--accomplish something. Things get worse. It's their nature to get worse. Let's not imitate them. Let's endeavor to BE our best--DO our best--and the rest? The rest is in the hands of Almighty God. What more can I say?
5
Whatever your Theory of History, it may be nothing more than the limitations of our species behavior on the biological level that commits us to periods of irrational frenzy be it spurred by limited resources, population explosion, fight or flight rationalities magnified by weaponry advances and the like. Ideas matter , rationality comforts but does not steadily hold sway as memory of the past is either distorted or forgotten. If from nothing comes everything that is gives little comfort if civilizations do not follow the golden rule. Do onto others, as you wish others to do onto you.
2
Mr. Brooks grieves over the crisis in his beloved Western Civilization, but considering Western History, it is remarkable that anything resembling a civilization could emerge from such a polemical narrative.
To pick just a few of the low hanging fruits - The Peloponnesian War, the Roman conquests, the War of the Roses, Colonialism, the 20th Century - yields a harvest of blood thirsty rampage. Aristotle, Beowulf, Mozart and Einstein seem almost like afterthoughts in the Western experience.
Considering the cratered road followed, Mr. Brooks should be happy that there is even anything resembling a civilization that could be in crisis.
To pick just a few of the low hanging fruits - The Peloponnesian War, the Roman conquests, the War of the Roses, Colonialism, the 20th Century - yields a harvest of blood thirsty rampage. Aristotle, Beowulf, Mozart and Einstein seem almost like afterthoughts in the Western experience.
Considering the cratered road followed, Mr. Brooks should be happy that there is even anything resembling a civilization that could be in crisis.
8
.
There is no doubt Western Civilization is changing, the follow-up questions might be:
1-What is causing it?
Is this change a tragic break-down in discipline, reason and wisdom – a failure to teach our children well? Or a natural, organic evolution/de-evolution resulting from uncontrolled societal and environmental forces? Or a controlled dismantling by a determined group (feminists, Muslims, academia, the Russians - lol)?
2- What is the recovery plan? Will there be a build-up following this de-construction of Western values, traditions and institutions?
If all you hear is: “The system is flawed! Those people are abusive! I’m a victim! Tear it down!“ You can bet there is no plan on how to rebuild.
There is no doubt Western Civilization is changing, the follow-up questions might be:
1-What is causing it?
Is this change a tragic break-down in discipline, reason and wisdom – a failure to teach our children well? Or a natural, organic evolution/de-evolution resulting from uncontrolled societal and environmental forces? Or a controlled dismantling by a determined group (feminists, Muslims, academia, the Russians - lol)?
2- What is the recovery plan? Will there be a build-up following this de-construction of Western values, traditions and institutions?
If all you hear is: “The system is flawed! Those people are abusive! I’m a victim! Tear it down!“ You can bet there is no plan on how to rebuild.
1
Except that the people who went to those terrible liberal colleges are not the ones who voted for Donald Trump.
Trump was more likely to get votes from people who didn't go to college at all.
Trump was more likely to get votes from people who didn't go to college at all.
8
We've had the fearless girl apocalypse, the lost aircraft carrier, the unicorn frappucino, and now, the crisis of western civilization. Surely these are the end times.
3
As typical Brooks is quick to blame the left for all the big ills. But when the right, i.e. GOP and supporters in the US, lie about about everything good in government just to hang on to power, and when they turn pride in western culture into racism and nativist thinking, they are the main ones to blame.
7
My grandfather escaped from Mississippi in the 1920's as if he were a slave. He and my grandmother knew Emmett Till's mother. As a child I was not served at a Kentucky lunch counter. Four little girls that looked like me were murdered attending Sunday School in Birmingham Alabama and their murderers got away with it. As a teenager I met Charles Evers, brother of the assassinated NAACP leader Medgar Evers. The history of Western civilization was oppressive if you were Black, Brown, Asian, or the First People in the America's. You might want to re-read James Baldwin's "The Fire This Time" or ta-Nehisi Coates "Between the World and Me" or Isabel Wilkerson's "The Warmth of Other Suns" and see how Western civilization values did not apply to everyone. Howard Zinn's writings also show that those values did not apply to poor white people. Mr Brooks I recommend that you widen your circles and start talking to those that got left out before you write another piece about the decline of Western civilization. I bet that if you look at your life, you really haven't lost a thing.
38
Karen, you need to the Islamic world and ask a Kurd how his/hers CURRENT treatment differs from your own. You need to ask a Tibetan about Chinese treatment. You need to ask Robert Mugabe about his treatment of minorities that are not his ethnos.
If you do that, you will realize that your CURRENT treatment by whites is nothing compared to that that of people of color by people of color.
If you do that, you will realize that your CURRENT treatment by whites is nothing compared to that that of people of color by people of color.
5
Brooks accurately identifies the problem - the demise of Western Civilization and its accompanying liberal values, but he gets the cause 180 degrees wrong. The destruction began in the Reagan-Thatcher period when the right pushed a false narrative on the world. It said that ideas don't matter (except their theocratic & oligarchic ones), it is solely about economics and military power.
Reagan and Brook's GOP de-funded schools, colleges, & universities helping to spawn home schooling, charter schools (many of which were religious & out of the mainstream), and the for-profit faux universities with no standards. It took Western values out of the schools to achieve a variety of other theocratic objectives or simply provided shoddy schooling to the masses.
Don't blame liberal values which inherently question who we are for the problem, look in the mirror and recognize the enemy on the right: it is you. You helped spawn Trump even if you were skeptical about him specifically with your false narratives. The anecdotes you cite (giving them too much credit) sound just like the Reagan's welfare queens approach to the world.
Reagan and Brook's GOP de-funded schools, colleges, & universities helping to spawn home schooling, charter schools (many of which were religious & out of the mainstream), and the for-profit faux universities with no standards. It took Western values out of the schools to achieve a variety of other theocratic objectives or simply provided shoddy schooling to the masses.
Don't blame liberal values which inherently question who we are for the problem, look in the mirror and recognize the enemy on the right: it is you. You helped spawn Trump even if you were skeptical about him specifically with your false narratives. The anecdotes you cite (giving them too much credit) sound just like the Reagan's welfare queens approach to the world.
5
There are True Believers at every point along the ideological spectrum and it is the complete lack of introspection and the finger pointing that has led to this moment. Every column of David's is typically dominated with comments by the self-righteous left, among whom I once belonged, who endlessly blame republicans for everything. I agree that republicans are proportionally more responsible for the sh*tstorm we now find ourselves in but at some point the left has to look in the mirror too. There has to be an uprising of radical moderation in this country and world that bases its politics on virtues of the enlightenment. I shouldn't have to go on youtube and watch videos of Christopher Hitchens in order to be inspired. Today the Voice of Reason is the quietest and most timid it has ever been.
2
Brooks has been hammering the liberal idea incessantly for many years. How ironic that he now sees what he has wrought. I accidentally read him today and was astonished to find him lamenting the results of the ideas he preached for years. He has carried water for the Republican Party for years. Shame on him.
4
In this country, we used to respect thinkers. Now we worship billionaires. They're are the only ones who know what's what. They're the only ones who can fix problems. After all, doesn't making billions by coming up with a social media app make you a genius?
Most major universities have given up their Western Civilization, or at the ivy league I attended, their "Contemporary Civilization" requirements. Waste of time, students complained. Faculty agreed. Next thing you know you find out that the engineering school you attended is offering a degree in mathematics for future hedge fund managers. Oh boy! Wish I were fifty years younger, I could just go straight for "get rich quick" degree.
Social discourse used to be about making Earth a better planet for everybody. Now it's about making as much money as possible and letting the rabble scramble for the crumbs. The losers in this brave new world figure out they're losing and become enraged. They look for people to blame. They look for an authoritarian thug or grifter to save them. That's where we are now.
This comes as no surprise.
Most major universities have given up their Western Civilization, or at the ivy league I attended, their "Contemporary Civilization" requirements. Waste of time, students complained. Faculty agreed. Next thing you know you find out that the engineering school you attended is offering a degree in mathematics for future hedge fund managers. Oh boy! Wish I were fifty years younger, I could just go straight for "get rich quick" degree.
Social discourse used to be about making Earth a better planet for everybody. Now it's about making as much money as possible and letting the rabble scramble for the crumbs. The losers in this brave new world figure out they're losing and become enraged. They look for people to blame. They look for an authoritarian thug or grifter to save them. That's where we are now.
This comes as no surprise.
9
Perhaps the best we can hope for, and do, is a mass escape to a land where there is no white privilege. As things stand though, resurrecting the myth of "Western Civilization" as anything other than the mass robbery, enslavement, and destruction of Mother Earth and her people of color that it was, is probably a non-starter.
I know in my own world, even saying "Western Civilization" raises skepticism. Because ultimately, what does "civilization" even mean?
So again, maybe the best we can do is escape and liberate ourselves from a sick and twisted, and white privileged society. Perhaps a back to Africa movement is in order, or perhaps a mass migration to the Middle East. Both regions are largely free of white privilege and might represent a more fair and civilized environment to white people who are tired of the racism, the Islamophobia, and hyper-capitalism of the sick and decaying West. I know I'm ready to make the move!
I know in my own world, even saying "Western Civilization" raises skepticism. Because ultimately, what does "civilization" even mean?
So again, maybe the best we can do is escape and liberate ourselves from a sick and twisted, and white privileged society. Perhaps a back to Africa movement is in order, or perhaps a mass migration to the Middle East. Both regions are largely free of white privilege and might represent a more fair and civilized environment to white people who are tired of the racism, the Islamophobia, and hyper-capitalism of the sick and decaying West. I know I'm ready to make the move!
Another mournful shrug courtesy of Mr. Brooks, with a side order of simplistic conclusions, empty stretches, the usual labels and name dropping.
Maybe it wasn't that people lost faith in the narrative of western civilization but that the narrative is skewed. It's also obsolete and just a little too skimpy to mask the many cruelties that European "civilization" and its attendant colonialism brought.
Maybe enlightenment, you know, liberty, equality fraternity, knocked the narrative out of the picture. The narrative, after all, consists of long, monotonous tales of princes, kings, titans, and other various motley, male bozos usurping this, stealing that, killing millions, destroying and razing the planet.
"Civilization" is much too fancy and plainly inaccurate to describe the past few thousand years of human history.
By the way, there's no Santa either. And by the way, the more likely candidate to win in the French election, according to respected polls, is Macron, whom Brooks cherry-pickingly doesn't mention.
For Brooks, It's always the lefties to blame and who pose a threat. You smell a touch of sulfur or is it just Chavez?
And by the way while running for office Trump violated every norm of statesmanship and civility, and many, many millions of people did notice and were appalled, voted against him and are still deeply depressed by it.
Maybe it wasn't that people lost faith in the narrative of western civilization but that the narrative is skewed. It's also obsolete and just a little too skimpy to mask the many cruelties that European "civilization" and its attendant colonialism brought.
Maybe enlightenment, you know, liberty, equality fraternity, knocked the narrative out of the picture. The narrative, after all, consists of long, monotonous tales of princes, kings, titans, and other various motley, male bozos usurping this, stealing that, killing millions, destroying and razing the planet.
"Civilization" is much too fancy and plainly inaccurate to describe the past few thousand years of human history.
By the way, there's no Santa either. And by the way, the more likely candidate to win in the French election, according to respected polls, is Macron, whom Brooks cherry-pickingly doesn't mention.
For Brooks, It's always the lefties to blame and who pose a threat. You smell a touch of sulfur or is it just Chavez?
And by the way while running for office Trump violated every norm of statesmanship and civility, and many, many millions of people did notice and were appalled, voted against him and are still deeply depressed by it.
5
A couple of thoughts: Western Civilization was in fact build on the backs of many people without regard for their rights. Bringing that fact up is a part of telling the whole story of how our society came to be. Yes there was great progress, but also great cost. Secondly if a concept cannot withstand a challenge, then perhaps it is not as great as we thought.
Like Mr. Brooks, I deplore the rise of con men and the decline in civility. I also recognize that our existing system was not working for millions of people. They exercised their right to change it, you may not like their change but it is part and parcel of the Western Civilization he defended in his article. I personally feel they have gone too far, but that is also part of the give and take of Western Civilization. This is what you were asking for. At long last, I get to turn a phrase back on its creators: Suck it up Snowflake!
Like Mr. Brooks, I deplore the rise of con men and the decline in civility. I also recognize that our existing system was not working for millions of people. They exercised their right to change it, you may not like their change but it is part and parcel of the Western Civilization he defended in his article. I personally feel they have gone too far, but that is also part of the give and take of Western Civilization. This is what you were asking for. At long last, I get to turn a phrase back on its creators: Suck it up Snowflake!
1
Yes, there's been a decline since the 1930s in Americans who say it's essential to live in a democracy. Part of the reason for that is indeed cynicism about government in an age of political polarization. But part of it may also be the fact that Americans, and particularly young ones, are able to live abroad. This was unimaginable for most of them in the 30s, especially since so many foreigners were trying to get here at that time to escape fascist pogroms and other forms of oppression. Now, however, they might live and work in an emphatically undemocratic place like China or the Emirates.
Maybe faith in organized religion has waned, but the ever present moral law (objective morality) is still pressing on everybody. With this understanding, we will eventually claw our way back to sanity.
"...wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it."
The end of the world order will come not with a bang, but a whimper. It won't rain down on us in a thermonuclear maelstrom or play out with the cinematics of a terrorist plot.
It will happen - is happening, I believe- because of what we have brought upon ourselves as a culture. It's a rot that spreads both from our branches and our roots.
There are hordes among us that despise Western Civilization. They want to see it brought low. To kick it in the solar plexus and spit in its cyclopian eye. Many are apparently avid readers of this publication.
Our diversity of belief and background, once such a rugged American strength, has been degraded into a Tower of Babble. The outgrowth of identity politics, safe spaces, victim fetishization, virtue signaling and gender fluidity is a morass of confusion and hypersensitivity. We have no vector, no bedrock principles. Beauty, hard-won skill and talent are derided by the newly vocal masses on the one hand, and usurped or neutralized by our corporate overlords on the other.
What are we and what are we to become? If 'Western Civilization' is just a wink to 'white privilege', too fettered by its bloody past, then what, pray tell, are we to replace it with?
We are a nation pitted against itself and as such quickly bound for ruination. The barbarians are pacing at the gate and will be happy to storm in once we've finished the job.
The end of the world order will come not with a bang, but a whimper. It won't rain down on us in a thermonuclear maelstrom or play out with the cinematics of a terrorist plot.
It will happen - is happening, I believe- because of what we have brought upon ourselves as a culture. It's a rot that spreads both from our branches and our roots.
There are hordes among us that despise Western Civilization. They want to see it brought low. To kick it in the solar plexus and spit in its cyclopian eye. Many are apparently avid readers of this publication.
Our diversity of belief and background, once such a rugged American strength, has been degraded into a Tower of Babble. The outgrowth of identity politics, safe spaces, victim fetishization, virtue signaling and gender fluidity is a morass of confusion and hypersensitivity. We have no vector, no bedrock principles. Beauty, hard-won skill and talent are derided by the newly vocal masses on the one hand, and usurped or neutralized by our corporate overlords on the other.
What are we and what are we to become? If 'Western Civilization' is just a wink to 'white privilege', too fettered by its bloody past, then what, pray tell, are we to replace it with?
We are a nation pitted against itself and as such quickly bound for ruination. The barbarians are pacing at the gate and will be happy to storm in once we've finished the job.
7
Perhaps Will and Ariel Durant’s “Story of Civilization” should be brought back into the standard curriculum. Those books teach reasoned discourse, humane tolerance, the ability to explore contradictions without immediately judging them, the complexity of men and women with great abilities but also great flaws, an aphoristic writing style that one can savor, wit that is meant to be intelligent rather than cruel, the seasoning of thought beyond the pitfalls of ideology, the deepening of education toward an elegance of behavior as well as of mind, endless curiosity in what human being can do, and the reverence for all forms of knowledge. They are also a great pleasure to read.
Let us hope that they are never forgotten.
Let us hope that they are never forgotten.
3
I want to note here that I love the Western ideals. However, we do live in an empire in which wealth transfers via force and later debt from the South to the North. Without the wealth transfer, the lifeblood of Western Europe and later the United States from 1500 to the present would have been cut off. So yes we might be heading towards barbarism. But the story of oppression needed to be told, and karma awaits.
1
All history is local. Facing up to the"crisis of western civilization" is not chiefly a matter of writing articles and books. Rupert Murdoch, a few short years back, was on Meet the Press. When challenged as to his conception of "the news business" he retorted that he wasn't in "the news business," he was in "the ratings business." Where is the FCC when Murdoch spews this nonsense? The freedom of the press is a value that requires defending, not by just writing about its centrality to democratic civilization, but by legal action. The fox "news division" should have its license revoked for not being in "the news business." Punditry is all well and good until somebody gets his eye put out.
2
There's plenty of blame to go around. But I completely agree with Brooks's closing sentiment: If we don't defend the flawed civilization we built after World War II -- which at least offered the potential for incremental improvement -- we will rue what we once had after the collapse accelerates out of control.
3
Decline and fall of our Western civilization is neatly chronicled in the growth of the Republican party since the Durants as the US was taken over and controlled by its economic and autocratic leaders. As one can trace, Ronald Reagan was the first "paid for" President, a clear victory for people like the Koch brothers. Resistance to diversity, the rise of women's rights, scientific advancement, technological development, support of trade and labor associations, and rule by constitutional law are Republican objectives, not the work of "illiberals". Republican resistance was trained as "behavioral objectives" and began prior to the Durant's publication. The first major victory was Reagan. Republicans have achieved major economic advantages in uncontrolled use of money, assets, and media. When Reagan was elected, over 60% of media was controlled by conservatives, quite helpful in training the nation. Current media is over 80% controlled by conservatives and the behavioral objective is now destruction of the Federal system. The US has not provided for maintenance of its infrastructure for over 9 years. Over 80% of the assets in the US are owned by less than 10% of its people. The Supreme Court now has the numbers to modify the Constitution to limit women's rights and explicitly support religious law. Diversity is not prized. Science is not considered. Perhaps there is something to fight about in what these Republicans are allowed to say.
4
In his profound work, A Study of History, Arnold Toynbee argued that civilizations arise and decay in a challenge/response sequence. The creative, innovative response of a given society to a particular challenge or set of challenges may give rise to a new civilization. After which, new challenges will test the longevity of that civilization. If the civilization becomes static, failing to respond in creative ways to new challenges, disintegration will follow. Mr. Toynbee observed that, when decay sets in, "The masses become estranged from their leaders, who then try to cling to their position by using force as a substitute for their lost power of attraction."
Although Toynbee observed that "Breakdowns are not inevitable and not irretrievable", the rise of extremist political parties and authoritarian leaders, the latest "age of strong men" as Mr. Brooks puts it, certainly seems to be presenting a challenge to our emerging global civilization.
Although Toynbee observed that "Breakdowns are not inevitable and not irretrievable", the rise of extremist political parties and authoritarian leaders, the latest "age of strong men" as Mr. Brooks puts it, certainly seems to be presenting a challenge to our emerging global civilization.
4
The problem, I think, is not necessarily that we grew ashamed of our cultural heritage, but that its promise failed. It's failed before, of course, but this time we knew it.
Inequality has been high many times, back in the Gilded Age, for example, but democracy didn't collapse then. Why not? Because, for the most part, the people had never experienced anything better, so it didn't seem like a failure. After WWII, though, the West experienced a boom where they saw the average (white) worker able to climb to the ranks of the middle class. That became associated with the promise of democracy and liberalism. After the introduction of "trickle-down economics" and neoliberalism, though, those workers fell off the ladder and for the most part their fall wasn't even acknowledged by the political elite, not for DECADES, while inequality festered and the average worker fell further and further behind. All of a sudden, our idea of "rule by the people, for the people" began to visibly fail. It is not surprising that the majority of Westerners have grown disillusioned with democracy. With rare exceptions like the Nordic countries, it has been slowly failing and oligarchy is winning. In order for democracy to win again, it's got to prove that it can work for everyone, not just the rich. I certainly hope it can; I am currently living in an authoritarian country without a Bill of Rights, and it's not an experience I want in my own country.
Inequality has been high many times, back in the Gilded Age, for example, but democracy didn't collapse then. Why not? Because, for the most part, the people had never experienced anything better, so it didn't seem like a failure. After WWII, though, the West experienced a boom where they saw the average (white) worker able to climb to the ranks of the middle class. That became associated with the promise of democracy and liberalism. After the introduction of "trickle-down economics" and neoliberalism, though, those workers fell off the ladder and for the most part their fall wasn't even acknowledged by the political elite, not for DECADES, while inequality festered and the average worker fell further and further behind. All of a sudden, our idea of "rule by the people, for the people" began to visibly fail. It is not surprising that the majority of Westerners have grown disillusioned with democracy. With rare exceptions like the Nordic countries, it has been slowly failing and oligarchy is winning. In order for democracy to win again, it's got to prove that it can work for everyone, not just the rich. I certainly hope it can; I am currently living in an authoritarian country without a Bill of Rights, and it's not an experience I want in my own country.
1
Do you expect the majority of people living in "Western Civilization" to suffer and sacrifice for these "values"? Or do you expect them to stand up for these values because they provide material and tangible benefits for that same majority? Many people see improvements in their standard of living stalling or dropping, and fear their children will fare worse. Yet they see billionaires (who profit because that same majority respect private property, rule of law) funding politicians who will make those billionaires and their heirs even wealthier, not by rewarding ingenuity or hard work, but through altering tax policy and inheritance laws. This money is diverted away from investing in education and infrastructure, tangible benefits for most people. If this is what the values of "Western Civilization" ultimately deliver to the majority of the people, why would you expect them to defend such "values"?
22
Wow. Brooks has seen the light after years of supporting the anti intellectual republican party. A limited monarchy like Morocco's King Mohammad VI suits me just fine.
4
Brooks is a little mixed up. Support Democrats, dude! Get with the Western program and ideal. Problem solved.
8
All I can say is that you are partly responsible because you have contributed to the ugly monster the Republican party has become. The GOP is the mafia you describe and for years you have treated its tactics as a normal expression of conservative values. So Trump and his thugs have pulled the curtain back and made the ugly bigotry of the GOP the centerpiece of it's platform and now it concerns you. Boy you sure are late to the party.
14
Brooks rightly identifies concerning global trends. The rise of authoritarian leaders and the collapse of the political center leading to the rise of far-right candidates is threatening the liberal order established by the West.
Brooks is also correct in trumpeting the triumphs of Western Civilization, including liberalism and democracy, but to do so at the exclusion of the West's crimes is also fraught with consequences and itself illiberal. The history of the West's engagement in imperialism, slavery, and economic exploitation are essential to understanding our history and the world we live it. To overlook these events would disenfranchise marginalized communities and carry its own political backlash. Turning a blind eye to this part of Western history would also reject a central part of liberalism: the search for knowledge and truth.
The rise of extremist candidates is less about teaching revisionist history and more about the economic displacement of globalization.
Brooks is also correct in trumpeting the triumphs of Western Civilization, including liberalism and democracy, but to do so at the exclusion of the West's crimes is also fraught with consequences and itself illiberal. The history of the West's engagement in imperialism, slavery, and economic exploitation are essential to understanding our history and the world we live it. To overlook these events would disenfranchise marginalized communities and carry its own political backlash. Turning a blind eye to this part of Western history would also reject a central part of liberalism: the search for knowledge and truth.
The rise of extremist candidates is less about teaching revisionist history and more about the economic displacement of globalization.
4
There are as many definitions of Western Civilization as there are people who can express how it has impacted their lives. Is the view of a Muslim watching the marauding Christian armies less relevant than that the African native captured, chained in a boat, and then sold in a marketplace to the highest bidder? Are the Catholic Irish who were purposely starved and persecuted by their English overlords during the Great Famine worse off than the Native American tribes driven from their lands by 'God on our side' expansionism? Or Jews during the Spanish Inquisition who had to convert or die? Are the works of men like Galileo, who spent the last years of his life under house arrest for the crime of heresy because his scientific discoveries conflicted with scriptural teachings of the time, less important in our digital age? Are we the civilization of French Revolution's guillotine, Martin Luther's reformations nailed to the cathedral door, Lincoln's quest for Union, Churchill's 'finest hour', the 'Final Solution', Martin Luther King's 'Dream', Kennedy asking us what we can do, or the mob calling to "Lock her up!"?
We are all of that and more; blood, gore, art, science, tolerance and oppression. No society grows without consequence, but we are in a unique position to steer the course where blind faith doesn't again lead us to the abyss and we have to start over.
We are all of that and more; blood, gore, art, science, tolerance and oppression. No society grows without consequence, but we are in a unique position to steer the course where blind faith doesn't again lead us to the abyss and we have to start over.
4
Western Civilization has historically relied on some sort of exploitation to maintain the polity at a level of comfort where they could think about things like politics and civics instead of where there next meal is coming from.
The challenge today is to either maintain that exploitation, or find a way to keep the polity comfortable without it. When enough of them slip below the threshold of comfort, they fall prey to demagogues every time.
There are always the enemies, the naysayers, and those who spread misinformation, and we must always be on guard against them, but we also have to maintain a civilized level of comfort and safety for our citizens, or Western Civilization loses every time. Our enemies know that, and exploit it to their advantage.
The challenge today is to either maintain that exploitation, or find a way to keep the polity comfortable without it. When enough of them slip below the threshold of comfort, they fall prey to demagogues every time.
There are always the enemies, the naysayers, and those who spread misinformation, and we must always be on guard against them, but we also have to maintain a civilized level of comfort and safety for our citizens, or Western Civilization loses every time. Our enemies know that, and exploit it to their advantage.
2
O, David, o tempora, o mores! DB is again a prisoner of the moment ... he was a lad in the 60's and missed the turmoil then? Collingwood's 1949 The Idea of History [progress] was influential; progress in some areas of human endeavor are undeniable. The current outcry over inequality, racism, and misogynism -- and SCIENCE -- are examples. But as for human wisdom? What wisdom there has been, worldwide, was known even before its 6th c. b.c.e. explosion in the West. Yes, it looks like thugs are thriving again like mushrooms after rain [see the 1930's] at home/abroad. But democratic pushback is a waxing, not waning moon. Take heart, David - join the Women's March.
1
I had to laugh at the opening of the article using the "The History of Civilization" as a lament for what is happening now. I drove a biology teacher in high school crazy by reading it in his class. Looking back at it,I have found it only lacking in its breadth. Greece did not invent democracy,Saint Augustine did not define Christianity. It was very good but it didn't reflect how all societies,nations or civilizations moved forward in common cause. What about histories of these groups that did not survive due to not being recorded in some annal? Whether a Mayan or Aztec or Germanic or Celtic or non-Han dynasty. Or even the erasure of an Egyptian dynasty. It never reflected the 6th century writing of the Koran by a militaristic general,or the corruption of Catholicism by Constantine by making Christianity the national religion. That is what the following generations have started to correct. Even America's experiment of checks & balances,if I remember correctly from an Indian tribe in Connecticut. Mr. Brooks revisits a theory of failing empire due to internal forgetfulness of what ideology is forgotten (Roman republic), & doesn't see what the goal is for modern historians & activists. He is in a domain not unlike Mr. Douthat,lamenting Roman Catholicisms effort to return to pre-Constantine era, where the teachings of Christ were the dominant in the Christian faith,not strategic machinations of the nation/state to dominate the faith. So is it the same for nationalists.
2
Well, I am old enough to have been introduced to Western Civ while in school.
In those classes I don't recall ever being taught that corporations matter more than people or that the government should only serve the interests of the very wealthy. Yet, here we are.... And it wasn't anything that happened on college campuses that brought us here.
In those classes I don't recall ever being taught that corporations matter more than people or that the government should only serve the interests of the very wealthy. Yet, here we are.... And it wasn't anything that happened on college campuses that brought us here.
10
Mr. Brooks, your choice of Will and Ariel Durant as expert presenters of the history and culture of western civilization is not the best choice here. The Durants would not be considered the best scholars of Western Civ, even back then. But at least the general public were READING about such topics, even if with generalists and summarizers like the Durants. You do a further disservice in presenting current students of Western Civ as if they were all focused on being PC; this is not the case, though it may be your prejudice in thinking so. Perhaps it is true with your students at Yale?
2
You need a long vacation, David. Perhaps too close to the trees, you seem to have become disenchanted of late. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said recently: "We are not experiencing the best of times." The pendulum will swing back.
2
David seems to think the West has lost its way, but he hasn't examined the role of Social Media - the tweet, the echo-chamber, the Facebook irresponsible delivery of crap because it enables advertisers.
The major problem of the East and the West is the take-over by the corporate profit-before-all-else business model, and its huge advance in perverting culture by poisonous dilution of values via media of every kind.
The major problem of the East and the West is the take-over by the corporate profit-before-all-else business model, and its huge advance in perverting culture by poisonous dilution of values via media of every kind.
8
I agree with your assessment. My problem is that I don't know how to respond to it when the electorate legally elects a person with clear authoritarian ambitions. The United States and Turkey share the same problem. We are both divided countries with one half of the electorate very comfortable with the notion of a 'strongman'. In my case many of my college-educated friends voted for Trump. In a few cases they are enthusiastic advocates of his language and his policies. This really leaves me scratching my head. I ask myself "do they not see what I see… An obvious liar and con man who is definitionally a demagogue?" For whatever reason they honestly don't see it or they don't care. I find this frightening but I don't know how to respond. Any debate goes immediately to criticism of Obama and the Clintons. In other words, I can't even get them to discuss at an abstract level the kind of president we have elected. It's as if they don't have the patience for it and find it much more entertaining to disparage Democrats. I'm literally at a loss about how to have a conversation about potential risks to our democracy or any philosophical conversations regarding what constitutes good governance. It's very disconcerting.
6
Do I want to help counter Trump after all the people who believed him despite the fact that he showed who he was? His base will suffer the most and they will get what they deserve. They will keep singing his praises as they go to soup kitchens, get food stamps and sit at home without skills or education, asking "why don't I have a job?" while wall street and the Trumps get rich. The dumbing of America will increase as the asians are banned by immigration where they have been the stalwarts of our higher education system and our high tech companies.
2
What Mr. Brooks calls and other elites would call "Western Civilization" is ill-conceived or meaningless, considering how much of it was influenced by and questioned by extraneous and internal disruptors. What is seen as Western is not that pure or coherent, just as what is Eastern is no longer. Sure the geography and language have always been the key barriers to understanding and connecting with the other. Still, "Western" is just a convenient and easily identifiable term that white intellectual elite conjured up to make the West as a geographical and racial superior and the foundation of the propaganda to justify colonization, capitalization, domination, and exploitation of the rest by all means, even resorting to the most violent devices. While doing so, the idea of the Western civilization has become more of a distraction and myth. So, instead of lamenting the demise of the Western values and ideals, lament the fact that the West cannot keep up its myths and lies any longer, to be frank, if I were you.
2
I could not agree more. We are in steep decline not only because of the rejection of Western values, but because of the general dumbing down of society and the acceptance of mediocrity lamented by Patrick Moynihan many years ago.
Brooks has also to consider the effect of celebrity on our culture, and the negative role models which now pervade our media. Violent, foul mouthed, and repugnant behavior is extolled and rewarded financially, while more traditional, conservative or nonsecular values are mocked by our elites.
I fear that a large flood will be coming soon. It's time to start building the ark.
Brooks has also to consider the effect of celebrity on our culture, and the negative role models which now pervade our media. Violent, foul mouthed, and repugnant behavior is extolled and rewarded financially, while more traditional, conservative or nonsecular values are mocked by our elites.
I fear that a large flood will be coming soon. It's time to start building the ark.
3
hmmm ...
"dead white European men" are no longer the only fount of knowledge and the older education is in upheaval. It may have a few casualties along the way, but accepting that we slaughtered the natives, are a nation of immigrants, and have supported more than a few tinpot dictators and made the middle east a lot worse is not a bad thing. It's messy, progress.
The people who were left out of the "manifest destiny" narrative I grew up with have a right to be heard.
On the whole, I agree that the attacks on speakers at the more radical universities are over the top, but not as over the top, for example, as many of the things Ann Coulter has said and done in her lifetime, and she makes a good living attacking what I regard as true American values: caring for each other, plurality, not supporting kleptocrats are a few.
"dead white European men" are no longer the only fount of knowledge and the older education is in upheaval. It may have a few casualties along the way, but accepting that we slaughtered the natives, are a nation of immigrants, and have supported more than a few tinpot dictators and made the middle east a lot worse is not a bad thing. It's messy, progress.
The people who were left out of the "manifest destiny" narrative I grew up with have a right to be heard.
On the whole, I agree that the attacks on speakers at the more radical universities are over the top, but not as over the top, for example, as many of the things Ann Coulter has said and done in her lifetime, and she makes a good living attacking what I regard as true American values: caring for each other, plurality, not supporting kleptocrats are a few.
6
I know it sounds overly simplistic, but I'm convinced much of this is related to our immersion in new technologies. You'd have to physically peel people away from their phones, tablets and desktops, where they are in a constant state of entertainment, and force them to pay attention to something else, which is boring compared to whatever else they are staring at. Fahrenheit 451 has never seemed more prescient.
13
and 1984
6
oh, please David, your so-called, "fragile thugs who call themselves students shout down and abuse speakers on a weekly basis," have got nothing on the thugs of Homeland Security and ICE.
4
Perhaps the question should be asked if we can continue to survive a democracy where the leaders are elected because of gerrymandering or that they appeal to the visceral aspects of voters. We now live in a society where people rarely seek out the nuances of their candidates or what they represent under the surface....i.e. I many not know what their policies are, but I believe em! Democracy cannot survive a populace that is ignorant or apathetic. Send in the clowns.
1
".....the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative." The universities are not to blame, Mr. Brooks. Civilized societies turn to authoritarianism out of fear (e.g.: Germany 1930's). One major root cause of that uncertainly-driven fear today arises from the fact that we are currently adding nearly 90 million humans to the planet every year, each of whom competes for an increasingly limited share of finite resources. There is only a vague collective awareness of this cause of our fears. We focus almost exclusively on the more salient and immediate problems that derive from this root cause. We turn to those who promise to save our particular tribe by whatever means. In the end, its all about biology, not shortsighted universities. Indeed, education at all levels, and on a global scale, holds the promise that we may come to recognize this biological reality as one critical source of our collective anxiety and adopt humane, civilized, corrective behaviors.
It is no surprise that nobody wants to defend Western Civilization. Cultural Marxism has infiltrated all of our institutions from education to government, to media, and even entertainment. All of the incredible cultural, social, and technological achievements obtained during several thousand years of Western Civilization are being ignored in favor of pure hatred of White Men. Just look at how many posts call out White Men in particular as the problem. The next time you want to send a tweet from your iPhone, or admire a Van Gogh painting at the Met, listen to a Bach Sonata, hop on a jet to fly across Atlantic, or evoke your Constitutional Rights, remember that all of these things were brought to you by Western Civ and, dare I say it, those evil White Men.
5
Will and Ariel Durant were probably just recounting Western Civilization as they saw it. Did they establish a narrative? Probably for some, but most would consider their work as a basis for discussion, just like any other work of literature. Even Plato's "Republic", while outstanding in it's use of logic, is simply a basis for discussion, and others have long disagreed with its philosophy ever since it was written, even though much of what it says stands today as a useful example of reason and rationality. "The Republic" is a Greek work, and western, but it is also a human achievement that has rarely been paralleled, and those who would classify it as only "western" miss the point.
And just as a side note: there was no "Western Civilization" when "The Republic" was written. It was simply written on land that essentially gave birth to what would later become the greatest human civilization the world has ever known. And it won"t "die" - ever.
And just as a side note: there was no "Western Civilization" when "The Republic" was written. It was simply written on land that essentially gave birth to what would later become the greatest human civilization the world has ever known. And it won"t "die" - ever.
1
I think the concept that America is not a country but a corporation more precisely explains in large measure the decline of western civilization. Remember when we use to name public projects after civic leaders not sell naming rights to big corporations. We are subjected to 24/7 advertising onslaughts to consume. We are not called to serve. Most people cannot name their US Congressman let alone have any sense of historical western civilization. We have become a nation of undereducated stupid people. How else can anyone explain trump or his followers.
I am glad I am old and will not have to suffer the further decline of our civilization for decades to come. Republicans seem to have fully embraced corporatism and Democrats have lost the strength of their convictions and their voice. So just let all of the American bots go back to burying their faces in their smart phones and watch YounTube cat videos. You are a dying breed Mr. Brooks.
I am glad I am old and will not have to suffer the further decline of our civilization for decades to come. Republicans seem to have fully embraced corporatism and Democrats have lost the strength of their convictions and their voice. So just let all of the American bots go back to burying their faces in their smart phones and watch YounTube cat videos. You are a dying breed Mr. Brooks.
"Now many students, if they encounter it, are taught that Western civilization is a history of oppression."
How many? Where?
Do you confuse Western civilization (essentially cityfication) with Western Imperialism--like Bush/Cheney bringing democracy to Iraq?
Or Spaniards bringing "civilization" to Central and South America? Or the Europe bringing "civilization" to Africa. Or the British bringing it to North American Indigenous peoples?
The roots of Western Civilization are Greco-Roman--great multi-generational infrastructure and codified law (the basis of "common law").
But with it went slavery and then Feudalism--Land Lords and vassals from knights to serfs--sanctioned by the mythology of Christendom and "divine right."
That civilization is NOT oppression--is a truism. But attributing it's denial to academics is a cheap shot.
Rather the spread of Western Civilization has meant slavery, serfdom, colonization--and other oppressions, including racism of non European peoples. That is not true by definition--but a pretty obvious truth nevertheless.
And now American "civilization" means essentially deference to corporate lords and their media and political knights--like O'Reilly and others.
How many? Where?
Do you confuse Western civilization (essentially cityfication) with Western Imperialism--like Bush/Cheney bringing democracy to Iraq?
Or Spaniards bringing "civilization" to Central and South America? Or the Europe bringing "civilization" to Africa. Or the British bringing it to North American Indigenous peoples?
The roots of Western Civilization are Greco-Roman--great multi-generational infrastructure and codified law (the basis of "common law").
But with it went slavery and then Feudalism--Land Lords and vassals from knights to serfs--sanctioned by the mythology of Christendom and "divine right."
That civilization is NOT oppression--is a truism. But attributing it's denial to academics is a cheap shot.
Rather the spread of Western Civilization has meant slavery, serfdom, colonization--and other oppressions, including racism of non European peoples. That is not true by definition--but a pretty obvious truth nevertheless.
And now American "civilization" means essentially deference to corporate lords and their media and political knights--like O'Reilly and others.
1
As the old guard attempts to keep the faltering status quo moving along.....authoritarians from either side of the debate arise.....they may thunder various ideals,,,both "liberal" and "conservative"....but the goal is simply unchecked POWER to lead "the people" into a new age.
The confusion and lack of confidence that Mr. Brooks discusses is a natural and cyclical occurance, coinciding with inability of the status quo system to adapt to the newer system. Resistance to Change.
Adam Smith and the Age of Merchantilism...
Karl Marx and the Age of Industrialization.
John Keynes and the Age of Public-Private Cooperation(military-industrial-welfare states).
......
Its over.
We're now into a new era, which no clever person has yet defined.
Instantaneous global electronic commerce. Machine intelligence. Data for sale. Information Overload. Hacking. Leaking. Phishing. Borders? No Borders? ..?
What is still valid is the unique American system, inherited and improved from England......separation of powers, Rule of Law....and Trial by JURY of peers.............
It is sad that 95% of the world has no understanding of this....they think its foolish.
In the early 21st century, America is going thru a lack of confidence, believing the answer is to become more like the rest of the world.......BIG mistake.
The confusion and lack of confidence that Mr. Brooks discusses is a natural and cyclical occurance, coinciding with inability of the status quo system to adapt to the newer system. Resistance to Change.
Adam Smith and the Age of Merchantilism...
Karl Marx and the Age of Industrialization.
John Keynes and the Age of Public-Private Cooperation(military-industrial-welfare states).
......
Its over.
We're now into a new era, which no clever person has yet defined.
Instantaneous global electronic commerce. Machine intelligence. Data for sale. Information Overload. Hacking. Leaking. Phishing. Borders? No Borders? ..?
What is still valid is the unique American system, inherited and improved from England......separation of powers, Rule of Law....and Trial by JURY of peers.............
It is sad that 95% of the world has no understanding of this....they think its foolish.
In the early 21st century, America is going thru a lack of confidence, believing the answer is to become more like the rest of the world.......BIG mistake.
I think you are conflating several different things, putting too much emphasis on overall meta-narrative, and discounting the value of self-criticism, which characterizes the best intellectual traditions that the West has seen, often as a corrective to politics and majority movements that have resulted in great injustice. I think teaching about the various things you mention is important and often under- valued, but self-congratulatory meta-narrative is the opposite of teaching about the West in a responsible way, and Durant-like narratives ought to be debunked. It is not the job of history or education to serve a political or cultural agenda in the way you describe--to provide "faith in the West." Let the history, literature, values, etc. of the West be studied for their own sake; let much be disavowed, much be lamented, much be learned from, and the best values and insights be preserved. At the top of the latter list is self-criticism, correction, revision, innovation based upon lessons learned and past mistakes. Self-criticism need not be self-loathing, but neither ought it be self-congratulatory or hagiographic, particularly when so much power is involved--power that corrodes and corrupts and oppresses, as critics of Western history rightly point out. The reforming society must always be reforming. You can't do this if you ignore the past or refuse to study it, like some suggest, but neither can you do so if you worship it or make it serve a political/societal agenda.
1
While the college campuses are not as inviting to differing viewpoints as they may have once been, you have to go really far back in US History to find a period in time where it actually was that way. From the 1960s forward, campuses because hotbeds for dissent, confrontation, and attempts to silence the other side. All political stripes are complicit; no shortage of blame to go around.
However, the time before the 1960s may have been a mirage. College and university enrollment was mostly male, and mainly upper-class. The exchange of ideas were mostly between people who all has similar cultural and experiential touchpoints. Differing viewpoints where intellectual in nature, based on what ideas or classical thinkers appealed during adolescence.
Today you have students who attend the same school but came from different backgrounds, many of which would be completely alien to a college student from the 50s. There are many more women, many more countries, and numerous strata of American culture. Those fault lines are under pressure from numerous directions, many of which come from leaders who grew up before or during the 60s. And keep in mind, those are the same people who are bringing these fringe parties to power today, or tinpot dictators like Donald J. Trump. We are still suffering from the culture wars of the 1960s, and the torches are being passed on to new generations every day.
This isn't to cast aspersions on Boomers, but to remind people that you reap what you sow.
However, the time before the 1960s may have been a mirage. College and university enrollment was mostly male, and mainly upper-class. The exchange of ideas were mostly between people who all has similar cultural and experiential touchpoints. Differing viewpoints where intellectual in nature, based on what ideas or classical thinkers appealed during adolescence.
Today you have students who attend the same school but came from different backgrounds, many of which would be completely alien to a college student from the 50s. There are many more women, many more countries, and numerous strata of American culture. Those fault lines are under pressure from numerous directions, many of which come from leaders who grew up before or during the 60s. And keep in mind, those are the same people who are bringing these fringe parties to power today, or tinpot dictators like Donald J. Trump. We are still suffering from the culture wars of the 1960s, and the torches are being passed on to new generations every day.
This isn't to cast aspersions on Boomers, but to remind people that you reap what you sow.
I trust you are not surprised David, as business buys access and influences our government representatives, writes the legislation they pass, and one person one vote was ignored in the last election for POTUS; 2nd time in the last 5 elections. Where has democracy gone? Ask the GOP gerrymanderers who have created such insulated legislative districts, tea party candidates, intent upon disrupting and destroying democracy have been elected, and moderates are scared. Ask the politicians from both parties who passed bill riders giving tax breaks to large corporations, allowing them to export middle class jobs and hide their capital off shore, destroying our economy. Why is it politicians spend millions for a 2-year job that pays under $200K/year? Deep throat was right in the Watergate scandal "follow the money". Money, and the greed that goes with it is destroying our democracy, plain and simple. I'm waiting for the torches and pitchforks; have been since the early 90's. Democracy died when money and corporations took over.
What were the total of functional democracies in 1925,1950,1975? Entire continents were dominated by foreign entities or Military and Political authoritarians. Democracy is not just us. Think about the incremental growth in Asia ,Africa, and South America. Set backs are to be expected and anticipated.
Stop fretting and remember billions live in freedom.
Stop fretting and remember billions live in freedom.
You are correct in noting the crisis in western civilization but you show your biases. Obama's ruling by decree is more authoritarian than anything Trump has done so far.
Brilliant, realistic perception of past & present realities.
I'll simplistically & first immediately overly blame Vietnam and the domino effect/concept/theory driver of fears.
There is confused cynicism in the "pro and anti" attitudes that Nam still generates within the conflicted/confused me and I shall herein project to the many/most of ye, but especially we elderly.
The also confused though younger than us, the approximately--I'll guess--eighty percent, who cannot recall the specifics of the horrendous, tragic Nam phenomena reading my semi terrific comment.
Meanwhile, as national wounds are constantly licked, there are always several confusing Vietnams/hot spots of economic, religious, tribal & ethnic related bloody struggles throughout the world.
Especially/doubtlessly in the Middle East phenomena.
And don't leave out the paranoia of the Korean peninsula.
It's impossible to objectively interpret reality and unfair to organize/simplify world history, though Will, Ariel David, and me give it a try.
I'll simplistically & first immediately overly blame Vietnam and the domino effect/concept/theory driver of fears.
There is confused cynicism in the "pro and anti" attitudes that Nam still generates within the conflicted/confused me and I shall herein project to the many/most of ye, but especially we elderly.
The also confused though younger than us, the approximately--I'll guess--eighty percent, who cannot recall the specifics of the horrendous, tragic Nam phenomena reading my semi terrific comment.
Meanwhile, as national wounds are constantly licked, there are always several confusing Vietnams/hot spots of economic, religious, tribal & ethnic related bloody struggles throughout the world.
Especially/doubtlessly in the Middle East phenomena.
And don't leave out the paranoia of the Korean peninsula.
It's impossible to objectively interpret reality and unfair to organize/simplify world history, though Will, Ariel David, and me give it a try.
Kind of amazing that the best example Brooks can think of to show the declining democratic values in the U.S. is not the fact that the president openly advocates for religious discrimination, or the vice president's public statements denouncing the fact that even the president must be subject to the rule of law, or the rise in hate crimes prompted by openly racist statements of the president, or the Senate Republicans' efforts to ensure that the Supreme Court justices become nothing more than partisan politicians with robes, etc, but rather the fact that some conservative speakers are not well received in their visits to some college campuses. Kind of amazing, until you remember it's David Brooks.
3
This is the problem with treating history, politics, economics – you name it – as a zero-sum game. All civilizations, including Wester civ, have both progress and oppression in their narratives. The cyclical nature of human history demonstrates that one or the other is likely more prevalent at various times in a civilization’s evolution. The point is to include both narratives in our understanding of the history of each civilization in order to more effectively ensure, on balance, a more progressive future. The development and safeguarding of liberal values requires this fuller understanding of history as well as the intentional application of its lessons.
1
This is all so on point and true. But the irony of this is that Mr. Brooks has supported men and policies in the past that have brought us to this point. All civilizations wax and wain. History teaches us this. Western civilizations only chance for remaining relevant is to be able to incorporate our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere to join with us in promoting liberal democratic institutions. Our past history with them will make that difficult and our present attitude towards Mexico is making it less likely.
1
Some of us try to advocate for the values that western civilization and the enlightenment have brought to the world. But we are quickly lumped together with white supremacists.
Look at specific issues and groups.
FGM
LGBTQ
current slavery
history of slavery
rights of children
Look at where in the world these are still problems today.
Look at specific issues and groups.
FGM
LGBTQ
current slavery
history of slavery
rights of children
Look at where in the world these are still problems today.
4
I disagree that liberal (meaning: open to new ideas) democracies are not defending themselves, but the idea that the "center is not holding" is worth understanding and exploring. Truman said "What's new in the world is what you don't know about history" and people are seeking security in more authoritarian governments similar to 1930s; unfortunately those governments in Germany and Japan and Italy were militaristic and racist. But as messy as democracy is, some have opined that benevolent, competent monarcharies might be best ("democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest"?). Perhaps people in Turkey are seeking competent monarchy, and if people in the US support Trump's "clan government" that will be similar. Has Western Civ been oppressive rather than progressive, i.e. more benefit to people than cost? Yes but with two exceptions - we've created unprecedented ecological instability and seem unwilling to face it, and instead hope for scientific/engineereing miracles to save future generations from our own irresponsible greed, and we've not ensured that what I call the Four Fundamentals necessary for people without means to rise to middle class (secure in housing/finance/health) status are affordable to people that need them: transportation, healthcare, higher education and housing. As these recede from affordability, people are understandably seeing the system as uncaring/broken not fixable by messy democracy. Thus, authoritarianism attracts.
1
We definitely need to think about recolonization of certain failed or failing nation-states. One thing that Western Civilization gave us was a fantastic matrix for bringing light to the benighted.
Britain giving up her empire was the biggest folly. It is time to re-instill Western values, for certain.
Britain giving up her empire was the biggest folly. It is time to re-instill Western values, for certain.
2
Wishful thinking...i am surprused
Just an observation but whenever David's party is in power and screwing up his articles become very broad in their condemnation. It's not the Republican party it's the WHOLE WORLD. Yet when Obama was President he was able to be very specifically critical to individuals and the party.
As I said it's just an observation.
As I said it's just an observation.
5
Brook’s excellent review of the downfall of Western Civ fosters a question in my mind: Is there another way? Another ...cracy?
While a student in the mid-80’s, history professor Alexander Niven proclaimed this: “Nationalism, the bane of Europe.” He refers to the two World Wars. Currently we turn backwards towards Nationalism, a divisive return. We cannot seem to break out of old patterns. We need to create a new pattern.
Perhaps this pattern, this new ...cracy, must tear down the fabric of our beloved cultures in order to incorporate our already spatially incorporated world. Or must it? Destruction of our known heritage frightens us. Perhaps a Multicracy, claiming unity of various cultures and peoples, unified by tolerance and survival.
We must address this massive shift away from Western Civ paradigms, but let’s not address it by going backwards.
While a student in the mid-80’s, history professor Alexander Niven proclaimed this: “Nationalism, the bane of Europe.” He refers to the two World Wars. Currently we turn backwards towards Nationalism, a divisive return. We cannot seem to break out of old patterns. We need to create a new pattern.
Perhaps this pattern, this new ...cracy, must tear down the fabric of our beloved cultures in order to incorporate our already spatially incorporated world. Or must it? Destruction of our known heritage frightens us. Perhaps a Multicracy, claiming unity of various cultures and peoples, unified by tolerance and survival.
We must address this massive shift away from Western Civ paradigms, but let’s not address it by going backwards.
This is all about employment, in the end. For Trump and Le Pen and ISIS. Loss of employment drives this loss of confidence, the system is no longer working for the mainstream.
The Middle East population has exploded, yet jobs remain stagnant.
The French economy is moribund, the middle class losing their place. Ditto the US.
Unless we figure out a way to create a full employment world, this anger at not having a seat at the economic table will continue to destabilize.
It's job, stupid. (Particularly) men get angry with no way to earn a living and support a family. Then they act out, at the ballot box or with a gun.
The Middle East population has exploded, yet jobs remain stagnant.
The French economy is moribund, the middle class losing their place. Ditto the US.
Unless we figure out a way to create a full employment world, this anger at not having a seat at the economic table will continue to destabilize.
It's job, stupid. (Particularly) men get angry with no way to earn a living and support a family. Then they act out, at the ballot box or with a gun.
20
When I was a young woman with a limited education, I purchased the Durant series of books and read them several nights a week. It was an education for me, I could not afford college at the time and I used these books to broaden my knowledge. Through the years I attended college and received a more "formal education", however, I believe those books were the foundation of my first foray into expanding my intellect. It pains me the twist the colleges and universities have put on western civilization. What can we expect when we teach the upcoming generations that the society we built of laws, shared goals and common good was based on oppression. There is an unbalanced and biased view going on in the institutions of higher learning, just as there was when we did not admit to our mistakes.
5
Evidently, Mr. Brooks calls us once again to "Take Up the White Man's Burden."
4
The history of Western Civilization is one of enlightened thinking and oppression, both facts can be true. Mr Brooks seems to blame the teaching of one of these facts as the reason for decay, which is ironic because an enlightened thinker would want to know all the facts.
Perhaps we have simply entered a new Age of Data? One in which data points are expected and if a professor were to diminish or omit data points the entire narrative is questioned?
Perhaps we have simply entered a new Age of Data? One in which data points are expected and if a professor were to diminish or omit data points the entire narrative is questioned?
3
"Mr Brooks seems to blame the teaching of one of these facts as the reason for decay"
You mis-characterize Mr. Brooks' essay. He does not blame the teaching of the negative. He blames the teaching of ONLY the negative and the ignoring of all the positive.
You mis-characterize Mr. Brooks' essay. He does not blame the teaching of the negative. He blames the teaching of ONLY the negative and the ignoring of all the positive.
1
Alas, the bitter truth is that civilization arose on a Marxist principle of one social class dominating another. It goes back to the origins of agriculture, the ability to produce surpluses-- largely grains-- which could be traded for goods other than food, land tenure and the arise a social class structure. In short, a class struggle. All the aesthetic and social benefits of civilization extolled by the Durants, Kenneth Clark, et al., arose due to support by the wealthy classes because they liked them or found them profitable. Learning to read and write was a great equalizer because it dribbled down to the lower classes where those craving change could use them. Sadly, the great masses of these lower classes looked to strong leadership for the stability of their livelihood and that's where it begins. 45 was blown into the White House by those same masses of disassociated individuals looking for "leadership" out of the changing economic and political environment.
I don't share Mr. Brooks's view that civilization is collapsing without a whimper. It has always and will always morph into something between these two extremes.
I don't share Mr. Brooks's view that civilization is collapsing without a whimper. It has always and will always morph into something between these two extremes.
I might suggest that perhaps the decline in Western Civ as we know it might be less attributed to a shift in ideology, a change in thought and more to the embrace of fear, the reaction to threat. Fear is a contagious disease easily spread by unscrupulous and caniving "leaders" political and religious, sometimes both, who offer the elixier of nativism and nationalism as a cure for the perception of what seems an inevitable decline in personal privilege.
Perhaps until the privilege we enjoy is truly lost can we understand the degree to which we again have been duped. We will again return to those who by example are able to lift our lives and our nation out of the ashes to a better place.
We are by no means there yet so I agree with Mr Brooks, you ain't seen nothin yet.
Perhaps until the privilege we enjoy is truly lost can we understand the degree to which we again have been duped. We will again return to those who by example are able to lift our lives and our nation out of the ashes to a better place.
We are by no means there yet so I agree with Mr Brooks, you ain't seen nothin yet.
1
Well written Mr.Brooks. Daily as I saunter through the campuses here and recall my many years in manufacturing traveling to distant spots in our country I have been thinking the same. The values in the public square have changed as they must, but as a people we seem not to care or even observe when there is an outrage. Our president routinely misrepresents facts, a polite word for lies, and says the first thing that comes to his mind with no reflection on the dangerous consequences. His poll numbers have not tanked since his base does not care. The popular conservative Mr. O Reilly had no qualms about pursuing an agenda of blatant sexual harassment flouting ethics and possibly laws. His ratings seem not to have hurt since his viewers did not care. He was fired because corporations pulled out ads. Fox News tolerated this culture even while spewing patriotism and family values as conservative monopolies. Self censure is no longer practiced by all political persuasions and Hypocricy is accepted as a practical virtue. Thus, political correctness was required to hide our real natures. The Durants would need to add a few more volumes from their graves.
1
I wonder if the appeal of the fringe world is related to a perception that may, in fact, be more pervasive than previously thought - that of "survival". That might explain the rise of radical factions throughout the civilized world - they feel so threatened that they have decided to go on "offense" rather than continue to play "defense".
Here at home, that appears to be the case. The extreme positions being presented in statehouses and Washington reflect a sense of fear not so prevalent just a few years ago.
Civilizations generally decline from within - perhaps we are on that journey today and are beginning to feel more wistful about the past.
Here at home, that appears to be the case. The extreme positions being presented in statehouses and Washington reflect a sense of fear not so prevalent just a few years ago.
Civilizations generally decline from within - perhaps we are on that journey today and are beginning to feel more wistful about the past.
1
It is true if we had just listened to all the women and people of color that Brooks mentioned non of any of this would have happened.
1
Don't boo... vote (Barack Obama)
"While running for office, Donald Trump violated every norm of statesmanship built up over these many centuries, and it turned out many people didn’t notice or didn’t care," writes the consistently perceptive Mr. Brooks. This begs the question, Why did so many people not care when Mr. Trump scuttled reasoned discourse and the traditional Western esteem for truth and logic? I believe the answer lies in the thesis of Marshal McLuhan that "The medium is the message," and in all the careful research and reasoning that Mr. McLuhan marshalled to support his thesis.
Especially relevant to WHY so many ignored Trump's scuttling of the primary values of Western culture is McLuhan's insight that TV is essentially a subjective medium which subordinates critical logic and reason in favor of an uncritical, emotional gut response. That's the valid reasoning behind the belief that Trump's supporters took him seriously but not literally -- they took him seriously on a subjective, instinctive gut-level, devoid of objective critical reasoning. In this intellectual wasteland, Trump was able to make himself synonymous with the medium, thereby becoming the message himself.
Especially relevant to WHY so many ignored Trump's scuttling of the primary values of Western culture is McLuhan's insight that TV is essentially a subjective medium which subordinates critical logic and reason in favor of an uncritical, emotional gut response. That's the valid reasoning behind the belief that Trump's supporters took him seriously but not literally -- they took him seriously on a subjective, instinctive gut-level, devoid of objective critical reasoning. In this intellectual wasteland, Trump was able to make himself synonymous with the medium, thereby becoming the message himself.
5
Has Mr. Brooks taken on the mantle of liberal progressivism while his heart remains locked in conservatism? I'm so confused! Has has he come to realize the horror conservative's have created by convincing others that one can hold back time? What is so glorious about western culture other than violent Imperialism that has enslaved the world with White supremacy, Eurocentricim and strong men longing to be "royal" despots? I'll vote with the conservatives when they turn back the time before Western culture took hold and conquered the world with such greedy violence. Why do members of western cultures believe the propoganda that they have saved the world when the strong men that have always led western culture never believed their own hype? Mr. Brooks you're smoking a pipe dream.
Rorty, a philosopher who in the late sixties or early seventies predicated an authoritarian like Trump, and who wrote Achieving our Country which spelled out how the left, which Rorty was very much apart of, lost the working class post Vietnam war protests. He said the left gave up the absolutes of a monotheistic God, but retained the concepts of sin and evil. America was fundamentally flawed and must be destroyed, i.e. those awful straight white males pushing around women and gays had to be put into place (which of course was right). The left borrowed from pragmatists like Dewey and James and their concept of truth; an agreement and consensus of opinion, among whom was never clear, but surely it was the leftists. The common sense of our body politic could see through this, and since the right was holding on to something less than relative truth, the working class went with the Rush Limbaugh's, talk radio, and all the nut cases who, as the terrorists wanted them to, increased our fears, and then set themselves up as our saviors. A Bernie Sanders figure, who is thinking about the working class, could actually win. What he and the rest of us need to do, is to tell the identity political folks to sit down and be quiet; they have had their turn and it turned into Trump. This will require much education, a whole generation or two have learned a social science that is more fairy tale, than true. If there is no truth, what else would they have?
Brooks is suggesting that its liberals who are to blame for undermining or challenging the fantasy stories told about "western civilization". I would suggest that both left and right are to blame and the reasons are a little different. All have thouroughly undermined democracy through their cynical politics and promoting a crude national interest over more enlightened government. If invading Iraq and bombing Serbia into the Stone Age is democracy, then for some democracy becomes the problem. So, its no surprise that in the 30s faith in democracy was far more robust than it is today. To counter this we need to reinvigorate democracy and liberal government.
1
While I can't sign on with the idea of laying a global retreat into tribalism at the doorstep of the Western Civics classroom, I agree that education is central to understanding the development. Identity politics has run amok in some ways and there is too much certainty on the left about whose ideas deserve a public forum. But that doesn't explain or excuse the mistake Mr. Brooks makes here of neglecting to at least attempt to address his own tribal blind spots.
The modern Republican party has, since Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz have been shaping its lexicon, restricted public debate to reflect only strategic, partisan outcomes. Anyone who now deviates from the party script is at immediate risk of a primary challenge and a curtailed career. One achievement of this message discipline has been to successfully lump every criticism of the left under the banner of political correctness. Angry student protesters and climate scientists alike can be easily written off now with this simple rhetorical gesture.
The evolution and structure of party rhetoric is surely a form of public education as important as any single school curriculum. Read Luntz's book, Words that Work, for primer on the subject. I hope Mr. Brooks will eventually focus his keen moral microscope on this subject.
The modern Republican party has, since Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz have been shaping its lexicon, restricted public debate to reflect only strategic, partisan outcomes. Anyone who now deviates from the party script is at immediate risk of a primary challenge and a curtailed career. One achievement of this message discipline has been to successfully lump every criticism of the left under the banner of political correctness. Angry student protesters and climate scientists alike can be easily written off now with this simple rhetorical gesture.
The evolution and structure of party rhetoric is surely a form of public education as important as any single school curriculum. Read Luntz's book, Words that Work, for primer on the subject. I hope Mr. Brooks will eventually focus his keen moral microscope on this subject.
3
Are you surprised, Mr Brooks? The decline is self-inflicted as much as it is caused by societies that have lost their moral moorings. The slippery slope seems manifest in virtually every walk of life.
We keep slipping further when we remain silent as Archbishop Dolan gives Bill O'Reilly a pass to shake Pope Francis's hand. Still further if the Pope gives an audience to Donald Trump. Is Christian forgiveness selective? Or are we back to the realm of indulgences?
I am not surprised,
We keep slipping further when we remain silent as Archbishop Dolan gives Bill O'Reilly a pass to shake Pope Francis's hand. Still further if the Pope gives an audience to Donald Trump. Is Christian forgiveness selective? Or are we back to the realm of indulgences?
I am not surprised,
4
“Now many students, if they encounter it, are taught that Western civilization is a history of oppression.”
Western Civ was about how white men dominated in the world. As Rep Steve King (R-Iowa) so eloquently stated in a panel discussion on MSNBC:
King: “This whole ‘old white people’ business does get a little tired. I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about? Where did any other SUBGROUP of people contribute more to civilization?”
“Than white people?” Chris Hayes remarked
Mr. King responded: “Than Western civilization itself that’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. That’s all of Western civilization.”
Mr. Brooks this is YOUR party’s definition of Western Civ. Let’s not tarnish it with slavery, genocide of Native Americans, the continued degradation of black men (and women) in today’s judicial system.
Why even bring up the FACT that the “War on Drugs” was a war on black “thugs." That our prison system now mostly privatized (There’s that “invisible hand” again!) has QUADRUPLED in the last few decades. That we now incarcerate more people per capita than ANY other nation. That minorities die in these prisons at alarming rates.
YOUR GOP doesn’t want anyone besides white people here. And they are NOT Christians by ANY measure!
Western Civ was about how white men dominated in the world. As Rep Steve King (R-Iowa) so eloquently stated in a panel discussion on MSNBC:
King: “This whole ‘old white people’ business does get a little tired. I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about? Where did any other SUBGROUP of people contribute more to civilization?”
“Than white people?” Chris Hayes remarked
Mr. King responded: “Than Western civilization itself that’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. That’s all of Western civilization.”
Mr. Brooks this is YOUR party’s definition of Western Civ. Let’s not tarnish it with slavery, genocide of Native Americans, the continued degradation of black men (and women) in today’s judicial system.
Why even bring up the FACT that the “War on Drugs” was a war on black “thugs." That our prison system now mostly privatized (There’s that “invisible hand” again!) has QUADRUPLED in the last few decades. That we now incarcerate more people per capita than ANY other nation. That minorities die in these prisons at alarming rates.
YOUR GOP doesn’t want anyone besides white people here. And they are NOT Christians by ANY measure!
3
.right on david. to bad the old people won't be around to see the consequences. to those who are unemployed please don't wait for the government to keep it's pie-in-the sky solutions. i hope private capital can find a way into your locations and bring up a new economy for you. it is painful to be unemployed as i have been. i am not a republican and can't see the democrats come up with anything more desirable.
2
In the long view, Trump is one just step backwards to make two steps forward. Pluralism and globalization is the inexorable result of freedom and democracy.
4
If Western Civ teaches anything, it is that there are 100 Trumps and Le Pens for every Socrates and Montesquieu. Looking through the wide lens of history, we may be on the cusp of living in a more normal time than an exceptional time.
How much the present reversion to illiberal values is the result of a decline in the confidence of the idea in Western Civ, I don't know. Historians have difficulty enough discovering the true nature of past events, let alone those of us living in the fog of the present.
But this much is true: People have been talking about the decay of Western Civ for as long as Western Civ has been in existence. David Brooks here reminds me of Cicero warning about the power grab of Caesar, the populist of his day.
What critics of the Durant's “Story of Civilization” miss is that the 11-volume work was not conceived or written as a concluding postscript on the greatness and inevitable progression of Western history. Quite the contrary: It was meant as an introduction, a reliable and readable place to become acquainted with the major turning points of the preceding three millennium.
Once you have that knowledge under your belt, you can begin working toward a more just and fair society. But so many today do not appear to have even a fundamental familiarity with Western Civ., other than its darker moments, that makes them equal to the solemn task (oops – I just fell into the Brooks/Cicero lament trap … ) confronting us.
How much the present reversion to illiberal values is the result of a decline in the confidence of the idea in Western Civ, I don't know. Historians have difficulty enough discovering the true nature of past events, let alone those of us living in the fog of the present.
But this much is true: People have been talking about the decay of Western Civ for as long as Western Civ has been in existence. David Brooks here reminds me of Cicero warning about the power grab of Caesar, the populist of his day.
What critics of the Durant's “Story of Civilization” miss is that the 11-volume work was not conceived or written as a concluding postscript on the greatness and inevitable progression of Western history. Quite the contrary: It was meant as an introduction, a reliable and readable place to become acquainted with the major turning points of the preceding three millennium.
Once you have that knowledge under your belt, you can begin working toward a more just and fair society. But so many today do not appear to have even a fundamental familiarity with Western Civ., other than its darker moments, that makes them equal to the solemn task (oops – I just fell into the Brooks/Cicero lament trap … ) confronting us.
11
As McLuhan prophesied more than 50 years ago, the simple fact of the matter is that the immediacy of new electric, information technologies has overwhelmed our linear, text-based, cause-and-effect, Western value system, which is a product of obsolete, visual-based print technologies.
As he also predicted, Western cultures would have a far more difficult time adjusting to the new technologies than the so-called "primitive", non-literate, tribal cultures did in adjusting to our "literate" and highly individualistic Western culture.
As an old-fashioned, Enlightenment rationalist, I too despair of where our new technologies are taking us. The only hope is that we can somehow channel these forces to more humane and public-spirited purposes. Not an easy task in this corporate, everything-for-profit age.
As he also predicted, Western cultures would have a far more difficult time adjusting to the new technologies than the so-called "primitive", non-literate, tribal cultures did in adjusting to our "literate" and highly individualistic Western culture.
As an old-fashioned, Enlightenment rationalist, I too despair of where our new technologies are taking us. The only hope is that we can somehow channel these forces to more humane and public-spirited purposes. Not an easy task in this corporate, everything-for-profit age.
6
The role of the Internet, and particularly its domination by advertising as its main purpose, is a key factor in destroying public awareness and discourse. Instead we have echo chambers and tweets.
1
The last paragraph begins, "These days, the whole idea of Western civ is assumed to be reactionary and oppressive." I have a problem with passive-voice constructions like that, especially in journalism.
Who is it that assumes so? We can all think of examples among the people we know or among those who make their voices heard in public spaces like this commenting community. Perhaps they predominate on college campuses. But surely they're not so predominant in the world that one must state their view as the only one going.
This is not the first time in the past century that Western Liberalism has conspicuously retreated. We've already seen "the world that comes after it" in the forms of fascist and socialist waves of the future. Those waves eventually spent themselves on a wall of resistance, and the world became safe for anti-Western political hobbyists and anti-liberal political luddites.
Now, that period of leisure seems to be at an end. The next waves of oppression are rising. But so, surely, is the next wall of resistance. Even many of those people who have been chanting curses at Western civilization will find something better to do with their voices, and many of those who thought they liked demagoguery will find that they don't.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/
Who is it that assumes so? We can all think of examples among the people we know or among those who make their voices heard in public spaces like this commenting community. Perhaps they predominate on college campuses. But surely they're not so predominant in the world that one must state their view as the only one going.
This is not the first time in the past century that Western Liberalism has conspicuously retreated. We've already seen "the world that comes after it" in the forms of fascist and socialist waves of the future. Those waves eventually spent themselves on a wall of resistance, and the world became safe for anti-Western political hobbyists and anti-liberal political luddites.
Now, that period of leisure seems to be at an end. The next waves of oppression are rising. But so, surely, is the next wall of resistance. Even many of those people who have been chanting curses at Western civilization will find something better to do with their voices, and many of those who thought they liked demagoguery will find that they don't.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/
1
Mr. Brooks,
You seem to be struggling trying to fit a thought framework that does not accommodate the facts. Permit me a suggestion.
Read 'The Third Wave', by Alvin Toffler:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(Toffler_book)
Relying only on simple principles of human behavior, Mr. Toffler created a framework based on three major technological waves - agriculture, industrialization, and information, that not only explain what happened until 1980, when he wrote the book, but also predicts much of what came afterwards.
Mr. Toffler's framework helps make sense of past events, in a similar way that Darwin made sense of biology: things fall in place.
One of his most impressive predictions is the weakening of the 'nation state', which has been a 'construct' of the second wave. But, do not rely on my interpretation: read it and see for yourself.
IMHO, his work does to
You seem to be struggling trying to fit a thought framework that does not accommodate the facts. Permit me a suggestion.
Read 'The Third Wave', by Alvin Toffler:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(Toffler_book)
Relying only on simple principles of human behavior, Mr. Toffler created a framework based on three major technological waves - agriculture, industrialization, and information, that not only explain what happened until 1980, when he wrote the book, but also predicts much of what came afterwards.
Mr. Toffler's framework helps make sense of past events, in a similar way that Darwin made sense of biology: things fall in place.
One of his most impressive predictions is the weakening of the 'nation state', which has been a 'construct' of the second wave. But, do not rely on my interpretation: read it and see for yourself.
IMHO, his work does to
One word missing in this article, "primitive" or "barbarism" encapsulates the collapse of Western civilization. Without an appreciation of what civilization evolved against: "primitivism", how can civilization be justified or defended. I am an African and keenly aware of how the word primitive was racially used to justify colonialism and imperialism. Still, there are inhuman, misanthropic practices and values in traditional societies that can only be described as primitive. Indeed, while Western society has been forced to acknowledge its violence and prejudices, "multiculturalism" has insulated traditional cultures from criticism, thus inciting the resentment feeding into nativism. As it is, the very fact that the debate about multiculturalism and ethnocentrism is taking place in Western society reveals values of human universality embedded in Western civilization. Those elements of human universality are what we must bring to explicit consciousness,if ever we are to solve the global problems, threatening us all. And we can only do so when we fully appreciate what we are up against that is barbarism/primitivism, with all its freight of irrational passions and unparalleled violence.
2
Speaking of not recognizing oppression: There was a chilling segment on PBS Newshour, about right wing, white supremacist, paramilitary groups. They continue to rage against "tryanny", but they endorse Trump with the vigor of cultists.
6
The white elite .1 percent of American western civilization is doing great since Brooks' hero Ronald Reagan cut taxes on the ultra-wealthy while gutting education and infrastructure. Reagan's sowing distrust in government reached fruition in Trump who claimed the election was fraudulent until he won -- he still hasn't backed up his claim of millions of illegal voters.
The true test of our civilization will come when Trump supporters realize they elected a fraudulent president and party and channel their anger in uncivilized ways clashing with police and military.
The true test of our civilization will come when Trump supporters realize they elected a fraudulent president and party and channel their anger in uncivilized ways clashing with police and military.
4
Excellent and brilliant assessment of our culture at present. The intellectual is pushed to the side while the thug mentality is dominating. He who has the gun and the violent nature supported by "morality" is winning.
2
Why is this a) surprising, and b) automatically bad?
Civilization constantly reinvents itself. As we inexorably move toward an interconnected global worldview (thanks in no small part to the “Western” invention of the Internet), a new, unifying paradigm will be required to accommodate it. If we ever hope to move out from this planet and explore new worlds, the whole planet will need to have a stake in the process for the endeavor to succeed. But from the viewpoint of the “developing world”, Western Civilization has ALWAYS BEEN a top down process, and that’s just not going to fly any more.
Cheer up David, you and I (age 70) won’t be around to see the eventual results anyway.
Civilization constantly reinvents itself. As we inexorably move toward an interconnected global worldview (thanks in no small part to the “Western” invention of the Internet), a new, unifying paradigm will be required to accommodate it. If we ever hope to move out from this planet and explore new worlds, the whole planet will need to have a stake in the process for the endeavor to succeed. But from the viewpoint of the “developing world”, Western Civilization has ALWAYS BEEN a top down process, and that’s just not going to fly any more.
Cheer up David, you and I (age 70) won’t be around to see the eventual results anyway.
As a World History teacher I will say that my approach is more balanced than it was at the beginning of my career. It is important to point out where exploitation and oppression have benefitted the nations of the West at the expense of the peoples of the world. I certainly also impart the greatness of Western ideas, science, values and art which is the heritage on which the U.S. was built.
We all need to re-think about our understanding of freedom of speech- as Voltaire apparently didn't say, but would have, "I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It is an open and free marketplace of ideas that is the well-spring of great civilizations.
We all need to re-think about our understanding of freedom of speech- as Voltaire apparently didn't say, but would have, "I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It is an open and free marketplace of ideas that is the well-spring of great civilizations.
2
David Brooks channeling Harry Lime in the Third Man, but without the candid self-awareness: "Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
Extreme Contempt is on the rise. It will have to burn itself out before we can again make progress. I hope we have that much time. God help us.
So Trump and his supporters can thug their way to the Presidency, but those that oppose him need to be polite when colleges and universities bring in the very people whose views fuel that behavior? I think not, every action creates a reaction. If you want to see a lesson in the decline of Western Civilization, all you have to do is witness a Trump political rally. That type of thuggish behavior plays out better in its original German, never did I think it would be a part of American Presidential politics.
1
It's not all mutually exclusive. Other types of civ and ideologies more oppressive and reactionary than Western Civ have no bearing on Western Civ being oppressive and reactionary. Just because there may be something worse, does not absolve Western Civ of its factual history.
There used to be a narrative about the emperor's clothes. But then some evil professors got together and started telling people he had none. And THAT, my friends, is where all the trouble began.
1
Extreme Contempt on the rise from the Left & the Right. It will have to burn itself out before we can again make progress. I hope we have that much time. God help us.
Bravo, David. Well stated, well said. No society, no movement, no intellectual trend is without fault or weaknesses. But those trashing western civ are looking at trees, not the forest. We have the luxury of criticizing western civilization precisely because its successes, economically and socially, have created that kind of space. So, to switch metaphors somewhat, of course we should strive for a more perfect union...but not by dismantling the history and progress that got us to this point.
2
Uh, what happened to your hope, Mr Brooks? This column seems to be full of despair—the sky is falling. In the past you have spoken of the need for a third party and fostered discussions about what will actually lead to meaningful change. What happened between then and now for you to write such a fatalistic piece?
2
We are leaving the age of Obama, and entering the age of Donald Trump, thank Goodness! The Decline of Western Civilization stops here!
If it fails, Western Civilization's Epitaph will read "Failed to adapt". Ironic, considering the influence of Charles Darwin on it.
When I was a freshman in 1968, I and all of my classmates at Queens College, CUNY, were required to take a one-year course called Contemporary Cicilization I and II. It was an overview of what was then called "The Great Books, " a quick tour of important thinkers from Socrates through the twentieth century. I doubt any campus in the country requires anything similar now, given modern academia's ridiculous belief that Western thought is little more than a structure of repression. How far we have fallen.
4
In a short period of time, historically speaking, the world has seen Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Franco, Amin. Hussein, Assad, PolPot, Mao..... The list goes on, names being added, year after year after year. Mankind persists and finds a way to exist, despite the murder and mayhem, the ignorance and the selfishness, the greed and the sloth. Institutions and governments are invented, created and imposed on others. Mankind continues to exist.
Perhaps, despite man himself, existence continues. Perhaps that says as much as anything else.
Perhaps, despite man himself, existence continues. Perhaps that says as much as anything else.
I say sentence the mob leaders to term papers on Homer, Virgil and Cicero.
1
The failure of liberalism is the cause.
Back in 1992 Canadian Historian, philosopher aqnd public intellectual John Ralston Saul published Voltaire's Bastards (the Dictatorship of Reason in the West). Saul's latest book (The Comeback 2014 English 2015 French) is about Canada trying to become the world's first nonWestern Nation State.
I am a Jew and all I can can say about Western Civilization is enough (deyenu). We owe a lot to Western Civilization but I am tired of Socrates always having to drink the hemlock.
I am a Jew and all I can can say about Western Civilization is enough (deyenu). We owe a lot to Western Civilization but I am tired of Socrates always having to drink the hemlock.
1
So many readers who have posted comments before me are making David Brooks' point again and again. They nit pick away that he's missing this point or cherry picking these facts, or they trot out the You're Just An Old White Guy card. I didn't read all 500+ comments but does even one reader express thanks that he or she is living their life in this country, with our system of government, as part of the great western civilization and culture David Brooks is talking about? If not, count me as the first.
15
Reading all the comments is enlightening but perhaps you didn't see the sentiment you expressed because people today know there are many better countries, in terms of happiness levels and healthcare for citizens, than this one.
Luke,
It's not about what we have now, it's where it's going in the future. Western Civ is founded on the idea of progress. This article is about the loss of faith in that progress. So yes, I am thankful for what I have, but I fear greatly for what my children and grandchildren will have to face.
It's not about what we have now, it's where it's going in the future. Western Civ is founded on the idea of progress. This article is about the loss of faith in that progress. So yes, I am thankful for what I have, but I fear greatly for what my children and grandchildren will have to face.
1
Years of the lowest common denominator, through the electoral college, gerrymandering and foreign interference, deciding the winners of elected positions has sullied our country. There is no civilization with bigotry, misogyny, and rampant hypocrisy.
This columnist hasn't done anything to help the situation. Perhaps that will be a topic for the next column, Mr. Brooks.
This columnist hasn't done anything to help the situation. Perhaps that will be a topic for the next column, Mr. Brooks.
GIVE ME A BREAK!!! To lump Donald Trump in with anti-western dictators is so far from reality. He supports free speech on campus, where Western values have been under assault since the 1950's.
By contrast, President Obama embraces the cultural relevance that has for years undermined these values, predictably leading to today's suppression of free speech on campus, and tomorrow's soft fascism already on display in some of our major progressive cities.
It's ironic that classic liberalism has suffered as a result, while conservatism has been energized. Suggest readers pick up a copy of "The Closing of the American Mind", written by Professor Alan Bloom back in the 1980's.
David Brooks, you're no Alan Bloom!
By contrast, President Obama embraces the cultural relevance that has for years undermined these values, predictably leading to today's suppression of free speech on campus, and tomorrow's soft fascism already on display in some of our major progressive cities.
It's ironic that classic liberalism has suffered as a result, while conservatism has been energized. Suggest readers pick up a copy of "The Closing of the American Mind", written by Professor Alan Bloom back in the 1980's.
David Brooks, you're no Alan Bloom!
1
This may be the most important piece David Brooks has ever written. It deserves to be passed out for class discussions everywhere.
But why are "conservatives," of all people, the ones now driving the destruction of Western ideals?
But why are "conservatives," of all people, the ones now driving the destruction of Western ideals?
Civilizations get what they deserve.
Populations educated by shoving earbuds into their heads and erratic remote control shifting of multiple streaming cable and TV end up impatient and stupid and disobedient.
Populations with children taught to disparage and disrespect their parents (authority) end up disrespecting their values and institutions too: spare the rod, spoil the culture. Bye bye American Pie. Hello Permissive Pudding. Bye bye respect for cultural bedrocks; hello clouded judgements.
Populations educated by shoving earbuds into their heads and erratic remote control shifting of multiple streaming cable and TV end up impatient and stupid and disobedient.
Populations with children taught to disparage and disrespect their parents (authority) end up disrespecting their values and institutions too: spare the rod, spoil the culture. Bye bye American Pie. Hello Permissive Pudding. Bye bye respect for cultural bedrocks; hello clouded judgements.
1
Interesting article.
I think a lot of confusion is created simply by classifying everyone in western civilization as either "liberal" or "conservative". Both "liberal" and "conservative" are representative of the same basic political/societal/economic philosophy that has driven the western world for only the past century....probably only relevant inside the narrow construct of Keynsian Economics and the Advanced Industrial Age. The liberal vs conservative dispute isnt over the Locomotive, only over who gets to be the Driver!!
The USA proved to be the most successful nation in the operation of a Keynsian style Advanced Industrial Society.....eclipsing its elder brother Great Britain, once the champion of the earlier Marxist style Corporate Colonial Empire(the academics have it all wrong!! Marx very accurately mapped out Industrial development in the advanced societies of England, Germany, France......NOT meant to be applied in backward agrarian societies as Russia, Eastern Europe, Confederate South, etc....which is why England succeeded and all 3rd World attempts FAIL).
Adam Smith passed the torch to the Marxists,,,,the Marxists passed it to JMKeynes......and now, Keynes must pass the torch on to someone new......
Someone who has the perception and vision to describe our Electronic World of Global Commerce.
I think a lot of confusion is created simply by classifying everyone in western civilization as either "liberal" or "conservative". Both "liberal" and "conservative" are representative of the same basic political/societal/economic philosophy that has driven the western world for only the past century....probably only relevant inside the narrow construct of Keynsian Economics and the Advanced Industrial Age. The liberal vs conservative dispute isnt over the Locomotive, only over who gets to be the Driver!!
The USA proved to be the most successful nation in the operation of a Keynsian style Advanced Industrial Society.....eclipsing its elder brother Great Britain, once the champion of the earlier Marxist style Corporate Colonial Empire(the academics have it all wrong!! Marx very accurately mapped out Industrial development in the advanced societies of England, Germany, France......NOT meant to be applied in backward agrarian societies as Russia, Eastern Europe, Confederate South, etc....which is why England succeeded and all 3rd World attempts FAIL).
Adam Smith passed the torch to the Marxists,,,,the Marxists passed it to JMKeynes......and now, Keynes must pass the torch on to someone new......
Someone who has the perception and vision to describe our Electronic World of Global Commerce.
1
Talk about lame false equivalence. The entire kleptocratic Republican-Confederate Party versus a few campus loudmouths, and we are to conclude that both the right and left are equally illiberal? Please.
3
Sad that Brooks tries to lay the rise of 'strong men' at the feet of universities instead of looking at his own party. Since LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, the GOP has incited and appealed to the lowest, vilest instincts of voters. Trump is the result. But Trump is just being Trump. Clueless as he is, he can't help himself. But all those Republicans who blindly support him -- McConnell and Ryan -- are playing a significant role in the decline of western civ. as seen from the shores of the U.S.
2
Mac Donald's piece cited by Brooks is offered as evidence of the degradation of the modern university. Should a course on the history of Great Britain omit that during the potato famine in Ireland, the British demanded that the Irish export 300000 tons of grain between 1846 and 1848 during the famine, as a book review in last Sunday's NYT reported? The review also notes that the British official most involved was wrote "the famine is a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence" in limiting the Irish population. Perhaps to spare the sensitivities of the students, a professor could trade the atrocity of the 1942 Bengal famine for the Irish famine on alternative semesters. As for MacDonald, she informs us that her, "talk was an attempt "to give voice to... minority residents of high crime areas who support the police...[and are] desperate for... protection." It's well known that in their semi-literate and barely civilized condition brought upon by their own sloth, these people lack any means to express their grievances, absent the kindly intervention of the Manhattan Institute and MacDonald. Now that these residents have their own tribune to express their long-suppressed grievances, no doubt their relationship with their police protectors will flourish. Except for those black mothers who tell their young sons, "Never be so late for an appointment that you have to run down the street for a bus." Exactly whom is she warning her sons about? The gangs?
Wow! Talk about getting lost in the trees and not seeing the forest! First, I cannot disagree more that the higher values of Western Civilization are no longer taught. That is absurd. Second, teaching that there have been moments of repression and abuse is simply accurate history. If we learn from our mistakes, it is important to include in history a story of the genocide and racism along with a story of the grand ideas. You are so despaired by the current moment in history that you've lost a sense of the larger, longer arc. I too am despaired. But I don't believe the long arc has bent backwards.
2
Thank you for this Mr. Brooks. I still believe in the values taught in my Western Civ course in college, but that was many, many years ago. Of course the downside of that history should be taught, too, but the upside outweighs it. I say that as a woman who is quite familiar with the struggle for equal rights. I am at a loss as to what is necessary to change young people's minds on this issue. Any thoughts on that?
1
"Make Western Civilization Great Again."
8
A dismal narrative Mr Brooks. But.
Sort of a competition between Sam Huntingtons "Clash of Civilizations" and Francis Fukuyamas more optimistic "End of History and the Last Man".
Huntington posits a competition between the values of east and west with endless religious warfare. Fukuyama presents a modern man of progress as the culmination of history. Both narratives twist around each other as "events" occlude determining which is more in vogue.
Sort of a competition between Sam Huntingtons "Clash of Civilizations" and Francis Fukuyamas more optimistic "End of History and the Last Man".
Huntington posits a competition between the values of east and west with endless religious warfare. Fukuyama presents a modern man of progress as the culmination of history. Both narratives twist around each other as "events" occlude determining which is more in vogue.
1
every thing today is just like 1969 and we till think democracy will end, as one person said will be replaced by family dictatorships. This has to be because of president trump being in the white house. when will people get over this, never. but i can be happy because i know this to will fade away!
Increasingly when I read Mr. Brooks's columns, preparing my attack (usually imputing to him some form of neo-fascism idolizing wealth & power, & implicitly grossly unequal social hierarchy based largely on inherited privilege but pretending to be based on "merit" which more often than not means aggressive propensity to cut ethical corners & credential-certified prowess at doing so, all this I suppose summarized alternatively as "social darwinism" or "neoconservatism")... I feel like the sort of converging adversaries dynamic so touchingly conveyed in "Reds"- the growing warmth & solicitude between Jack Reed & his Italian counterpart, earlier in mortal enmity, increasingly realizing how much they agree, especially compared to their REAL adversaries.
I genuinely believe the above imputations, but believe Mr. Brooks acts with a basic integrity vis a vis plausible premises it is possible to embrace in good faith: The Jane Austin worldview that the aim of life is to achieve love, friendship & virtue in an inherited cultural & social context that can only be modified carefully & slowly, & the futility of revolutionary gesture or endeavor, which often couches selfish & brutal purpose in pseudo-highmindedness. (The history of revolution bears much of this out.)
That said, the neoconservative revolution was such a one, substituting for traditional citizenship hyper-cathexis of economic status, roles & hierarchy, supporting the authoritarian, antidemocratic trends Mr. Brooks laments.
I genuinely believe the above imputations, but believe Mr. Brooks acts with a basic integrity vis a vis plausible premises it is possible to embrace in good faith: The Jane Austin worldview that the aim of life is to achieve love, friendship & virtue in an inherited cultural & social context that can only be modified carefully & slowly, & the futility of revolutionary gesture or endeavor, which often couches selfish & brutal purpose in pseudo-highmindedness. (The history of revolution bears much of this out.)
That said, the neoconservative revolution was such a one, substituting for traditional citizenship hyper-cathexis of economic status, roles & hierarchy, supporting the authoritarian, antidemocratic trends Mr. Brooks laments.
1
oops: "Austen"
This is a very good op-ed. It connects the dots between the rising totalitarianism on our college campuses and similar trends in governments across the world.
It's no surprise that most of the NYT comments are a variant of: "We liberals are fine and have nothing to do with this. The whole mess is on republicans. They own it."
Deflection and denial. Our liberal arts universities serve an essential purpose in society - to help preserve the intellectual foundation for our democracy. Their integrity has been steadily eroded since the 1960s by liberal activists posing as academics.
The college students today are an expression of this erosion - absolutely intolerant to opposing views. Liberals, you DO have to own this. You absolutely own our universities and colleges.
SPEAK OUT against this trend of outlawing conservative speakers. SPEAK OUT in favor for the virtues of liberal democratic values. SUPPORT the teaching of the western canon as a thing that (warts and all) has been a brilliant and virtuous success. DEMAND that political affiliation be part and parcel of this nebulous concept of 'diversity'.
It's no surprise that most of the NYT comments are a variant of: "We liberals are fine and have nothing to do with this. The whole mess is on republicans. They own it."
Deflection and denial. Our liberal arts universities serve an essential purpose in society - to help preserve the intellectual foundation for our democracy. Their integrity has been steadily eroded since the 1960s by liberal activists posing as academics.
The college students today are an expression of this erosion - absolutely intolerant to opposing views. Liberals, you DO have to own this. You absolutely own our universities and colleges.
SPEAK OUT against this trend of outlawing conservative speakers. SPEAK OUT in favor for the virtues of liberal democratic values. SUPPORT the teaching of the western canon as a thing that (warts and all) has been a brilliant and virtuous success. DEMAND that political affiliation be part and parcel of this nebulous concept of 'diversity'.
Was it not Grover Norquist who wanted to "drown government in a bathtub"? Was it not Ronald Reagan who who warned of the scariness of government "help"? These attitudes, along with "greed is good" and trickle down economics all mitigated to highlight, for those in the academy and elsewhere, a yawning gap between the laudable ideals of western civilization, and an implementation that has produced great economic inequality, racial oppression, and politics practiced as a winner take all zero-sum game employed with religious zealotry. Can't blame it all on the academy.
2
History seems to always repeat itself. I do not think that Western Civilization is losing its beauty; the arts always manage to find a way to thrive. Western Civilization does, however, always finds a way to revert back to dictator-like leaders who crave power and ultimately bring the entire world down with them into crisis. Especially since most American high schools teach history, the American youth, at least, must be able to recognize this pattern and unite to form a better, more democratic government that serves as many citizens as possible. Western Civilizations possess education, and that must empower us instead of tear us down. Okay, I understand that Westerners are often mislabeled as "homophobic," "Islamaphobic," etc., but instead of allowing such labels to tear us down, we should instead think about solutions to these problems. Westerners actually ARE fighting for more equality, such as the women's march. So my point is, the West is not necessarily in decline if we have all of this education and empowerment that allows us to unite under our beliefs for a better society.
Michta's article is interesting, dramatic, to me and rings true about the basic disease of our time and culture. But I don't understand why both you and he put such a weight of blame on university intellectuals. Michta writes, "Today, in the wake of decades of group identity politics and the attendant deconstruction of our heritage through academia, the media, and popular culture, this conviction in the uniqueness of the West is only a pale shadow of what it was a mere half century ago." Isn't that giving a fringe of leftist intellectuals a ridiculous amount of influence?
I'm willing to agree that the left has not offered solutions to the kind of rot of the American ideal that Michta describes, and even that the university has made the problem worse. But I am not willing to ascribe such power to the left when the greatest challenge to the liberal ideal in the US comes from the cynical right.
Rather than using the opportunity to parse out blame, can we get back to identifying areas where intellectuals of the right and left can still talk? As you've pointed out before, David Brooks, strange times can make strange bedfellows. The old culture wars are not serving us anymore. A new alignment is necessary and coming.
I'm willing to agree that the left has not offered solutions to the kind of rot of the American ideal that Michta describes, and even that the university has made the problem worse. But I am not willing to ascribe such power to the left when the greatest challenge to the liberal ideal in the US comes from the cynical right.
Rather than using the opportunity to parse out blame, can we get back to identifying areas where intellectuals of the right and left can still talk? As you've pointed out before, David Brooks, strange times can make strange bedfellows. The old culture wars are not serving us anymore. A new alignment is necessary and coming.
1
Socrates anyone? The first question of western philosophy was: "What is virtue?" Virtue anyone? This is our western, essentially secular approach, to decision making. It's built upon the foundation of the wisdom of Prudence, which simply means that a serious effort must be made to overcome our subject inclinations of the world, as objectively as possible, with facts evidence, and excellence being our guides. Justice? Fortitude and Temperance? They are guided by our factual understanding of the entire environment of a decision, not just those we like.
Bertrand Russel thought Aristotle and Plato's virtue ethics was too practical and down to earth, to be even classified as philosophy. Very disappointing. Business? Popular culture? Art? If it's used at all, virtue ethics is subjectively defined in terms of limited subjective criteria. Little or no attempt to vision the world outside our own little boxes. Pathetic. No wonder society cannot address its looming multi-crises.
Bertrand Russel thought Aristotle and Plato's virtue ethics was too practical and down to earth, to be even classified as philosophy. Very disappointing. Business? Popular culture? Art? If it's used at all, virtue ethics is subjectively defined in terms of limited subjective criteria. Little or no attempt to vision the world outside our own little boxes. Pathetic. No wonder society cannot address its looming multi-crises.
" The faith in the West collapsed from within. It’s amazing how slow people have been to rise to defend it."
The crisis of so-called Western civilization, particularly in America, has solid reasons which explain the election of a con man as president.
For decades, the American people have been lied to over and over again.
Politicians lies were ignored during years of growth and economic prosperity for all.
At the beginning of this new century, the once prosperous middle class finds out they have joined the ranks of the poor.
America's income distribution is now similar to Latin America. For the first time in American history, a non-politician is elected president/savior of the most powerful country in the world.
Intellectual/academic concerns about Western civilization values and decline can be debated ad nausea at Ivy League elite schools.
The crisis of so-called Western civilization, particularly in America, has solid reasons which explain the election of a con man as president.
For decades, the American people have been lied to over and over again.
Politicians lies were ignored during years of growth and economic prosperity for all.
At the beginning of this new century, the once prosperous middle class finds out they have joined the ranks of the poor.
America's income distribution is now similar to Latin America. For the first time in American history, a non-politician is elected president/savior of the most powerful country in the world.
Intellectual/academic concerns about Western civilization values and decline can be debated ad nausea at Ivy League elite schools.
3
Modern societies are driven almost entirely by economics. Economics is controlled by multinational corporations. These corporations are granted human rights but they do not care at all about liberal ideas. It should be no surprise that democracy is being swept aside for the sake of profits.
A true revolutionary would strip corporations of their legal status as human beings and restore power to the people.
A true revolutionary would strip corporations of their legal status as human beings and restore power to the people.
I've been reading "What College Was, Is, and Should Be",
and find some overlap with what David Brooks is saying here.
The book chronicles the growth of the Modern University, with its increasing specialization and disinterest in undergraduate teaching, over the Traditional Liberal Arts College, with its small classes and concentration on individual development thru addressing the big questions from the Humanities, like the meaning of life. We have increasingly become a bottom-line culture, driven largely by our successes in science and technology, much to the detriment of the Humanities, where the ideals of democracy originated. Our modern system of education, having become more scientific, technical, and bottom-line oriented, has largely neglected the transfer of our traditions to our young. But this began long ago, in the early part of the 20th Century.
The problem is much older than Mr Brooks is perhaps aware of. The consequences began to be felt most clearly in the 1960s, but continue to enlarge as we go forward on this path called 'progress'. It is not that we should abandon science, technology, and bottom-line thinking, but rather that we need to balance it more with the traditional Humanities. It is the lack of balance that is bringing about all the negative results that Mr Brooks is citing here.
and find some overlap with what David Brooks is saying here.
The book chronicles the growth of the Modern University, with its increasing specialization and disinterest in undergraduate teaching, over the Traditional Liberal Arts College, with its small classes and concentration on individual development thru addressing the big questions from the Humanities, like the meaning of life. We have increasingly become a bottom-line culture, driven largely by our successes in science and technology, much to the detriment of the Humanities, where the ideals of democracy originated. Our modern system of education, having become more scientific, technical, and bottom-line oriented, has largely neglected the transfer of our traditions to our young. But this began long ago, in the early part of the 20th Century.
The problem is much older than Mr Brooks is perhaps aware of. The consequences began to be felt most clearly in the 1960s, but continue to enlarge as we go forward on this path called 'progress'. It is not that we should abandon science, technology, and bottom-line thinking, but rather that we need to balance it more with the traditional Humanities. It is the lack of balance that is bringing about all the negative results that Mr Brooks is citing here.
I am a grandmother of two teenagers. I was surprised and heartened to learn that my 13 yr. old granddaughter's history class in a Seattle public middle school was teaching classical Western civilization. For example, they started the year with the Greeks and the Peloponnesian war, then on to the impact of monasteries as centers of learning. I had four years of Latin, but no history of those early eras until much later. (Within the curriculum, I am also supportive of exposing students to the richness of other cultures as well).
1
Look, the god of western civilization has got us here. It's bad enough having an autocratic moron as president, but what's so intolerable is that he's also a whining infant. Militaristic police force, missiles as Viagra, fear as foreplay and hatred as orgasm, administrative and Congressional proof that cognitive function is not required for groveling, and a weird cloning of "Wall Street" and "The Money Pit" being gleefully, publicly and arrogantly played out by the Trump family and (scarily so) Trump family wannabees. So Mr. Brooks, do away with facile adulation of "civilization" and let's start again. I mean, "Groundhog Day" after thousands and thousands of years really stinks.
3
I teach at a college where many of my colleagues in the history department use Zinn's A People's History of the U.S. as the the only textbook in a Intro to U.S. History course. I perfectly understand this book being used as a supplemental text; but the only book? That right there pretty much sums up Brooks' argument.
12
Hmm... seeing as how Trump and Marine Le Pen ARE products of "Western Civilization" your thesis does not have a leg to stand on. "Western Civilization" is not entirely progressive, while science has progressed politics are still stuck in 1916, when conservative nationalism destroyed Europe for the first time.
I suppose it was the liberals the brought Adolf Hitler to power? Who brought so-called President Trump into power? Who want to throw vast sums of resources into the massive sink-hole called the US military-industrial-intelligence complex?
No Mr Brooks, it is the conservative ideology that has rotten to the core and it is the conservatives who are destroying civilization.
As far as free speech, it is not absolute but iIf free speech allows Nazis to march in Skokie then pedophilia-pushing Milo Yiannopoulos and White supremacist Richard Spencer "deserve" to speak.
Freedom of speech is the ultimate in White privilege, just try being a brown-skinned minority and push fringe ideas like those two White idiots do and see if the Man lets you get away with it. if a minority tries to challenge the conservative power structure they will get the dogs, fire hoses and tear gas turned on them.
No Mr Brooks, the original error was that if the Durants were writing about liberalism it should have called the "History of Civilization". "Western Civilization" is the product of conservative nationalists who would rather destroy civilization than allow new ideas enter their echo chamber.
I suppose it was the liberals the brought Adolf Hitler to power? Who brought so-called President Trump into power? Who want to throw vast sums of resources into the massive sink-hole called the US military-industrial-intelligence complex?
No Mr Brooks, it is the conservative ideology that has rotten to the core and it is the conservatives who are destroying civilization.
As far as free speech, it is not absolute but iIf free speech allows Nazis to march in Skokie then pedophilia-pushing Milo Yiannopoulos and White supremacist Richard Spencer "deserve" to speak.
Freedom of speech is the ultimate in White privilege, just try being a brown-skinned minority and push fringe ideas like those two White idiots do and see if the Man lets you get away with it. if a minority tries to challenge the conservative power structure they will get the dogs, fire hoses and tear gas turned on them.
No Mr Brooks, the original error was that if the Durants were writing about liberalism it should have called the "History of Civilization". "Western Civilization" is the product of conservative nationalists who would rather destroy civilization than allow new ideas enter their echo chamber.
5
Doomsayers have been predicting the decline of western civilization for a long time--from Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West to Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence. They tend to be conservatives, who revere the past and want to preserve its best qualities. They also tend to be structuralists, who view the movement and direction of history as shaped by large, often intangible forces. They downplay the contributions of individuals, such as Jesus, Mohammed, Shakespeare, Newton, Madison, Hamilton, Marx, and Mill in countering and re-directing these large forces.
Some commentators, not necessarily conservative, have limited perspectives.
They forget that the mood of the 1930s was pessimistic, even before the menace of fascism became widely apparent.
One would hope that Mr. Brooks's pessimism will pass and he will appreciate again the vitality of western civilization.
Some commentators, not necessarily conservative, have limited perspectives.
They forget that the mood of the 1930s was pessimistic, even before the menace of fascism became widely apparent.
One would hope that Mr. Brooks's pessimism will pass and he will appreciate again the vitality of western civilization.
4
Had Mr. Brooks seen Will Durant appearing in a photograph alongside a democratic socialist, Albert Einstein, he may well have left him out of this piece.
Durant said that "history..is not merely the crimes & folly of mankind..but it is also the saving sanity of the average family, the labor & love of men & women bearing the stream of life over a thousand obstacles.."
Will & Ariel Durant championed labor, women's suffrage & civil rights early on. Ariel, the love of his life & co-writer described their relationship best. How long will you love this man? "Til the end."
Durant said that "history..is not merely the crimes & folly of mankind..but it is also the saving sanity of the average family, the labor & love of men & women bearing the stream of life over a thousand obstacles.."
Will & Ariel Durant championed labor, women's suffrage & civil rights early on. Ariel, the love of his life & co-writer described their relationship best. How long will you love this man? "Til the end."
3
Laughable to hear a conservative's description of liberal ideas. Only a closet hater of the "other", a/k/a a "conservative", is able to assert that the spewing of destructive hate filled speech that claims all people are not created equal is what the drafters of the 1st Amd. had in mind. False equivalencies must be a gene in the conservative's makeup. Speaking of love is not the same as speaking of hate, unless you dig doublespeak.
1
An excellent article, but what the author misses is that this is no longer the democracy of the 1950s. Bankers and corporate interests control the appointments of the senior members who run all the government departments that can affect their interests; billionaires have the unlimited right to donate and control elections of politicians; corporate executives cream off much of the increase in the annual GDP for themselves in shy-high pay, leaving the income of the average citizens stagnating. People feel powerless.
The Western ideals have been subverted by concentration of money power. No one has said it better than Louis Brandeis: "We can have concentration of wealth in the hands of a few or we can have democracy. We cannot have both". We now have extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.
We need better education in our universities about how the 1% got control.(They used conscious strategies.) Then we can see how control can be taken back. The wealthy did have similar control in the Gilded Age. Control was wrested from them and the wealth gap decreased from 1933 until the Reagan years when it started its upward climb again.
It can be done!
The Western ideals have been subverted by concentration of money power. No one has said it better than Louis Brandeis: "We can have concentration of wealth in the hands of a few or we can have democracy. We cannot have both". We now have extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.
We need better education in our universities about how the 1% got control.(They used conscious strategies.) Then we can see how control can be taken back. The wealthy did have similar control in the Gilded Age. Control was wrested from them and the wealth gap decreased from 1933 until the Reagan years when it started its upward climb again.
It can be done!
6
It has come to my attention that since the 1960's every one wants to be a white guy. Women want to be white guys and (insert your favorite ethnic group here) want to be white guys and on and on. They don't want to white guys culturally. They just have the money. Everyone wants to be the boss too. Everyone wants to run the place, be the big honcho and rule the roost. Everyone wants everything, both a great career and a great home. Most are happier this way, more achieving this every day.
But nobody wants to go back to the old elitist paternalistic ways of white guy rule. Western civilization is the history of oppression.
But nobody wants to go back to the old elitist paternalistic ways of white guy rule. Western civilization is the history of oppression.
Although I agree with David's conclusions about the loss of faith in Western Civilization, I find his blame for this collapse on universities and liberal professors to be tired and trite - and thoroughly debunked by writers like Brad Gregory and Alastair McIntyre. No, the 1960s were not created in classrooms by communist professors Mr. Archie Bunker. The counter cultural movement simply identified the faith in the progressive vision of Western Civilization as already dead. You blame the messenger David. You must dig deeper, think harder, or you will cause more harm than good with your writing.
"The Crisis of Western Civ"?
So there's only ONE "Western Civ," Mr Brooks? I don't think that's what they taught you in the Western Civ sequence and follow-up courses at U Chicago -- nothing that simplistic or reductive!
"Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative. They stopped teaching it..."?
Isn't contemporary historians' idea really that all "Civs" -- and Western Civ in particular since that's what you're talking about -- are more nuanced and complex -- there are many strands and variations. There's no once-size-fits-all "narrative."
And universities certainly HAVE NOT "stopped teaching" it. Look at the size and course offerings in many Classics Depts, History Depts, and Literature Depts. Your assertion is a "faux fact"!
What IS valid is that Chicago and a few other places (St Johns, Annapolis) were always unusual in the centrality of their "core" Western Civ sequences (which you yourself took, of course). Few other places taught "Western Civ" per se. But they did / and do teach course in Classics, literature, drama, history, and archaeology that study all the various aspects of Wester Civ -- and those of other civs too (remember them?)
So there's really no trend here--just you taking your own college experience and misleadingly using it as the 'norm' and a basis for criticizing other approaches, teaching he very same subject matter--and more too!
So there's only ONE "Western Civ," Mr Brooks? I don't think that's what they taught you in the Western Civ sequence and follow-up courses at U Chicago -- nothing that simplistic or reductive!
"Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative. They stopped teaching it..."?
Isn't contemporary historians' idea really that all "Civs" -- and Western Civ in particular since that's what you're talking about -- are more nuanced and complex -- there are many strands and variations. There's no once-size-fits-all "narrative."
And universities certainly HAVE NOT "stopped teaching" it. Look at the size and course offerings in many Classics Depts, History Depts, and Literature Depts. Your assertion is a "faux fact"!
What IS valid is that Chicago and a few other places (St Johns, Annapolis) were always unusual in the centrality of their "core" Western Civ sequences (which you yourself took, of course). Few other places taught "Western Civ" per se. But they did / and do teach course in Classics, literature, drama, history, and archaeology that study all the various aspects of Wester Civ -- and those of other civs too (remember them?)
So there's really no trend here--just you taking your own college experience and misleadingly using it as the 'norm' and a basis for criticizing other approaches, teaching he very same subject matter--and more too!
3
So now the "The Crisis of Western Civilization" is the fault of university professors? As if the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation don't exist. Or Creationism was never pushed as "science". Or, at least as far back as Ronald Reagan's cynical "I'm from the government and I'm here to help", the Republicans haven't intentionally undermined confidence in government. Or the decades long attack on public school education. Or the elder Bush's racist 1988 Willie Horton campaign ploy and baby Bush's homophobic 2004 campaign. The list goes on and on and on. Yet David Brooks claims the retreat from liberal values was caused by university professors doing needed corrections to the skewed narrative we learned in the fifties and sixties. I don't think so. Andrew Jackson's Trail of Tears is historical fact. The silly stories I learned about Thanksgiving in elementary school in the 1950's weren't. A relatively small percentage of overzealous left-wing young people, in an environment where the adults will encourage them to think critically about their actions, are not equivalent to the totally cynical toleration by the mainstream Republican establishment of the true "thugs" among Trump supporters. David Brook's analysis is just an extension of another cynical ploy of Conservatives -- no matter what the real causes of a problem are (usually very complex), simply blame it on the liberals.
2
Mr. Brooks, how come you failed to mention the "dark side" of Western civilization, the one that had been created exclusively by "white" nations and their leaders, in particular the more then seventy million of killing and murder: the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Thirty Year war, the One-Hundred Year War, Cromwell, the French Revolution, Colonial Empires and the Slave Trade, World War One, Marxism and the Bolshevik Revolution, World War Two, Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, the atom bomb, plus, since 1965, alone in the United States, 60 million abortions. "Civilization"? Except for Stalin's dictatorship, most of continuous blood-letting was caused nations claiming to be Christian, some of which democracies, others totalitarian, while professing that all humans were the children of God and equally loved by Him and Jesus. One is tempted to conclude that wars were not man's invention but God's, who - according to Thomas Aquinas - had granted man "Free Will". Mr. Brooks also forgot to mention, not only that many of these wars had been fought "in the name of God", and that the most dehumanizing one, the Eastern Front war, was fought by Hitler's Nazi troops "to save Western civilizzation".
1
"All I can say is, if you think that was reactionary and oppressive, wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it."
I recently had a conversation w/an ardent Trump opponent. She said she kind of hopes to wake up hearing he was shot. When I said "you can't really mean that" She nodded that she did. When I said that was a horrible thing for our country and democratic system she asked "why?". I was flabbergast. My buddy is a highly educated and valued teacher in our community. In 2008 Sarah Palin was hanged in effigy in West LA and lots of people thought it was a hoot (not the Secret Service, though). Similarly, rightists compared the Obamas to monkeys and who knows how many vicious and suspicious activities were investigated by the Feds to protect the Obamas. Now, some idiots on the U. of Alaska campus (backed up by that administration) have hung a mural showing the beheading of Trump, blood dripping from the stub of his neck.
So Brooks is right: something terrible is happening to our appreciation of our republic. Franklin spoke wisdom when he said we have "a republic if we can keep it."
Trump is crude and may end up being a bad president. We've had crude and bad presidents before. But he is no Putin, no mass murderer and he will leave office if beaten four years hence or after eight years. He's no president for life.
We have an exceptional system and weathered things that have destroyed other societies but the joy of thuggery is a bad tiding.
I recently had a conversation w/an ardent Trump opponent. She said she kind of hopes to wake up hearing he was shot. When I said "you can't really mean that" She nodded that she did. When I said that was a horrible thing for our country and democratic system she asked "why?". I was flabbergast. My buddy is a highly educated and valued teacher in our community. In 2008 Sarah Palin was hanged in effigy in West LA and lots of people thought it was a hoot (not the Secret Service, though). Similarly, rightists compared the Obamas to monkeys and who knows how many vicious and suspicious activities were investigated by the Feds to protect the Obamas. Now, some idiots on the U. of Alaska campus (backed up by that administration) have hung a mural showing the beheading of Trump, blood dripping from the stub of his neck.
So Brooks is right: something terrible is happening to our appreciation of our republic. Franklin spoke wisdom when he said we have "a republic if we can keep it."
Trump is crude and may end up being a bad president. We've had crude and bad presidents before. But he is no Putin, no mass murderer and he will leave office if beaten four years hence or after eight years. He's no president for life.
We have an exceptional system and weathered things that have destroyed other societies but the joy of thuggery is a bad tiding.
2
It is true that the gifts of Western Civilization include such horrors as small pox blankets. But it is also true that Western Civilizations' gifts include the benefits of modern science, art, economics, and yes, democracy. Why do our young people doubt the importance of democracy? They don't know history. They aren't taught history. In 12 years of schooling, most kids receive one actual history class, and that's high school American history. Over the years they learn some of the horrors of our history: the Trail of Tears, the sacrifices of MLK, the holocaust, and Hiroshima through Reading assignments, but there is no ordered, consistent history education. Our younger generations are not stupid, they are uneducated in their own history and government. "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." -Thomas Jefferson
3
Huzzah once again for David Brooks and his commentaries. We would be much worse off than we are without people like Brooks.
In the present chaos, there is hope. Hope at least that "property rights" will be questioned. In the history of our country, over and over, there were arguments over whether those without property should be allowed to vote, and the indigenous people were slaughtered and exiled because they did not have the same relationship to land that the Europeans were accustomed to. We need, rather, to recognize once more the importance of the commons.
"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
The prevailing wind hasn't "ceased to blow"; it has been replaced by different winds, just as the Durants' fairy tale has been replaced by other stories. Douthat wants us to attend church even if we don't believe. Brooks wants us to re-gild the Legend of Free Western Civilization. Why is the Opinion page becoming the Unthinking Nostalgia page?
David Brooks has built yet another house on sand. (a)The Durrant's work is not considered serious in universities and graduate schools of history because it isn't. It's best-seller pop-culture. It's an easy read for an armchair historian such as Mr. Brooks or myself. (b) Universities never "stopped teaching" western civilization, unless he is talking about the popular high school text by Howard Zinn. Even a Freshman at Reed College (for example) is thoroughly soaked in Humanities of all viewpoints and descriptions. At a graduate level students do research. Content is not spoon-fed to students as Mr. Brooks implies. Humanities teach critical thinking. He is what he claims to decry, an anti-intellectual populist peddler of best-selling hocum. Mr. Brooks is a hypocrite who panders to his readers. He relies on our ignorance too much. I look forward to his analysis of Reader's Digest.
Still plenty of Western Civ out there. Including a critique of the historical misdeeds of the West in education isn't a rejection of it, but rather the most "Western" of exercises. The 90% of voting Republicans that voted for Trump didn't do so because they reject the Western canon, or because they didn't read enough Plato and Hume in school. Trump is merely the chickens coming home to roost for American conservatism that has warped itself into a philosophy at odds with the Western values of empiricism, liberalism, and humanism. Far more pernicious in limiting Western Civ curricula in higher ed is the bipartisan push towards STEM to meet the needs of our new tech-based economy. While perhaps necessary, it precludes deep dives into the Humanities for growing numbers of students as currently structured.
I don't like what's happening on college campuses with trying to shut down people from speaking. But at the same time, let's make sure that honest speakers are chosen to speak, and not provocateurs. Heather MacDonald's book is entitled, "The War on Cops." Really?
Common political and social good sense is best exercised when it moves toward the mean. Accordingly, public decision makers with center left and center right views, coming together in a progressive vision have always been the best hope for moving toward a better society. However, our primary and secondary schools currently do a mediocre job at teaching American history and providing students with the understanding of historical events in the context of the development of western civilization. Yes, unfortunately President Trump, rather than leading as the example of a broadly educated statesman, shows little knowledge of the meaning of historical events. How sad. While Mr. Trump ostensibly defends support of the values of Western civilization, his obvious lack of knowledge of the true significance of historical events, is and will continue to impede his ability to govern. How sad, President Trump. I suspect that very few intelligent parents will hold the President up as a role model for their children.
Will and Ariel Durant's series, "The Story of Civilization", is not widely cited by historians. Part of its popularity is that it looks good on a bookshelf, and was available quite cheaply from the Book-of-the-Month Club. But here are some quotes:
Will Durant, "The Story of Civilization, Vol 1. Our Oriental Heritage", p. 67.
"At every step the history of civilization teaches us how slight and superficial a structure civilization is, and how precariously it is poised upon the apex of a never-extinct volcano of poor and oppressed barbarism, superstition and ignorance. Modernity is a cap superimposed upon the Middle Ages, which always remain."
We are discovering that "barbarism, superstition and ignorance" isn't all that far from the surface.
And from "The Life of Greece", p 297:
"... history has remembered the geniuses of Greece and has ignored her fools (except Nicias); even our age may seem great when most of us are forgotten."
It may be quite a while before we can forget the fools that we have put in charge of our government.
Will Durant, "The Story of Civilization, Vol 1. Our Oriental Heritage", p. 67.
"At every step the history of civilization teaches us how slight and superficial a structure civilization is, and how precariously it is poised upon the apex of a never-extinct volcano of poor and oppressed barbarism, superstition and ignorance. Modernity is a cap superimposed upon the Middle Ages, which always remain."
We are discovering that "barbarism, superstition and ignorance" isn't all that far from the surface.
And from "The Life of Greece", p 297:
"... history has remembered the geniuses of Greece and has ignored her fools (except Nicias); even our age may seem great when most of us are forgotten."
It may be quite a while before we can forget the fools that we have put in charge of our government.
1
David Brooks's analysis of the current "crisis" rests on the assumption that Western civilization evolved toward liberal democracy as some sort of inexorable process propelled mainly by great Western thinkers from Socrates to Rousseau and beyond. A more complete narrative would also chart this development as fueled by revolutions arising out of many causes, including a discredited ruling class, religious oppression, and the widespread sense of economic and political oppression. Whether it was England's Glorious Revolution, the French and American revolutions, the American Civil War, the Young Turk revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, or the Iranian Revolution, these events have sparked enormous change with long-lasting consequences, some bad, some good. Many have been accompanied by the rise of "illiberals" and "strong men." Others have led to the emergence of "liberal democrats" spurred to rinvigorate humanistic ideals. Both are happening right now: in the wake of Trump's election, Americans are beginning to re-discover and articulate the values Brooks cites as endangered hallmarks of Western Civilization. It has taken a "revolution" to bring this about.
1
Like all civilizations, western civilization is evolutionary. It is not static and reacts to world events of a political, economic, cultural and military nature. That being said, if we are looking for a "flaw" that speaks to the demise of western ideals we should look no further than to the rise of "rapacious capitalism". That is, a form of capitalism that seeks to concentrate the wealth of peoples and nations in ever fewer hands. Government's task is the mission of protecting its citizens from outside and inside threats and that includes economic threats from within; Court decisions like Citizen's United that give corporations more voting power than citizens; mergers that reduce competition; political parties that work to restrict voting rights; constant wars that primarily benefit industrial producers and stockholders; collapse of an educational system given over to "Big Bucks testing". These events evoke a feeling of loss of control over their lives and loss of faith in the government institutions meant to protect them. Is it any wonder that this also brings about loss of faith in the very ideals underlying western civilization...equality, liberty, fraternity, democracy? Money...the root of all evil...and perhaps, the destroyer of western civilization.
Mr. Brooks theorizes that university classrooms have been polluted by institutionalized liberalism thus diluting the meaning of Western Civilization. Given the history of our schools teaching this topic as a triumphant rise of white, European conquest, as well as, the arts and humanities, (as written by the authors of textbooks approved for distribution by school boards), the responsibility for uncovering and clarifying ACTUAL history has fallen on the shoulders of enlightened professors in higher education.
In the world of ultra-conservatism, "freedom" and the notions "free" market capitalism, there is the common thread of unfettered individualism. Within that model, there are at least two types of proponents: those who believe in self-policing as individuals and in the industries of capitalism; and, those who intend to corrupt the principles of decency and humanity to suit their own needs for greed. Alan Greenspan, one of the true believers in the former, testified before congressional investigation committees looking into the causes of The Great Recession of 2008, that he was shocked that the unfettered capitalists had not policed themselves. What Greenspan unleashed, since the second half of the Reagan years, through his endless efforts to deregulate, has been a nonstop assault on working American families in the belief that Wall Street's success would float all boats on Main Street.
Today, self-serving autocrats at the helm. The cliff's edge is at our feet.
In the world of ultra-conservatism, "freedom" and the notions "free" market capitalism, there is the common thread of unfettered individualism. Within that model, there are at least two types of proponents: those who believe in self-policing as individuals and in the industries of capitalism; and, those who intend to corrupt the principles of decency and humanity to suit their own needs for greed. Alan Greenspan, one of the true believers in the former, testified before congressional investigation committees looking into the causes of The Great Recession of 2008, that he was shocked that the unfettered capitalists had not policed themselves. What Greenspan unleashed, since the second half of the Reagan years, through his endless efforts to deregulate, has been a nonstop assault on working American families in the belief that Wall Street's success would float all boats on Main Street.
Today, self-serving autocrats at the helm. The cliff's edge is at our feet.
David Brooks columns are always worth reading. But he always leaves us short of recommending action. In many cases it is because of his ties to the present day extreme Republican Party.
Joni MItchell stated it concisely: "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."
Once gone, it will be tremendously difficult to renew democracy and the renewal effort will require years of struggle and suffering.
I fear the Putin/Bannon/Kushner/Trump team will launch a fake terrorist attack, which they will try to use to support removing many of our rights and freedoms. The end of American democracy may be much closer than we think.
Once gone, it will be tremendously difficult to renew democracy and the renewal effort will require years of struggle and suffering.
I fear the Putin/Bannon/Kushner/Trump team will launch a fake terrorist attack, which they will try to use to support removing many of our rights and freedoms. The end of American democracy may be much closer than we think.
Newsflash: deregulation, desupervision, decriminalization. Offshoring, outsourcing, revolving door. Collapse, QE. The entire power structure is in on it. What else would we expect?
isn't it fair to say that western civilization has been oppressive and racist (mostly in a world where such behavior was commonplace) however it has also managed to progress to a point where it is now recognized and addressed? People (and civilizations) grow over time. it is a crime to pretend that the western world wasn't built with the help of oppression and racism, but it is also a crime to not recognize the improvement and awareness that a self correcting system displays. As for america losing its center, it is more due to cynical politics, and misinformation from fox news and the internet destroying a sense of common factual agreement on what is really happening. I don't believe that the center was lost because the narrative of history classes in college admits to the west's flaws. it doesn't seem to be college grqduates who have lost sight of the center.
3
It's a gross over generalization that panders to certain critics to allege universities teach western civilization is wholly oppressive. That's just entirely false. All societies are oppressive. That's certainly taught because it's practically a tautology. But that doesn't make it all bad. You can say society is oppressive, but look at these wonderful things. The two don't exclude each other.
Furthermore, claiming that property rights are a cornerstone of western civilization? Seriously? What a cute way to discredit all those who have dissented with that view.
Furthermore, claiming that property rights are a cornerstone of western civilization? Seriously? What a cute way to discredit all those who have dissented with that view.
Western Civ is in decline because, at some point in our history it ceased to shape our actions.
As Hannah Arendt has instructed: the loss of tradition is not a loss of the past. The loss of tradition is not the end of tradition.
Now that we are experiencing the full implications of tradition’s loss, the opportunity exists to build a new tradition appropriate for the world now that the world is the planet.
As Hannah Arendt has instructed: the loss of tradition is not a loss of the past. The loss of tradition is not the end of tradition.
Now that we are experiencing the full implications of tradition’s loss, the opportunity exists to build a new tradition appropriate for the world now that the world is the planet.
To paraphrase Mr. Brooks:
Donald Trump violated the norms of political discourse.
And nobody much cared or noticed.
I know lots of people who cared (and still care) about trump's flouting of norms.
Mr. Brooks -- the people who overlook trump's disrespect of norms are YOUR PARTY.
Republicans allowed trump to do this; for whom "winning" is far more important than conserving our norms and traditions.
Your party Mr. Brooks, is the only group that could attenuate trump. Your party is sending us to an authoritatian future.
Donald Trump violated the norms of political discourse.
And nobody much cared or noticed.
I know lots of people who cared (and still care) about trump's flouting of norms.
Mr. Brooks -- the people who overlook trump's disrespect of norms are YOUR PARTY.
Republicans allowed trump to do this; for whom "winning" is far more important than conserving our norms and traditions.
Your party Mr. Brooks, is the only group that could attenuate trump. Your party is sending us to an authoritatian future.
5
How convenient for Brooks to ignore the Conservative movement's 40-year assault on Americans' confidence in their institutions of self-government. If liberalism has been "docile" in defense of itself, maybe it is because "liberalism" has become a term of contempt on the right.
And why is it, when students protest those who promote hate and deceit for profit, the students are the ones that are called illiberal? Why are the values of liberalism in retreat? Because liberal notions--such as "freedom of speech"--are being used by the powerful to justify an illiberal status quo.
And why is it, when students protest those who promote hate and deceit for profit, the students are the ones that are called illiberal? Why are the values of liberalism in retreat? Because liberal notions--such as "freedom of speech"--are being used by the powerful to justify an illiberal status quo.
5
When considering the weakening heartbeat of democracies, please give serious thought to worsening economic inequality and the sustained growth of oligarchies over the last 30 to 40 years. Democratic ideals are founded on the notion that all lives are worthy, and that while as individuals we respect one another's uniqueness, we also stand together for a larger common good. If we can't see that the life we share is stronger and richer when we all thrive as individuals, then it's easy to arrive at the sad conclusion that this system is designed and rigged to benefit the wealthy above all others; and, if that's the case, why bother at all? Politics is just a sham and the public sphere is a fiction.
After a brief period of soul-searching, David "this is why we can't have nice things" Brooks returns to form. Trump came about because of a post-truth, hypocritical Republican Party, for which Brooks is the most avuncular, but perhaps not the most intellectually honest, enabler.
6
I can remember my grandparents and parents bemoaning that this world is going to hell in a hand-basket. They had been through two world wars and the great depression. In my lifetime, GW Bush handed us the worst economic disaster since that depression and we had the worst terrorist attack our country has ever seen within our homeland and yet we survive. Are we heading toward a dystopian society? Or, as in the past, will the pendulum will swing back? The question is how much damage will be done and will we be able to recover?
5
I don't believe that the lack of knowledge of western civilization started due to the lack of support in universities and colleges. People turned to technology as a focus especially with the decline in overall income in the working class. Economic pressures turned Europe and America, both directly and indirectly, from understanding their liberal past. Directly because they had to spend more energy just keeping up economically and indirectly because economic problems tend to increase people's tendency to put themselves first ahead of those that they view as competitors.
2
Let's take a break from looking at all the dysfunction, or at least point a light on where solutions are being born. I just don't see a point to this piece.
2
I did not read the study in the Journal of Democracy asking young Americans if it's absolutely important to live in a democratic country today. However, is it possible the students/respondents misunderstood the question? They may have thought it asked about living in a Democratic country, and that's why the number is only 57% yes.
The decline of civilization in the US has been preceded by several decades of onslaught by the political right promoting intentional division through disinformation. Funded by a small group of very wealthy individuals, the Limbaugh/Fox News ilk has duped the critical mass needed to gain their ends.
These ends seem to be the defunding of public education, the denial of any science contrary to their sources of income, a health care system affordable only to themselves, the continuance of "pay for play" legislation, and a tax system which leaves them untouched.
The lack of critical thinking by voters and their easy manipulation through the use of "hot button" issues boggles the mind.
These ends seem to be the defunding of public education, the denial of any science contrary to their sources of income, a health care system affordable only to themselves, the continuance of "pay for play" legislation, and a tax system which leaves them untouched.
The lack of critical thinking by voters and their easy manipulation through the use of "hot button" issues boggles the mind.
6
I'll quote your best sentence.
"More and more governments, including the Trump administration, begin to look like premodern mafia states, run by family-based commercial clans."
So, you do get it.
I thought so.
"More and more governments, including the Trump administration, begin to look like premodern mafia states, run by family-based commercial clans."
So, you do get it.
I thought so.
4
Decline of any civilization starts with wealth inequality.
2
If we look back through history (modern and ancient), we can see that many if not most civilizations or country-states arose, flourished and ultimately failed and disappeared.
Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Egypt, Rome, The Third Reich, The Soviet Union etc. Of course this didn't happen suddenly, but over time. Sometimes centuries and sometimes decades
Is it possible that we, (Western Civilization), are in that declining state at this moment?
I wonder if in a thousand years, Social Scientists will study and try to ascertain what went wrong. Power, Greed, Selfishness and dismissal of working classes, Propaganda, Environmental destruction or a combination of all?
Many say that they have faith that the wrongs will be corrected, however I don't believe in faith.
Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Egypt, Rome, The Third Reich, The Soviet Union etc. Of course this didn't happen suddenly, but over time. Sometimes centuries and sometimes decades
Is it possible that we, (Western Civilization), are in that declining state at this moment?
I wonder if in a thousand years, Social Scientists will study and try to ascertain what went wrong. Power, Greed, Selfishness and dismissal of working classes, Propaganda, Environmental destruction or a combination of all?
Many say that they have faith that the wrongs will be corrected, however I don't believe in faith.
I find it pretty comical that Mr. Brooks could write this after years of writing negatively about faith, family, and flag. His tongue must have been firmly in his cheek.
2
Oh, it is all so desperately and nostalgically postmodern...
1
All narratives, be they "Western Civ" or any other, are intrinsically reductive and therefore inherently suspect. This essay could have been written in 1935, with the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, or in 1918, with the collapse of the monarchies, or in Kansas in 1859, with the impending collapse of the US as it was then understood, or during any time of widespread, dynamic social change. This is not to say that horrors do not await many of us. But the analytical framework of this column is of no use in understanding or responding to them.
Despite the protestations of the western media about the allegedly harmful effects of a “Hindu nationalist” government ruling the world’s largest democracy, India remains the greatest example of a non-western nation that has incorporated the best parts of western civilization – including liberal democracy, its free press, its legal and judicial system, its laws of trade and commerce, its banking and financial systems – while maintaining its distinctly eastern philosophy and culture. So take heart Mr. Brooks, east is east and the west is west, but with apologies to Rudyard Kipling, the twain has met rather successfully in India.
1
I was just now feeling heartened by the dysfunction of the Trumps, the stubborn permanence of Obamacare, Angela Merkel, the apparent upcoming failure of tax reform ... and now you have pulled the rug out with the profoundly disheartening truth. Is the Arab Spring always going to fail? Is there ever to be a City on the Hill, broader, more inclusive than even the Durants envisioned? Is there such a thing as Civilization.
The biggest threat to all of us is climate change caused by unfettered corporate greed. The wealthiest men on the planet have amassed more money than they could spend in ten lifetimes and yet they still crave more. Capitalism is swallowing democracy alive and constant growth is unsustainable for the planet.
1
Great piece and central concept. However, it ignores one fo the fundamental causes of that collapse....economics. No stool can stand with only two legs. The prospect that IF you held to those values THEN you could have your share of the American dream has collapsed in the 21st century gilded age. America has become a corporatocracy in a world dominated by an economic oligarchy. Trump and Putin are partners in that mafia with Microsoft, Alibaba, Amazon, EXXON, GE, JP Morgan Chase, TATA, etc.
As a professor I can tell you that many (but not all) Americans appear to have abandoned their value of education and learning as a means to advance both economically and intellectually. They now trust social media to inform them and guide their values. Much of that is because the corproatocracy has abandoned funding of public education. If Americans want a to attend a public university, they must agree to a lifetime of unforgiving debt. No wonder?...as usual Dave, it's about the money.
As a professor I can tell you that many (but not all) Americans appear to have abandoned their value of education and learning as a means to advance both economically and intellectually. They now trust social media to inform them and guide their values. Much of that is because the corproatocracy has abandoned funding of public education. If Americans want a to attend a public university, they must agree to a lifetime of unforgiving debt. No wonder?...as usual Dave, it's about the money.
6
Donald Trump is no more a "strongman" than the Man in the Moon. He's nothing but a phony Carny Barker. He'll take his common man followers to the cleaners. He was going to drain the swamp, by removing the ban on lobbyists serving in the administration he's made the swamp almost bottomless. He accused Goldman Sacks of being in a conspiracy with Hillary; so who ends up running the economy, three Goldman Sacks billionaires.
So we should blame the world's troubles on campus liberals who don't take a hard line on promoting Western Civilization? I'm going to be laughing all day after reading that.
Western liberal democracies have routinely failed to live up to their charters to protect the rights and interests of all their citizens. Worse, they selectively acquiesce to, support, and at times even send soldiers to die for murderous dictatorships around the world in the name of dubious agendas. Vast swaths of constituents feel cheated, ignored, and abandoned. Trump and Brexit didn't happen because of Russian meddling and fake news - they were made possible by decades of neglect by a smug elite, and by all accounts there is more to come after several European elections are over.
Critics of Western Civ have been prescient to see through the lies our "liberal" regimes have used to justify themselves. "The Land of the Free and the Brave"? Freedom for whom? Freedom to do what?
With each new victory for reactionaries, Western "liberal democracies" are lowering the mask and revealing their true brutal characters.
Trump is the ideal face for that character - self-serving, uninformed, mendacious, blustering yet craven, always smirking or scowling. He is our Emperor Nero.
Western liberal democracies have routinely failed to live up to their charters to protect the rights and interests of all their citizens. Worse, they selectively acquiesce to, support, and at times even send soldiers to die for murderous dictatorships around the world in the name of dubious agendas. Vast swaths of constituents feel cheated, ignored, and abandoned. Trump and Brexit didn't happen because of Russian meddling and fake news - they were made possible by decades of neglect by a smug elite, and by all accounts there is more to come after several European elections are over.
Critics of Western Civ have been prescient to see through the lies our "liberal" regimes have used to justify themselves. "The Land of the Free and the Brave"? Freedom for whom? Freedom to do what?
With each new victory for reactionaries, Western "liberal democracies" are lowering the mask and revealing their true brutal characters.
Trump is the ideal face for that character - self-serving, uninformed, mendacious, blustering yet craven, always smirking or scowling. He is our Emperor Nero.
3
"For what is this rough beast, it's hour come at last, slouching toward Bethlehem to be born?"
While I don't agree with some of Brooks' points, I do share his central point that the post-modern perspective skews towards underscoring the shortcomings and hypocrisies of Western civilization while undervaluing its achievements. It's as if one made a portrait from a perspective below the subject's nose.
Certainly slavery--to take one obvious and egregious example--was an abomination and a flagrant contradiction to the ideal that all people are created equal, but it was also a common, traditional institution in Africa and other parts of the non-Western world. It was Enlightenment moralists who first led the way in de-legitimizing this millennia old practice.
Certainly slavery--to take one obvious and egregious example--was an abomination and a flagrant contradiction to the ideal that all people are created equal, but it was also a common, traditional institution in Africa and other parts of the non-Western world. It was Enlightenment moralists who first led the way in de-legitimizing this millennia old practice.
19
Western liberalism has been shafted by Republican conspiracies on every front
for the past 40 years. "...and it turned out many people didn't notice or didn't care."
for the past 40 years. "...and it turned out many people didn't notice or didn't care."
1
To call NATO, the world's largest, most powerful and most aggressive military pact which bombed a European capital, Belgrade, killing scores of innocent civilians, which destroyed a stable and relatively prosperous country under the harsh rule of a dictator, Libya, turning it into a failed-state hell overrun by terrorists, warlords and desperate refugees, a military pact which is participating in a pointless and endless war in distant Afghanistan, and which, most frighteningly, broke its promise and has advanced unopposed against the borders of and provokes the world's second largest nuclear country which, like us, has the power to extinguish human life on the planet hundreds of times over "a great liberal institution of modern Europe" is not only a fact-defying stretch, it is also the main reason why "Western civ" is reaching the end of its historical cycle, entangled in its own hypocrisy.
Are you really holding up Obama as an example of "the good old days?" He was the most divisive president in our history, and he ran around the world for eight years apologizing on behalf of our country.
3
"Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative. They stopped teaching it,"
Balderdash.
When your essay begins with a false assumption, what's the point of continuing to read it? When the author continues to trade in false assumption, why is he still being published? I know the newspaper likes eyes on their columns, but how can DB continue to be taken to the woodshed every time he writes false narratives?
Balderdash.
When your essay begins with a false assumption, what's the point of continuing to read it? When the author continues to trade in false assumption, why is he still being published? I know the newspaper likes eyes on their columns, but how can DB continue to be taken to the woodshed every time he writes false narratives?
4
It's always risky to make dramatic, sweeping declarations. This one is no exception.
If one steps back and takes in all of human history, it's clear there have been various periods in time when monarchs and other dictators held sway. There have been other periods of enlightenment when democratically elected leaders were setting the world's course.
By the author's reasoning, Western civilization should have ended when Hitler, Stalin, Tojo and Mussolini were in power for years. Collectively, they ruled more people and land mass than today's tyrants.
As for the influence of college profs, I can tell you from direct experience that today's students are far more influenced by social media than what any middle-aged person has to say. This is not 1965.
If one steps back and takes in all of human history, it's clear there have been various periods in time when monarchs and other dictators held sway. There have been other periods of enlightenment when democratically elected leaders were setting the world's course.
By the author's reasoning, Western civilization should have ended when Hitler, Stalin, Tojo and Mussolini were in power for years. Collectively, they ruled more people and land mass than today's tyrants.
As for the influence of college profs, I can tell you from direct experience that today's students are far more influenced by social media than what any middle-aged person has to say. This is not 1965.
2
It seems to me that it is impossible to "step back and take in all of human
history", and any attempt to do so is bound to fail. Human history, like the human brain, has an uncountable number of interrelated connections. There are too many moving parts for anyone to really understand.
history", and any attempt to do so is bound to fail. Human history, like the human brain, has an uncountable number of interrelated connections. There are too many moving parts for anyone to really understand.
You say the decadence started in Univerisities. Could it have started with the advent of television (coupled with ratings, advertising and balance sheets) AND Money Profit as the end-game.?
The truth of the matter is that we have climate change on one side (Nature continually rebalancing itself, unphased by human events) and the information revolution on the other. We are entering a brave new time whose task is to clean up the attic and revisit all the concepts and precepts we have followed for quite a while. The riff-raff stuff will be eliminated (along with their carriers) and the old steady truths (Nothing in Excess, Separation of Church/State, Checks and Balances, Democracy, Equality for All) will re-emerge even stronger.
All of this may take a while and the process will be rough. Take solace in that the turn over takes less time at each revolution.
Away with bigots, racists, alpha-males, money politicians, religiosity, corporate amalgams (corrupt financiers,lawyers,accountants,information centers, weapon industries, pharmaceuticals,...).
We better have a Renaissance plan to guide us through the difficult terrain ahead.
Small-minded people are in charge right now. They are like recurrent strands of poorly-evolving viruses that re-emerge as the human story develops.
In the end, their havoc makes the Human Mind stronger as they continually remind us of the road NOT to take.
The truth of the matter is that we have climate change on one side (Nature continually rebalancing itself, unphased by human events) and the information revolution on the other. We are entering a brave new time whose task is to clean up the attic and revisit all the concepts and precepts we have followed for quite a while. The riff-raff stuff will be eliminated (along with their carriers) and the old steady truths (Nothing in Excess, Separation of Church/State, Checks and Balances, Democracy, Equality for All) will re-emerge even stronger.
All of this may take a while and the process will be rough. Take solace in that the turn over takes less time at each revolution.
Away with bigots, racists, alpha-males, money politicians, religiosity, corporate amalgams (corrupt financiers,lawyers,accountants,information centers, weapon industries, pharmaceuticals,...).
We better have a Renaissance plan to guide us through the difficult terrain ahead.
Small-minded people are in charge right now. They are like recurrent strands of poorly-evolving viruses that re-emerge as the human story develops.
In the end, their havoc makes the Human Mind stronger as they continually remind us of the road NOT to take.
3
So, a bunch of tweed-clothed professors get post-modern and we get dictators? Please!
The truth is that capitalism unbridled arcs towards fascism' the center right is now in horror as the far right is rising victorious... A Spencer vs. a Brooks.
Perhaps a bunch of students might be illiberal and might shut down one or two speakers giving inane speeches --yet, that is but a speck compared to having an oligarch lying left and right, promoting white supremacism, and being President.
The truth is that capitalism unbridled arcs towards fascism' the center right is now in horror as the far right is rising victorious... A Spencer vs. a Brooks.
Perhaps a bunch of students might be illiberal and might shut down one or two speakers giving inane speeches --yet, that is but a speck compared to having an oligarch lying left and right, promoting white supremacism, and being President.
1
Clearly, the left has taken over higher education. They don't value Western civilization, and they're indoctrinating our youth. Why do you think the left wants to give away college at taxpayer expense?
3
Crisis in Western civilization?
It appears from reading the comments here that the only thing people can agree on is it's not their fault. It's somebody else's. Maybe the NY Times with its journalists seeking this and that out, not to mention the stated objective of truth, can find some people who are willing to admit maybe they are partly at fault, and ideally find people who can give an honest map of all our problems, locate the sources of the problems (which I am afraid will include all of us, including drug addled in youth yours truly writing here), and give us a realistic way forward.
It appears from reading the comments here that the only thing people can agree on is it's not their fault. It's somebody else's. Maybe the NY Times with its journalists seeking this and that out, not to mention the stated objective of truth, can find some people who are willing to admit maybe they are partly at fault, and ideally find people who can give an honest map of all our problems, locate the sources of the problems (which I am afraid will include all of us, including drug addled in youth yours truly writing here), and give us a realistic way forward.
Another one of your condescending, avoid the obvious political calamity that people like you have brought upon us columns. Mr. Brooks, the most illiberal voices have been on YOUR side, from YOUR party, from YOUR presidents and YOUR media, which has demonized liberal values, disrespected and disparaged democratic norms and institutions, disrespected voting rights and the rights of minorities and other marginalized people, elevated business to a religion while wrapping itself in a faux Christianity that condemns the poor for being poor and criminalizes women for being women. Frankly your hypocrisy as an apologist for 40 years of Republican intolerance, inhumanity, warmongering, and kowtowing to the one percent, corporations, polluters, racists, bigots, homophobes, xenophobes and misogynists, not to mention their sedition and subversion of our democracy is vile. If people want a return to the humane and compassionate values of Western Civilization - whatever they might be - they can start by voting out each and every Republican criminal in 2018 and 2020. NO REPUBLICANS in 2018! NONE! NOT ONE!
10
Those intellectuals and pundits who adhere to the "moderate conservativism" like Brooks are looking for excuses as to why their patter is ignored by other conservatives and the Republicans powers that be in favor of extremist, anti democratic, reactionary ignorance.
Brook's conclusion: must be the liberals in colleges. Yeah, that's it: if only liberals would have dragged conservatives by the heels into more reasonable positions, then we'd never have a Trump. Even though there were a dozen more reasonable less ignorant alternatives in the republican primary already.
Here's the truth: his own position of moderate conservativism is lipstick on a pig. It naturally leads to awful people taking him to a natural conclusion, or if one wants to be charitable, misusing it. Let's worry less about what's being taught in colleges that I"ve frankly never heard of and more about what's being taught by national publications on the op ed. page.
Brook's conclusion: must be the liberals in colleges. Yeah, that's it: if only liberals would have dragged conservatives by the heels into more reasonable positions, then we'd never have a Trump. Even though there were a dozen more reasonable less ignorant alternatives in the republican primary already.
Here's the truth: his own position of moderate conservativism is lipstick on a pig. It naturally leads to awful people taking him to a natural conclusion, or if one wants to be charitable, misusing it. Let's worry less about what's being taught in colleges that I"ve frankly never heard of and more about what's being taught by national publications on the op ed. page.
So Critical Race Studies caused Trump and LePen, and Putin and Kim Jong-Un too? Man, that's ridiculous even by Mr. Brooks's high standards.
3
Part of the decline in our cultural values is the ease with which people put human beings into groups. I am neither left, right, indifferent, progressive, conservative, extremist...I consider myself educated enough to listen to all points of view and how well they are expressed using logic, reason, factual evidence. I also am reminded of an amazing piece the Times featured last Sept before the election. Firmly, I believe in the wisdom of C.S. Lewis. If one is honest with self, the faith factor is huge!
NY TIMES Sept 27
"The Political Magic of C.S. Lewis"
"For those of us who believe in the truth of Christianity and still believe in the good of politics, the last several decades — and the last 15 months in particular — have often been painful. Like water that refracts light and changes the shape of things, politics can distort and invert Christianity, turning a faith that at its core is about grace, reconciliation and redemption into one that is characterized by bitterness, recriminations and lack of charity. There is a good deal of hating and dehumanization going on in the name of Christ.
Followers of Jesus aren’t doing a very good job of living faithfully in a broken world, perhaps because we’re looking inward instead of upward. “Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in,’ ” Lewis reminded us. “Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
NY TIMES Sept 27
"The Political Magic of C.S. Lewis"
"For those of us who believe in the truth of Christianity and still believe in the good of politics, the last several decades — and the last 15 months in particular — have often been painful. Like water that refracts light and changes the shape of things, politics can distort and invert Christianity, turning a faith that at its core is about grace, reconciliation and redemption into one that is characterized by bitterness, recriminations and lack of charity. There is a good deal of hating and dehumanization going on in the name of Christ.
Followers of Jesus aren’t doing a very good job of living faithfully in a broken world, perhaps because we’re looking inward instead of upward. “Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in,’ ” Lewis reminded us. “Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
Okay, Mr Brooks. Surely even you can see how disingenuous you are being. You throw a shot at college students, and then refuse to acknowledge that 30 plus years of right wing television and talk radio have dumbed down YOUR party to the point where it elected Donald Trump. The people who "didn't notice or didn't care" about Trump's violations of norms and his illiberal policies are YOUR people and YOU helped create them. Don't blame the college students - go look in the mirror instead!
6
The crisis of Western Civilization was deeply and inextricably buried in the historical exploitation of people and natural resources by colonialism and slavery. Western values are denied one cynical callous cruel action and inaction at a time.
Using gender, color, 'race', faith, ethnicity, national origin along with socioeconomics, politics and education to deny persons their divine natural equal certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness was a diabolical duplicitous devilish metastatic cancerous infectious hypocritical inhumane bargain.
The royal colonial imperial heads of Western nation states conspired with Western Catholic and Protestant faith leaders to prevent any civil secular plural egalitarian democratic rule for all human beings under their dominion. And the collapse of royal rule did not lead to an era of humane humble universal empathy.
The kings, Kaisers and Czars were replaced by the Fuehrer, the Chairman, some Prime Ministers and Presidents who sought to maintain the prerogatives of empire.
While America was and still is an empire by another name. America is allied with secular, military and theocratic autocrats and dictators who are the anti-thesis of alleged Western Civilization values and interests. A consistent offensive proactive practice of liberalism is the best defense of Western Civilization.
Using gender, color, 'race', faith, ethnicity, national origin along with socioeconomics, politics and education to deny persons their divine natural equal certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness was a diabolical duplicitous devilish metastatic cancerous infectious hypocritical inhumane bargain.
The royal colonial imperial heads of Western nation states conspired with Western Catholic and Protestant faith leaders to prevent any civil secular plural egalitarian democratic rule for all human beings under their dominion. And the collapse of royal rule did not lead to an era of humane humble universal empathy.
The kings, Kaisers and Czars were replaced by the Fuehrer, the Chairman, some Prime Ministers and Presidents who sought to maintain the prerogatives of empire.
While America was and still is an empire by another name. America is allied with secular, military and theocratic autocrats and dictators who are the anti-thesis of alleged Western Civilization values and interests. A consistent offensive proactive practice of liberalism is the best defense of Western Civilization.
2
"The Age of Faith"? Does Brooks mean "the Dark Ages"?
4
Perhaps America doesn't represent the pinnacle of Western Civilization.
1
So...back to the Great Men theory of history with the "great ideas" culminating with the holocaust and the H bomb. if Mr. Brooks was actually a Historian...and he's not... he would have noted that there has always been debates on how history is written...from dialectical materialism to multicultural studies. The failings of Western Liberalism did not begin when historians gave a voice to the the voiceless...the oppressed...the non white men.... the failing began at the very outset ...in the blades of the guillotine...in the shackles of slaves ships...in the black lungs of miners... in the trails of tears. this is not just a cultural war on ideas...but on systems of economic and political processes.
1
"This Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights ..." What about the property rights of the other half - the colonized world?? Reasoned discourse - oh yeah? Did the western leaders have "reasoned discourse" with Africa? India? South America? Central America?
1
The US capitalist race to the bottom for the purpose of enriching the 1% and the left's desertion of working class values in favor of identity politics while kowtowing to the 1% have demonstrated the failure of the current version of the Western paridigm. With one of the greatest wealth and income disparity in the world it is no wonder that young Americans have given up on the traditional model.
1
With all due respect, David, you overstate the case. There are legions of young and old out here....in the hinterlands....who value our institutions and deplore the abuse they have endured lately. We keep the faith.
2
Readers of a certain age can recall Western Civ courses in college that served as instruments to winnow out students who weren't really prepared for college level studies. A "C" in Western Civ ruined the dreams of the Dean's List for many, much as organic chemistry winnows out prospective medical students/chemical engineers.
Mr. Brooks decries the collapse of the center, which has been engineered for decades by Conservative think tanks, right-wing legislators & AM Talk Show bloviators. He has aided right wing politicians & abetted a Conservative SCOTUS willing to ignore judicial precedents, spawning Super PACS with amassing "dark money" & universal firearm ownership by people ill-equipped to handle/own them. He has egged on such entities in the name of Libertarianism & Conservative talking points. To paraphrase Hanns Johst, whenever I hear the words "Liberty", "Freedom", "Heritage", "Family/American Values", I unlock my Browning.
Where the past will take America & the rest of the world is anybody's guess. But the promulgation of ideas prostituting what was Capitalism into unfettered greed with ever escalating profits, prices & inequality ,has benefitted only a privileged few. Those in the Middle Class are tiring of footing the bill for the 45% of taxpayers who pay no taxes on 15 April. The promotion of the Rugged Individual at the expense of the rest of our Society must be replaced by the knowledge that we are all Americans & we are all in this together.
Mr. Brooks decries the collapse of the center, which has been engineered for decades by Conservative think tanks, right-wing legislators & AM Talk Show bloviators. He has aided right wing politicians & abetted a Conservative SCOTUS willing to ignore judicial precedents, spawning Super PACS with amassing "dark money" & universal firearm ownership by people ill-equipped to handle/own them. He has egged on such entities in the name of Libertarianism & Conservative talking points. To paraphrase Hanns Johst, whenever I hear the words "Liberty", "Freedom", "Heritage", "Family/American Values", I unlock my Browning.
Where the past will take America & the rest of the world is anybody's guess. But the promulgation of ideas prostituting what was Capitalism into unfettered greed with ever escalating profits, prices & inequality ,has benefitted only a privileged few. Those in the Middle Class are tiring of footing the bill for the 45% of taxpayers who pay no taxes on 15 April. The promotion of the Rugged Individual at the expense of the rest of our Society must be replaced by the knowledge that we are all Americans & we are all in this together.
2
What crisis? Course corrections during the march of history are common. Many people are fed up with the empty promises and corrosive permissiveness of liberal socialism. So, the pendulum will swing the other way for a time.
David Brooks just noticed the 'basic fabric of civil government seems to be eroding' 30 years after Reagan's 'government is the problem'/Bush One GOP Willie Horton ads, 20 years after Newt Gingrich, Republicans, Hate Radio and Fox News began their hypocritical fanatical crusade to demonize the other Party, and 15 years after Mr. Brooks dismissed millions of anti-Iraq War demonstrators around the world as Bush haters living in 'Dream Palaces'? Excusers and enablers like Mr. Brooks made a career out of assisting the liquidation of good government and functioning democracy.
3
The crisis of Western Civ is that they don't teach it anymore in public schools.
The very narrative you lament the supposed loss of is the core of the dynamic that brought us to the present.
Western Civilization lives on, there was not some cataclysmic cleaving off of the the past. Certainly some brand of software now bears the name of Plato or Socrates, with not the remotest connection to their ideas or ideals.
Assume the worst if you are so disposed and well you might be for the lack of a compelling vision or narrative for how we nurture and preserve our own humanism — in what is surely the age of the juggernaut that is the ascendancy, ubiquity, and omnipotence of technology.
Western Civilization lives on, there was not some cataclysmic cleaving off of the the past. Certainly some brand of software now bears the name of Plato or Socrates, with not the remotest connection to their ideas or ideals.
Assume the worst if you are so disposed and well you might be for the lack of a compelling vision or narrative for how we nurture and preserve our own humanism — in what is surely the age of the juggernaut that is the ascendancy, ubiquity, and omnipotence of technology.
But are we living in a Democratic Republic? Congress wishes to pass a bill called "HealthCare" replacing a relatively successful health plan with one that contains little health or care--to give money to the wealthy thru tax cuts--despite massive voter protests throughout the country. (The majority prefer a single payer system as every other industrialized country has proven is fairer, more economical and provides better health care--a system which Congress will not even consider.)
Despite 1/2 US births, 1/4 US children, and nearly 2/3 nursing home care provided by Medicaid--the GOP wishes to rob these people giving that money to the wealthy.
Is it perhaps a cold hard look at how our elected officials use voters then legislate for their donors? Money now drives our government.
The US acts to police the world--spending more on the military than the next 7 countries combined--while refusing to police our President and his children as they profiteer from his Office and shill for their businesses. Congress seems unconcerned that our President may be beholden to a foreign country while accepting lying under oath (Mnuchin, Pruitt, Sessions...), profiting by insider knowledge/actions (Price) and bait-and-switch legislation normal practice.
Flynn was fired not for being the agent of two foreign countries, but for lying to Pence. Yet our President won his election by lying and continues to do so. Yet, we have no champion.
Despite 1/2 US births, 1/4 US children, and nearly 2/3 nursing home care provided by Medicaid--the GOP wishes to rob these people giving that money to the wealthy.
Is it perhaps a cold hard look at how our elected officials use voters then legislate for their donors? Money now drives our government.
The US acts to police the world--spending more on the military than the next 7 countries combined--while refusing to police our President and his children as they profiteer from his Office and shill for their businesses. Congress seems unconcerned that our President may be beholden to a foreign country while accepting lying under oath (Mnuchin, Pruitt, Sessions...), profiting by insider knowledge/actions (Price) and bait-and-switch legislation normal practice.
Flynn was fired not for being the agent of two foreign countries, but for lying to Pence. Yet our President won his election by lying and continues to do so. Yet, we have no champion.
1
School and university classes which teach history and the humanities should include this article in their course paks. Among other things it teaches students that we may now indeed be tottering on another age-defying see-saw between authoritarianism and democracy, brought on in our era by technology, but including this time, REAL-time, on-screen communication and 24-hr news. If ever the expression "may cooler heads prevail" meant more it is now, in these uncertain times when the drama of taking sides has become an instantly televised "reality show."
It is embarrassing to be saddled with a president so ignorant of history. While he boasts of his academic credentials (Wharton, etc.) Trump's grasp of past events and the dynamics that influenced them is non-existent. But sadly, he captured the presidency by appealing to the growing anti-intellectual tidal wave - dismissing intelligent discourse and making a host of empty promises to people who were all too willing to embrace his boorish behavior. If Gibbon were alive today, he'd be writing about the decline and fall of America, an America that is being hijacked by a kleptocracy.
2
Brooks consistently and speciously equates the left with the authoritarian right. This hearkens back to his mendacious and vicious identification of Bernie Sanders as a member of a non-existent "alt-left", supposedly morally equivalent to the alt-right of Steve Bannon and Breitbart. Brooks does it again with Mélenchon here. You may object to the various manifestations of the left but you must acknowledge that it's central characteristic is precisely its commitment to progress and historical directionality, both underwritten by some notion of reason. The left is an outgrowth of the Enlightenment and shares these basic characteristics with the classical liberalism that Brooks champions. Brooks needs to give this some honest thought and not be satisfied with bogus equivalences.
I suppose that global colonialism, WWI&II, communism, Jim Crow, the reign of powerful capitalism over the weak, and the USA's indifference to sovereignty when it feels a need to blow something up, are all "pre-Western" traits. I'm sure there is a period of a few decades wherein the "whole idea of Western civ" could be a showcase for of democracy, egalitarianism, and a progressive bent.
If the "West" was defined as the nations within the borders of modern Scandinavia plus modern The Netherlands, Canada, and New Zealand, then, without using to too strong a magnifying glass, you could find that ideal.
The most effective warrior in the battle against liberalism was Ronald Reagan. He was the best when it came to pinning all of our wows on the "pointy headed ones" (George Wallace's term for liberals). Especially effective was his cultivation of whites annoyed by the civil rights revolution. It seemed that "states rights" was more in keeping with the traditional West, than civil rights.
If the "West" was defined as the nations within the borders of modern Scandinavia plus modern The Netherlands, Canada, and New Zealand, then, without using to too strong a magnifying glass, you could find that ideal.
The most effective warrior in the battle against liberalism was Ronald Reagan. He was the best when it came to pinning all of our wows on the "pointy headed ones" (George Wallace's term for liberals). Especially effective was his cultivation of whites annoyed by the civil rights revolution. It seemed that "states rights" was more in keeping with the traditional West, than civil rights.
This is the same argument made by Charles Murray in Coming Apart. Sorry, I don't buy it. The problem isn't civics, the problem is a result of unabashed greed reinforced by ignorance. The pillars of our society: the educational system, courts, and even civic participation have been eroded. In its place is money. Those at the bottom are like feral dogs fighting for the last scrap of meat. Is it any wonder that our institutions are no longer trusted. The longer this continues, the more dangerous and toxic it becomes and potentially, more unstable.
We debate political issues in our house. My kids argue that we don't live in a democracy, but rather, an oligarchy. I find that difficult to counter.
1
The changes in Turkey's government were brought about democratically.
Disruptive students may annoy Brooks, but he did not seem to mind the Republican audiences at presidential primary debates, booing and hissing any deviation from their right wing orthodoxy. Remember "let him die" shouts at the suggestion a society ought to provide medical care for a sick, but uninsured citizen.
If western civilization cannot deal with criticism of slavery, genocide, colonialism, economic exploitation and the current distribution of wealth, then perhaps that is their problem.
Disruptive students may annoy Brooks, but he did not seem to mind the Republican audiences at presidential primary debates, booing and hissing any deviation from their right wing orthodoxy. Remember "let him die" shouts at the suggestion a society ought to provide medical care for a sick, but uninsured citizen.
If western civilization cannot deal with criticism of slavery, genocide, colonialism, economic exploitation and the current distribution of wealth, then perhaps that is their problem.
2
There was a time that the Catholic Church had a totalitarian control of Western values. Starting with the Renaissance this control was broken. It was shattered by the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. The rise of capitalism is the major source of the destruction of any and all values.
1
I believe this started when Reagan stated, 'government is the problem' as he fought for smaller government and individual rights vs. community rights. He would likely be horrified by what he started and how his words have been warped to undermine and dismantle our shared sense of purpose.
Reagan's words have been corrupted on behalf of autocrats who use them to sustain their individual rights to be billionaires at the expense of the welfare of the nation at large. Sadly those that believe so strongly in individual rights do not have an idea on how to bring individuals together to build a community and serve the common good.
So now it's every man for himself. Good luck to everyone - it was nice at least to try to work together over the past couple of centuries. Maybe we'll get back together again in the future.
Reagan's words have been corrupted on behalf of autocrats who use them to sustain their individual rights to be billionaires at the expense of the welfare of the nation at large. Sadly those that believe so strongly in individual rights do not have an idea on how to bring individuals together to build a community and serve the common good.
So now it's every man for himself. Good luck to everyone - it was nice at least to try to work together over the past couple of centuries. Maybe we'll get back together again in the future.
"The Story of Civilization" was just that--a story. The idea of a steady trend of liberalism triumphing over oppressive states is a false narrative for most of the last 3,000-4,000 years. And "Western" Civilization was often moving in the opposite direction--a Roman republic descending into dictatorship and then splintering into authoritarian states; an oppressive Catholic church; the Inquisition destroying a pluralistic society in Spain; etc.
At best, there's an *American* version of market-capitalism/liberalism trends over the last 150-250 years. And like much of American lore, the Durants tried to re-write history to support the inevitability of this American arc. To stake its place in the world, a young-ish nation needed to show that its roots were deep and its destiny manifest. (E.g., why is there Egyptian iconography on our currency?) So they cherry-picked history to try to create an arc that explained the march toward American society and government (and thereby justified American dominance in the world). Even the liberal democracies of Europe were largely built and shaped by American influence post-WWII. More recently, American-led efforts have tried for similar transformations in the Middle East (with less success so far)
So "the whole idea of Western civ" was an illusion to begin with. At best there's an "American civ" that created shared goals and shared narrative, and then tried to export that ethos to other countries. One election cycle doesn't mean its gone.
At best, there's an *American* version of market-capitalism/liberalism trends over the last 150-250 years. And like much of American lore, the Durants tried to re-write history to support the inevitability of this American arc. To stake its place in the world, a young-ish nation needed to show that its roots were deep and its destiny manifest. (E.g., why is there Egyptian iconography on our currency?) So they cherry-picked history to try to create an arc that explained the march toward American society and government (and thereby justified American dominance in the world). Even the liberal democracies of Europe were largely built and shaped by American influence post-WWII. More recently, American-led efforts have tried for similar transformations in the Middle East (with less success so far)
So "the whole idea of Western civ" was an illusion to begin with. At best there's an "American civ" that created shared goals and shared narrative, and then tried to export that ethos to other countries. One election cycle doesn't mean its gone.
I know Mr. Brooks would really like to blame "liberals" for bringing Donald Trump into power, rather than allowing that extreme partisanship and Machiavellian tactics by the Republican party were the primary forces at work. However, laying the blame at the feet of universities, when Mr. Trumps support came most strongly from those who never went to university is more than a stretch of logic - it's deliberate disinformation.
2
Brooks is correct here but only reveals the tip of the iceberg. The modern era ushered in a belief that each individual not only had an inner life but that inner life was unique to the individual and this encouraged a sense of authenticity. Philosophers, print media (look up articles in the NYT) and social media have all pressed the idea that individual authenticity is illegitimate and the inner life of Americans is now manipulated by large corporations and it all looks pretty conformist. Without an authentic inner life the individual is defenseless against the manipulators of the mind.
There is no shortage of genius in Western Civilization. Unfortunately the mechanisms of communication are in the hands of a financial and political elite. Neoliberalism is our religion, we believe in the private sector's ability to do everything better than government. When you believe that a Donald Trump can do things better than the highly trained and experienced lifelong bureaucrats high up in the upper levels of the deep state you start to believe your own rhetoric that the private sector is omniscient.
We are seeing the self fulfilling prophesies of libertarian anarchist Karl Hess back when he wrote Goldwater's nomination acceptance speech in 1964.
The swamp has been drained for over 50 years as the beneficial organisms have been purged and what we have left are the sycophants in command.
We need much more government but most of all we need much better government. Here in Quebec we take the best of the best from the private sector and let them run our public corporations. This works very well especially when tell our politicians their job is oversight not management.
We are seeing the self fulfilling prophesies of libertarian anarchist Karl Hess back when he wrote Goldwater's nomination acceptance speech in 1964.
The swamp has been drained for over 50 years as the beneficial organisms have been purged and what we have left are the sycophants in command.
We need much more government but most of all we need much better government. Here in Quebec we take the best of the best from the private sector and let them run our public corporations. This works very well especially when tell our politicians their job is oversight not management.
1
The protests against injustice in Western cultures is what made modern us evolve. That push-back was/is the life-blood. These protests are continuing, but into a new areas, namely: the abuses and short-comings that stem from deregulated capitalism. The hard-right momentum is largely due to centralized power making a last ditch effort to keep things centralized, rather than globalized. Old school wants old school. A globalized economy inevitably leads to less central control, more regulation and more equity (think TPP and why right leaning factions are against it). But, power wants to keep power, by any means necessary. Start wars if necessary. Create fake news if necessary. Lie. Scapegoat minorities. Steal. But just keep control and power. Well, not if the justice seekers in Western civ have any say. With recent elections, and a battle may have been won, but the war is not over.
Phyllis Tickle wrote a book in 2012 entitled, "The Great Emergence" in which she posited that we are in the midst of an upheaval and realignment of western civilization on the order of the Enlightenment. Her focus was on the Church, but I believe she is right on a much broader scale. David Brooks seemingly takes umbrage at the recent focus on teaching the shadow side of the Enlightenment documented in such books as Sven Beckert's "Empire of Cotton." A better explanation might be a technological one in which the internet and social media have finally given voice to the losers in the previous alignment of western civilization, the colonized peoples, the enslaved peoples, the ethnically cleansed people. Our era has revealed the shortcomings of the previous age for all to see and along with them, the complicity of politicians, institutions and governments in extracting wealth from the powerless to feed the insatiable appetites of the powerful. I agree with Mr Brooks on one point. We haven't even begun to see how bad things are going to get as current western governments continue to crumble and fall.
10
It might have severed David well to have watched PBS, American Experience, The Great War that aired earlier this month. America was deeply divided about entry into WW1 and President Wilson's desire to spread democracy to the rest of the world. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 make some of the Executive Orders Trump has signed look like child's play. Add to that the 1916 book by Madison Grant, "The Passing of The Great Race" plus many other haters of us against them philosophies being posed at the time and one would wonder about the crisis of Western Civilization during the first decade of the 20th century. You could make a case for been there done that, as history does seem to repeat it's self.
People have not lost faith in the values, but in the institutions which are supposed to defend them, and expand them - but most of all define them.
The narrative that Western Civilization was a gradual progression to an idealized state of liberal equality and fraternity has been so easily abandoned because it was false. There is no such thing as progress, and anyways, most of what we called progress was simply technological innovation. The human animal never changed. The recent use by the US of the Mother of All Bombs stands as a shining example of what all this progress has wrought. We can now kill each other more efficiently, which is good, because sedentary agriculture means there are far more of us now to kill.
It could be argued, and many do, that the worst thing that ever happened to mankind was sedentary agriculture, and its attendant hierarchically-based, mass civilization. Sure it allowed for vastly greater numbers of people on the planet, but it didn't improve the lives for most of the people, nor certainly not the condition of the planet. In fact, for the vast majority of the extra people, it made life miserable, brutish and short in ways that our hunter/gatherer ancestors could never have imagined.
But the most debilitating aspect of all this progress is the angst and ennui and confusion that arises from trying to fit round hunter/gatherer genes into the square pegs of civilization. Having seen and rejected as unfulfilling the best that 'progress' has to offer (ooh, another cat video!), authoritarian leadership represents a potential way out of the confusion.
It could be argued, and many do, that the worst thing that ever happened to mankind was sedentary agriculture, and its attendant hierarchically-based, mass civilization. Sure it allowed for vastly greater numbers of people on the planet, but it didn't improve the lives for most of the people, nor certainly not the condition of the planet. In fact, for the vast majority of the extra people, it made life miserable, brutish and short in ways that our hunter/gatherer ancestors could never have imagined.
But the most debilitating aspect of all this progress is the angst and ennui and confusion that arises from trying to fit round hunter/gatherer genes into the square pegs of civilization. Having seen and rejected as unfulfilling the best that 'progress' has to offer (ooh, another cat video!), authoritarian leadership represents a potential way out of the confusion.
The author would have done Western civilization a favor had he started out with a reminder of the difference between classical liberalism -- which is non-partisan and NOT the defining feature of today's Democrats or Republicans -- and progressivism. Folks, look it up. Legions of Americans, myself included, fervently believe in liberal ideals and are moderate conservatives. I assume the same can be said for the moderate Democrat camp.
With that clarification, this opinion piece puts forth a strong argument. Classical liberalism must be defended. We need to dust it off and put it at the center of education and public policy. Most important, we need to measure public leaders -- and I would say business and media leaders as well -- by classical liberal values, and hang them by their toes if they continue to burden society with unsustainable and over-controlling programs that often do more harm than good.
With that clarification, this opinion piece puts forth a strong argument. Classical liberalism must be defended. We need to dust it off and put it at the center of education and public policy. Most important, we need to measure public leaders -- and I would say business and media leaders as well -- by classical liberal values, and hang them by their toes if they continue to burden society with unsustainable and over-controlling programs that often do more harm than good.
I think Mr. Brooks' view is too doleful. Throughout history we have had the rise and fall of various anomalies, strong-men, coups, cramped thinking, brutality and other inhuman behavior. In the end, however, the center arises triumphant because the truth and the best path is never at the extremes.
Heather MacDonald would have been disappointed if there had not been sharp opposition to her presence on these campuses. Otherwise way did she choose to title her book "The War on Cops" which, like O'Reilly's War of Christmas, does not exist? Sometimes the professional provocateur is successful at provoking the responses he/she is looking for. You think the conservative minds at the Manhattan Institute could have come up with a title like the "The Necessity of Effective Urban Policing" or something to that effect.
Western Civ. is no longer taught because many believe that the integrative force of history denies their superiority over all other cultures and religions. The Temple, Cathedral and Mosque are no longer the only dispensers of The Truth. Store-front churches abound, each with its own Truth to be spread. Will and Ariel Durant were too early in publishing their book. We are at a divisive point in history.
Mr. Brooks is wrong to blame this on universities. He wants to bring back the Catholic dominance of Europe that existed before the Reformation, a comparable effort to that of the much smaller dominance, now decaying, the Southern Baptists enjoyed in the American South. Diversity in religious and cultural beliefs and actions strengthens both and drives future development. As they develop they also drive political dictatorships off the public square.
Mr. Brooks is wrong to blame this on universities. He wants to bring back the Catholic dominance of Europe that existed before the Reformation, a comparable effort to that of the much smaller dominance, now decaying, the Southern Baptists enjoyed in the American South. Diversity in religious and cultural beliefs and actions strengthens both and drives future development. As they develop they also drive political dictatorships off the public square.
3
Brooks erred in not highlighting the dominant role of the Republican Party in his narrative of political and social decline, an outcome in which his own commentary has had a role. A crucial factor in this decline has been the exodus of principled, talented and charismatic liberal politicians from our national scene. Too many college graduates possessed of these attributes head toward Wall Street. This is the case at my own college.
Really, David Brooks? Isn't it a reach to conclude that the legitimate questions to which the primacy of Western Civilization has been recently subjected is the primary cause of the rise of authoritarian regimes and values? For all of the majesty and achievements of Western Civilization, the fact is that with them came untold oppression of peoples throughout the globe. I would suggest that the current attraction to those leaders who carry more than of whiff of the despotic is an overreaction to the threat the hegemony that Western Civilization has enjoyed for centuries. It is fear -- fear that comes from having to acknowledge the beauty and glories of civilizations and cultures that are not grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition -- the foundation of Western values. The rise of the despot is not in fact a rational development stemming from the denigration of some western social and ethical fabric. No. It is a wholly irrational fear of losing footing on the top rung.
1
Though viewed through a politically right-leaning lens, Brooks has identified the symptoms of the problem of Cannibal Capitalism. The "success" of the West has been a slow progressive shift in power from from the few to the many, which in turn has exponentially increased the capacity of Western nations to produce a rising standard of living as more contribute to the success of society. Expressions that are profane to the political right like "wealth redistribution" or "collective interests" have actually been the keys to success as those who lack pedigree are nonetheless educated, healthy, and able to contribute to society through technology, science, government, art, business, and all the other ways that enable a civilization to flourish. Unfortunately, so many of us fail to appreciate that civilization as a whole is an aberration in nature. Basic, carnal instincts of selfishness and greed are always present, just below the surface to push away from egalitarian ideals toward the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few even though history has shown this to be self-defeating even to the powerful. The rise of authoritarian leaders and the sharp divisions of political factions are not the result of a lack of education in the Western tradition, but is the result of a lack of appreciation for what has allowed it to work to the extent that it has - the compromise between right and left, capitalism checked by inclusive collectivism - progressive capitalism.
1
David Brooks sings a refrain about the center isn't holding. Seems like there's a fog a-foot and empathy has been replaced by apathy. The wake up call will be too late to reverse course. Is there support for this collapse or is it passive immobility caused by fear and anxiety? One action that is open before us is to sort out, as in discerning, the parts of current culture we want to preserve and parts that we need to root out. It's false humility to tolerate that which harms others and causes the next generation to suffer because of our paralysis. A starting point is to avoid extremes. It's not mediocracy to work for and obtain the best quality of life for the common good. A skillful means is toward civility in dialogue and respect in the welcomed conversations. Violence is a default mechanism that can be prevented by mindful and well planned sessions of dialogue. Anger is a learned habit that can be unlearned with practice and training.
1
Those wanting to get right up to date can read Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West which was published in the early 20's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_the_West
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_the_West
2
Western "civilization" was involved in subjugating--and continuing to subjugate--many people around the world.
One of those subjugated people, Mahatma Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western Civilization, quipped, "I think it would a good idea." Gandhi has a sense of humor. https://nyti.ms/2p2ShVU
Levity aside, "civilization," whether western or eastern, hasn't yet helped slow down human beings' march toward extinction by eliminating our tendency to kill each other ever more efficiently either by advanced weapons or by the destruction of the very environment that sustains us.
Perhaps we should work to end that.
One of those subjugated people, Mahatma Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western Civilization, quipped, "I think it would a good idea." Gandhi has a sense of humor. https://nyti.ms/2p2ShVU
Levity aside, "civilization," whether western or eastern, hasn't yet helped slow down human beings' march toward extinction by eliminating our tendency to kill each other ever more efficiently either by advanced weapons or by the destruction of the very environment that sustains us.
Perhaps we should work to end that.
15
Mr Brooks' zero-sum analysis as to the morality of "western" intellectual history and its influence on social structures obscures the complexity of both history and our current predicament. While his observations are interesting and provacative, and while his shorthand narrative has much to recommend it, I am left with a sense of indifference to his thesis, as if watching strangers eat an elaborate meal from a great distance. It is too big an idea for too little space, and he reduces it to a competition of bipolar tendencies, thus feeding the beast of intolerance that he supposedly so fervently disdains. Thanks for trying, David, but I expect better from you. C -
Defunding public schools caused the rise of the the "fragile thugs" and anti free speech intelligentsia at universities?
How many of those groups were educated in the public school systems or did I miss the memo that the ivies went public and the Claremont group went public?
California higher ed is sui generis and needs no further explanation.
How many of those groups were educated in the public school systems or did I miss the memo that the ivies went public and the Claremont group went public?
California higher ed is sui generis and needs no further explanation.
1
I guess all those white rust belt Trump voters must have learned about the decline of western civ in one of their university courses.
2
The decline of western civilization. The Age of Faith? Property Rights? Property is robbery, faith in money. This great lament for western civilization? It has been oppressive. It has been poverty inducing, soulless and predatory. That you wish t elevate your myth of exceptionalism is just more white man forked tongue. Yes there is much to admire in a western civilization of compassion and equity. But the promise is farther away than ever. I for one put this modern collapse of dignity to the United States, its constant wars of economics and military coercion. A false and obvious distortion of economics called uber capitalism, lack of respect for anything that doesn't have dollars assigned from the uber wealthy. And finally America as a Christian nation. Almost an oxymoron. You leave your people fighting for food stamps but you can drop multi million dollar bombs on wedding parties. Also I would remind you David of the USA Karma, genocide, slavery and nuclear annihilation. Plus your universities are corporate training schools for technocrats to sell your public services.
So before you go blaming remember that this begins with corporate business feeling that there was to much democracy! So the rich boys banded together in the late 60's, early 70's to 'take back America', PNAC after that and the total breakdown of congress. Follow the money stupid and stop blaming honest people from the left. They actually are protecting your interests.
So before you go blaming remember that this begins with corporate business feeling that there was to much democracy! So the rich boys banded together in the late 60's, early 70's to 'take back America', PNAC after that and the total breakdown of congress. Follow the money stupid and stop blaming honest people from the left. They actually are protecting your interests.
4
Our president lumped in with tyrants? You just don't get it. HRC was right. There are deplorables. She just looked in the wrobg direction.
None of us would rather know that our parents aren't the paragons we believed them to be when we were babes at the breast. But coming to terms with the imperfection of all things and learning to appreciate them despite their warts is a clear sign of maturity.
We can accept, as Mr. Brooks writes, that western civilization gave us Socrates, Erasmus, Montesquieu and Rousseau. But we also must accept that western civ gave us Torquemada, Isabella, Stalin and Hitler. We can correctly appreciate the Renaissance while also correctly disown colonialism.
Only when we examine western civilization holistically can we begin to nurture its growth as we deadhead the diseased leaves.
We can accept, as Mr. Brooks writes, that western civilization gave us Socrates, Erasmus, Montesquieu and Rousseau. But we also must accept that western civ gave us Torquemada, Isabella, Stalin and Hitler. We can correctly appreciate the Renaissance while also correctly disown colonialism.
Only when we examine western civilization holistically can we begin to nurture its growth as we deadhead the diseased leaves.
2
"The faith in the West collapsed from within. It’s amazing how slow people have been to rise to defend it." Et tu, Mr Brooks? If you sincerely believe your own thesis, shouldn't you have from the first - decades ago - been countering the party that ushered in this era, rather than enabling it, in column after column?
8
The story of Western Civilization as told by the Durants did not stop the rise of Nazi Germany. Neither did the Bill of Rights as designed by the Founding Fathers prevent the emergence of the Age of Rudeness under the mask of ‘telling it like it is.” Yet neither manifestation against the basic currents of civilization and democracy has any particular claim to permanence.
In the United States the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001, and the implosion of the major markets in 2008, attacked our collective comfort zone. In response, many people were more receptive to strong-fisted and/or tight-fisted leadership. But Will and Ariel would be the first to tell us what history teaches: the tendency is a return to the norm or to a center of some kind. The next election in the US will be a shift to the left before re-calibration yet again in the one after that.
To view either Hitler, Bin Laden, Isis, or the Alt-Right as mainstream reality is to inflate the aberrant. These extremes represent outlying reactions to bizarre conditions. They can inform the mainstream but are unable to meet the needs of that mainstream and eventually fail.
In the United States the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001, and the implosion of the major markets in 2008, attacked our collective comfort zone. In response, many people were more receptive to strong-fisted and/or tight-fisted leadership. But Will and Ariel would be the first to tell us what history teaches: the tendency is a return to the norm or to a center of some kind. The next election in the US will be a shift to the left before re-calibration yet again in the one after that.
To view either Hitler, Bin Laden, Isis, or the Alt-Right as mainstream reality is to inflate the aberrant. These extremes represent outlying reactions to bizarre conditions. They can inform the mainstream but are unable to meet the needs of that mainstream and eventually fail.
2
To my knowledge, this is the most important essay David Brooks has ever published.
In my opinion this is just another essay in which Brooks unsuccessfully tries to tackle what he believes are big ideas. If you want to know what's gone wrong with our educational system focus on Americans appalling lack of knowledge of science and math.
Probably, alas.
Have you ever cited a book by a woman or non-white person as part of your beloved canon?
2
"On American campuses, fragile thugs......"
You are lumping all campuses on this issue? Such hyperbole. They are working it out like many thinking individuals are. It's messy, but not universal across the country. Sheeesh.
You are lumping all campuses on this issue? Such hyperbole. They are working it out like many thinking individuals are. It's messy, but not universal across the country. Sheeesh.
2
some good points but spoiled. the Durants were true middle brows and their books were good for high school in the fifties. second the righteous rejection of an honorable platform for the odious Charles Murray at middlebury is a sign of both democratic values and moral conviction. while I have scant hope for you, I do hope that the students' resolve will reform the unreflective racism of their professors. and in that vein: I'm still waiting for the times to insist that holocaust deniers be given an honorable platform for their lies. not holding my breath though
1
Although I understand Mr. Brooks' concerns, maybe he wrings his hands a bit too much? The Durants told an impressive story, but there are others.
It is often said that the US government is terrible, but compared to others in history it comes off reasonably well. Civilization--"western" and otherwise--includes many repressive traits: http://wsimag.com/economy-and-politics/13515-civilization-and-repression .
Is democracy in decline: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2016-06-13/democracy-decline ? Is that going to be a long-term trend? I will not be around to find out. Are there more repressive leaders non-inclusive governments in the world now than at the time of the 20th century world wars? Arguably not.
Are we merely experiencing normal historical fluctuations? Many of us would prefer a certain type of civilization, tied to mythic notions of "American" democracy, but as for the broader swath of Western civilization, is it always the best option? Can we distinguish myth from reality in our own time? That is questionable.
As for annoying student behavior, that can probably be traced to ancient Babylon, but certainly is nothing new. Are they any worse, based on several measures, than in the past? Not likely.
It is often said that the US government is terrible, but compared to others in history it comes off reasonably well. Civilization--"western" and otherwise--includes many repressive traits: http://wsimag.com/economy-and-politics/13515-civilization-and-repression .
Is democracy in decline: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2016-06-13/democracy-decline ? Is that going to be a long-term trend? I will not be around to find out. Are there more repressive leaders non-inclusive governments in the world now than at the time of the 20th century world wars? Arguably not.
Are we merely experiencing normal historical fluctuations? Many of us would prefer a certain type of civilization, tied to mythic notions of "American" democracy, but as for the broader swath of Western civilization, is it always the best option? Can we distinguish myth from reality in our own time? That is questionable.
As for annoying student behavior, that can probably be traced to ancient Babylon, but certainly is nothing new. Are they any worse, based on several measures, than in the past? Not likely.
1
Heather MacDonald's Manhattan Institute is funded by a Who's Who of "Dark Money". From Wiki:
Foundations which have contributed over $1 million to the Manhattan Institute include the John M. Olin Foundation, Bradley Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, Searle Freedom Trust, Smith Richardson Foundation, William E. Simon Foundation, the Claude Lambe Foundation, the Gilder Foundation, the Curry Foundation, and the Jaquelin Hume Foundation.[53][unreliable source?]
In 2013, hedge fund managers Cliff Asness, Henry Kravis and Thomas McWilliams all cut ties with the Manhattan Institute due to the group's support of the abolition of defined benefit public pensions.[54]
So maybe those rowdy kids...who behaved horribly...had a point about the underlying basis of her "scholarship."
Foundations which have contributed over $1 million to the Manhattan Institute include the John M. Olin Foundation, Bradley Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, Searle Freedom Trust, Smith Richardson Foundation, William E. Simon Foundation, the Claude Lambe Foundation, the Gilder Foundation, the Curry Foundation, and the Jaquelin Hume Foundation.[53][unreliable source?]
In 2013, hedge fund managers Cliff Asness, Henry Kravis and Thomas McWilliams all cut ties with the Manhattan Institute due to the group's support of the abolition of defined benefit public pensions.[54]
So maybe those rowdy kids...who behaved horribly...had a point about the underlying basis of her "scholarship."
Let's not give up on the Enlightenment yet.
Keep in mind that "experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed."
I think Jefferson was right; people generally don't want to rock the boat. But there is that thing called the tipping point, and we are very quickly reaching that point; faster than I ever imagined possible.
This doesn't mean that people will be firing muskets at each other. What could happen is that "enlightened" people once again seek each other out, form new associations and enterprises, and in the process starve the people who have current seized control of our institutions. In my opinion, greed is the force that moves Trump and his people, as well as the force that keeps terrorism alive. When the majority of people stop buying into Trump World,
he and his people will vanish.
It's said that the only constant in the universe is change. Well, things have not changed for the better in recent times, but they could. It is still up us...the rest of us, who far outnumber Trump and all the other "strongmen" combined.
Keep in mind that "experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed."
I think Jefferson was right; people generally don't want to rock the boat. But there is that thing called the tipping point, and we are very quickly reaching that point; faster than I ever imagined possible.
This doesn't mean that people will be firing muskets at each other. What could happen is that "enlightened" people once again seek each other out, form new associations and enterprises, and in the process starve the people who have current seized control of our institutions. In my opinion, greed is the force that moves Trump and his people, as well as the force that keeps terrorism alive. When the majority of people stop buying into Trump World,
he and his people will vanish.
It's said that the only constant in the universe is change. Well, things have not changed for the better in recent times, but they could. It is still up us...the rest of us, who far outnumber Trump and all the other "strongmen" combined.
37
That's true enough when you say that people generally don't want to rock the boat.
For one reason or another, a lot of people don't know how to swim and are already in the boat. Being in the boat was safer than not being in the boat and the reasons for being in the boat in the first place was a matter of survival.
For one reason or another, a lot of people don't know how to swim and are already in the boat. Being in the boat was safer than not being in the boat and the reasons for being in the boat in the first place was a matter of survival.
To "Egyptians, through Athens, Magna Carta, the Age of Faith, the Renaissance and the Declaration of the Rights of Man" I would like to add: capitalism. And more specifically, the profound inclination to utilitarianism and extreme individualism.
In its long history, the West kept a balance between the individual and society. The balance changed in different historical eras, but still, individuals depended on society and vice versa.
But capitalism had broken this balance: it is all about the individual. Society matters only if it serves me. This disintegrates western society, with all its great values, making person stand alone, focused only on his/her self-fulfillment. Western society is about shared values - which are endangered by extreme individualism.
onourselvesandothers.com
In its long history, the West kept a balance between the individual and society. The balance changed in different historical eras, but still, individuals depended on society and vice versa.
But capitalism had broken this balance: it is all about the individual. Society matters only if it serves me. This disintegrates western society, with all its great values, making person stand alone, focused only on his/her self-fulfillment. Western society is about shared values - which are endangered by extreme individualism.
onourselvesandothers.com
8
Those Western Civilization values made possible even having this discussion and debate about capitalism and economic inequality. That's the point. Too many people commenting here don't realize that although have very valid arguments, nothing justifies refusing to acknowledge our debt to Socrates, the Magna Carta, Descartes, and the Bill of Rights - that free society and respectful debate are extremely valuable.
The Durants' series is a phenomenal work. At 56 years of age, I considered myself historically educated until I began volume 1 in December of last year. Now on vol. 5, the Reformation, I am in daily awe of the scope of the series. The advent of moveable type and the spread of religious dissent is a centerpiece of the Reformation. At the same time, I see so many of the same basic arguments over centers of power and the use or misuse of religion as a political cudgel on the masses.
David, you and I attended college in the early 1980's. The only campus actions I recall were over apartheid in S. Africa. No Viet Nam and no Islamic extremism. We were stuck at the end of the Baby Boom. It's a different world now.
Unfortunately, the same tool that I use to keep up with the modern world, the internet has also allowed an unimaginable spread of extremist views and polarization, and the organization of them into actionable groups, each with its own bone to pick.
David, I'm not sure there will ever again be a Center that will hold; and the beast may indeed be slouching towards Babylon to be reborn.
David, you and I attended college in the early 1980's. The only campus actions I recall were over apartheid in S. Africa. No Viet Nam and no Islamic extremism. We were stuck at the end of the Baby Boom. It's a different world now.
Unfortunately, the same tool that I use to keep up with the modern world, the internet has also allowed an unimaginable spread of extremist views and polarization, and the organization of them into actionable groups, each with its own bone to pick.
David, I'm not sure there will ever again be a Center that will hold; and the beast may indeed be slouching towards Babylon to be reborn.
Ruled by Sociopathy and under the chronic domination of all of the clear symptoms of the Diagnosis, we the People are are also under the glorious Presence of "President" Trump's most immediate crucial sign....his Daily
Public Image. Bordered N/E/S/W, 24/7, we are Blessed by His Image and
Vacuous Voice.
Public Image. Bordered N/E/S/W, 24/7, we are Blessed by His Image and
Vacuous Voice.
1
Mr. Brooks, the believers in Western civilization are all still here and we're not silent simply because we are not defending "civilization" through the particular paradigm you embrace.
This is more basic than the arc of Western Civ. It's about: Good versus Evil. Decency and truth lost out to racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.
In the fight between human decency versus Steve-Bannon-White-Nationalism/grab 'em by the ____, your party --YES you are a Republican, and it is your party that is one hundred percent responsible for Trump.
Your party courted racism with dog whistles for decades, and that came home to roost in this election. You can't deflect from that reality by pretending that the Trump voters were thinking, "I no longer care about the progress of Western Civilization as defined by the Durants." They were thinking, "You can't give a woman power. The old white man says it's OK that I hated having a black President and that nothing in my sorry life is my fault." Evil won. It's that simple.
This is more basic than the arc of Western Civ. It's about: Good versus Evil. Decency and truth lost out to racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.
In the fight between human decency versus Steve-Bannon-White-Nationalism/grab 'em by the ____, your party --YES you are a Republican, and it is your party that is one hundred percent responsible for Trump.
Your party courted racism with dog whistles for decades, and that came home to roost in this election. You can't deflect from that reality by pretending that the Trump voters were thinking, "I no longer care about the progress of Western Civilization as defined by the Durants." They were thinking, "You can't give a woman power. The old white man says it's OK that I hated having a black President and that nothing in my sorry life is my fault." Evil won. It's that simple.
11
I couldn't agree more. Thank you. Brooks deflects his own parties responsibility in the matter. The GOP's embrace of FOX Noise and the ALT Right is demonstrated by the fact that they can't agree on much of anything anymore. They are either Tea Party extremists, or the very few "conservatives", a misnomer I don't believe ever described a Republican, and than their are those few "lifers" like McConnell and Ryan who are just in it to stay in it. NO ethics just WIN WIN WIN at any cost.
3
Well said, Ann. Thank you.
This essay could have been written in the 1930's. Then the strongmen were Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and Tojo. It seems now that the "greatest generation" has left the stage we have forgotten the lesson they and history has to tell us. There will always be authoritarian, mostly, men blaming all the troubles besetting their societies on "the other" whether it be illegal immigrants, Jews, bad trade deals, or a "stab in the back" from an armistice deal. It's not the end of "Western Civ," but the endless repetition that memory and fear erase. The basic cause for today's social unrest is the immense imbalance in global wealth that have made it easy for demagogues to arise and point fingers at everyone, but themselves.
9
Most empires die from the inside out.
1
I am reading Jane Mayer's excellent "Dark Money." There hasn't been a collapse of the center, it was smashed by a network of the Koch brothers and like-minded oligarchs. "Dark Money" really is a masterpiece of reporting. When you have Freedomworks paying Glenn Beck $1 million a year to read its scripts on Fox News...and people falling for it....democracy naturally suffers. The damage to our country is breathtaking.
6
Interesting article. A few quick thoughts:
(1) The Clintons are a mafia style family-based governing group, yet makes no mention of that.
(2) Faculty at colleges are mostly liberal and participated in eroding western ideologies. But Mr. Brooks goes soft on them.
(3) Western Ideologies are being attacked physically by terrorist groups, and intellectually in Academia as mentioned above. Maybe classical liberals and moderate democrats should realize republicans aren't their enemy but look to the far-left and realize they are. Far-left doesn't hold radical ideologies accountable, but in-fact blames the west for these ideologies (which makes no sense). Take Linda Sasour for example. Woman has spewed hatred about fellow women and Jews, yet is a darling of the far-left. This should not be embraced by moderates on either side of the isle.
(1) The Clintons are a mafia style family-based governing group, yet makes no mention of that.
(2) Faculty at colleges are mostly liberal and participated in eroding western ideologies. But Mr. Brooks goes soft on them.
(3) Western Ideologies are being attacked physically by terrorist groups, and intellectually in Academia as mentioned above. Maybe classical liberals and moderate democrats should realize republicans aren't their enemy but look to the far-left and realize they are. Far-left doesn't hold radical ideologies accountable, but in-fact blames the west for these ideologies (which makes no sense). Take Linda Sasour for example. Woman has spewed hatred about fellow women and Jews, yet is a darling of the far-left. This should not be embraced by moderates on either side of the isle.
3
I agree with points 1&3, not #2 (Brooks pretty much blamed academics for the current state of things). Regarding point #3; defending moderate Republicans would be much easier to do if non-moderate Republicans weren't so indefensible. I agree with your criticism of the far left. However, Republicans have tarnished their brand to a degree where the party is associated with racism, sexism, xenophobia etc... and the party has done little to distance itself from such deplorable values. Consequently, even the moderates within the party are difficult to defend because of the brand of their association.
Ideally, a "moderate" party would emerge where moderate Dems. and Reps. could coalesce and isolate the far right and left. Though our institutions are designed to facilitate moderation and marginalize extremes; such a scenario seems like a pipe dream at this point.
Ideally, a "moderate" party would emerge where moderate Dems. and Reps. could coalesce and isolate the far right and left. Though our institutions are designed to facilitate moderation and marginalize extremes; such a scenario seems like a pipe dream at this point.
1
50 years ago The Republican Party created the Southern Strategy, the conscious effort to appeal to the segregationist Strom Thurmond and George Wallace Democratic voters.
In the 1980’s the Republican Party gave us the culture wars and Reagan and the dog whistle politics of welfare queens and States Rights and created the Reagan Democrats.
In the 1990’s we got the Newt Gingrich House of Representatives take no prisoners confrontation, the Clinton impeachment, Whitewater, and Vince Foster murder conspiracy.
With Obama, they created the Tea Party and gave us the birthers, death panels, and support of the Confederate flag.
And all these years, the Republican politicians have been using the Reaganomics talking points of small government and tax cuts for the job creators coming from the right-wing think tanks.
For thirty five years, the rising tide of Trickle Down Economics has mostly raised the yachts on Wall St.
And Mr. Brooks is sick, just sick I tell you, to think of Trump representing the Republican Party.
He can’t understand how the Republican voters, who have been losing their manufacturing jobs all these years as Mitt Romney and his Wall St. colleagues sent those jobs to China, these same voters who have been listening to talk radio all these years, how they can blindly follow Trump and not listen to reason.
In the 1980’s the Republican Party gave us the culture wars and Reagan and the dog whistle politics of welfare queens and States Rights and created the Reagan Democrats.
In the 1990’s we got the Newt Gingrich House of Representatives take no prisoners confrontation, the Clinton impeachment, Whitewater, and Vince Foster murder conspiracy.
With Obama, they created the Tea Party and gave us the birthers, death panels, and support of the Confederate flag.
And all these years, the Republican politicians have been using the Reaganomics talking points of small government and tax cuts for the job creators coming from the right-wing think tanks.
For thirty five years, the rising tide of Trickle Down Economics has mostly raised the yachts on Wall St.
And Mr. Brooks is sick, just sick I tell you, to think of Trump representing the Republican Party.
He can’t understand how the Republican voters, who have been losing their manufacturing jobs all these years as Mitt Romney and his Wall St. colleagues sent those jobs to China, these same voters who have been listening to talk radio all these years, how they can blindly follow Trump and not listen to reason.
Thank you for another thought-provoking column. But, Mr. Brooks, your diagnosis of the diseases (the breakdown in Western norms and loss of faith in democratic values) ignores their underlying cause: The decades-long failures of our political elites. Isn't it natural that peoples' commitment to democracy would wane when Congress, for example, has for so long been unable to, or incapable of, alleviating the problems we face? Faith in our institutions would rebound if our institutions were to prove themselves worthy of our faith.
152
Thank you. The "good faith" in debate was long ago abandoned by the these Power mad Uber rich, basically oligarch's, and the GOP hath wrapped them in swaddling.
1
Our institutions are made of people not things.
Not sure of the cause and effect here. We are certainly rudderless as a society and susceptible to third-rate hacks like Trump but the problem may be a lot more complicated than a loss of so-called western values. It may be due in part to the realization that those very same laudable values came packaged in a brutal treatment of so many different people and the realization that we have done absolutely nothing to seek out what was - and is - of value in other civilizations. Painful learning curve but a necessary one. Let's start over, and this time try to be a little more understanding.
Over and over again Brooks beats the drum of his favorite theme: America has lost its way because our core values have disintegrated. Brooks – like the conservatives in power who want to turn back the clock - passionately wants (needs?) to believe that there was a time when we had it right, when we had all of the necessary elements for the transcendent “Western civilization narrative” – “certain values…a shared mission…common goals,” But then, “Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative.” But, what Brooks and other backward looking conservatives will never admit is that when we were teaching the “Great Books of the Western World” in universities, we were acting out another Western narrative – that of power, hegemony, and white, male privilege. Back in our “days of glory” we were invading Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and then Viet Nam. Back home we had separate rest rooms and drinking fountains for blacks. Then, after a brief era of post WWII prosperity, corporations found that they could make obscene amounts of money if they abandoned the social contract, and the rise of the 1% began. Capitalism emerged as the one and only American narrative, wiping out whatever “values… shared mission…common goals” we fooled ourselves into thinking we had. David, all those values and that narrative was a MYTH that we told ourselves, but who we really were thundered above the narrative. And it continues to. Wake up.
4
We, in the 'West', have been busy defending the rest and undermining our own under the guise of 'multiculturalism', as if civilization was a matter of fashion, to be altered an redesigned every season. We are who ewer are. No guilt needed. We cannot change history at whim.
In "The Great Big Book of Horrible Things", Matthew White enumerates and discusses the 100 worst atrocities in history as of the Second Persian War, 480 – 479 BCE, 300,000 deaths in one year's time. The largest number of deaths in the smallest place goes to Auschwitz with 1,100,000. The number one atrocity, it turns out, was WWII, from 50 million to more than 80 million, depending on how you count. The prize for largest number of deaths in the shortest period of time goes to the USA with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 250,000 in nanoseconds and still counting.
Yet every single participant in every single atrocity had its time of great development and glory before turning to barbarity.
"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between." ~ OSCAR WILDE
In fact, every civilization has had its time of glory as well as its time of catastrophe. In this sense to value one culture above another is a myth; 'multiculturalism" which has turned from inclusion to 'us against them', is a chimera. No bragging rights.
It is also fact that some cultures, at their best, have contributed more to human development than others.
In "The Great Big Book of Horrible Things", Matthew White enumerates and discusses the 100 worst atrocities in history as of the Second Persian War, 480 – 479 BCE, 300,000 deaths in one year's time. The largest number of deaths in the smallest place goes to Auschwitz with 1,100,000. The number one atrocity, it turns out, was WWII, from 50 million to more than 80 million, depending on how you count. The prize for largest number of deaths in the shortest period of time goes to the USA with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 250,000 in nanoseconds and still counting.
Yet every single participant in every single atrocity had its time of great development and glory before turning to barbarity.
"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between." ~ OSCAR WILDE
In fact, every civilization has had its time of glory as well as its time of catastrophe. In this sense to value one culture above another is a myth; 'multiculturalism" which has turned from inclusion to 'us against them', is a chimera. No bragging rights.
It is also fact that some cultures, at their best, have contributed more to human development than others.
4
BTW
The scene depicted here in the illustration has less to do with "civilization" than with its opposites of war, death, destruction. It is part of the western frieze of the The Pergamon Altar, the Gigantomachy frieze, the a monumental construction built during the reign of Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BCE on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.
The Gigantomachy frieze depicts the cosmic battle of the Olympian gods against the Giants, the children of the primordial goddess Gaia [Earth]. It pictures Nereus (the Old Man of the Sea the father of the Nereids), Doris (a sea nymph) and Oceanus (the father of the gods in the Iliad) beating a giant to death.
Most civilized! You couldn't find an image of the Venus de Milo or Winged Victory for a more positive display of Western Civilization? Then, murder and mayhem are the true legacy of the Human Race.
“Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man with his mouth.”
~ MARK TWAIN
The scene depicted here in the illustration has less to do with "civilization" than with its opposites of war, death, destruction. It is part of the western frieze of the The Pergamon Altar, the Gigantomachy frieze, the a monumental construction built during the reign of Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BCE on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.
The Gigantomachy frieze depicts the cosmic battle of the Olympian gods against the Giants, the children of the primordial goddess Gaia [Earth]. It pictures Nereus (the Old Man of the Sea the father of the Nereids), Doris (a sea nymph) and Oceanus (the father of the gods in the Iliad) beating a giant to death.
Most civilized! You couldn't find an image of the Venus de Milo or Winged Victory for a more positive display of Western Civilization? Then, murder and mayhem are the true legacy of the Human Race.
“Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man with his mouth.”
~ MARK TWAIN
2
Don't forget, Mr. Brooks, that Trump did not win a fair and democratic election. He won under an arrangement created by supposedly Enlightened thinkers who did not trust the people and so created the electoral college, weighted to accommodate slave owners. They also created the wildly undemocratic Senate, and disenfranchised women, people of color, and white men who did not own land. The ideas of the Founding Fathers were often beautiful but the reality they lived in, the blood and the bowels, were ugly and remain so today.
5
David, Bill Buckley would be proud! I suspect you've heard this many times but perhaps not from a lifelong Cook County Illinois Democrat & plaintiffs' trial lawyer.
Many philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato had harbored serious doubts about democracy. They believed that the masses are frivolous and gullible and cannot be trusted with self-governance. Plato had also feared that democracy would foster an extreme liberality which in turn would lead to disastrous tyranny. The ease with which the liberal German Weimar Republic transformed into the Nazi state is a cautionary tale. Extreme liberality often begets an opposite reaction. In the ensuing chaos, the environment becomes ripe for the emergence of an undesirable leader. Extremes of liberality are often as irrational as that of conservatism. So are the extremes of political left and political right. Rather than being guided by extremes of ideologies, a prudent society is supposed to take decisions that are rational and ethical.
https://medium.com/@rs3/ad-astra-per-aspera-be7198657e3e
Despite the reservations of those in antiquity, a government of everybody seems certainly more desirable than that of a few. At least in principle, no other form of government confers as much equality and justice for all its citizens as a democratic system. However, for the democratic system to work and for its lofty ideals to bear fruit, a well-educated citizenry is a prerequisite. Education being the greatest equalizer, ensuring universal education is, therefore, a moral obligation of the state and a matter of utmost priority for the survival of democracy.
https://medium.com/@rs3/ad-astra-per-aspera-be7198657e3e
Despite the reservations of those in antiquity, a government of everybody seems certainly more desirable than that of a few. At least in principle, no other form of government confers as much equality and justice for all its citizens as a democratic system. However, for the democratic system to work and for its lofty ideals to bear fruit, a well-educated citizenry is a prerequisite. Education being the greatest equalizer, ensuring universal education is, therefore, a moral obligation of the state and a matter of utmost priority for the survival of democracy.
4
I have to say it.
Nonsense, generalized pap.
Civilisations grow and change with the times, not olde tymes, current ones and the shapes coming up, if we are fortunate - and David's love of the Greedy Old Patriarchs blinds him to the fact that democracy's progress makes capitalism's defenders turn to authoritarian governancea la Trump and Pence: Shaddup, science stinks, colored folks used to know their place, America First. Lindbergh to McCarthy to Reagan to Dubya to Trump is a regression that has little to do with liberalism. It's been preached on FOX and unbalanced tv and "churches" that confuse Grace with Greed. You know, David Brooks' party and people. The fault is not our stars but the economic system that ate the books and history. David's system, not mine. And not Obama's, FDR's, Lincoln's, or the Founding Fathers'. Not Korea's or Turkey's. America's. You own it.
Nonsense, generalized pap.
Civilisations grow and change with the times, not olde tymes, current ones and the shapes coming up, if we are fortunate - and David's love of the Greedy Old Patriarchs blinds him to the fact that democracy's progress makes capitalism's defenders turn to authoritarian governancea la Trump and Pence: Shaddup, science stinks, colored folks used to know their place, America First. Lindbergh to McCarthy to Reagan to Dubya to Trump is a regression that has little to do with liberalism. It's been preached on FOX and unbalanced tv and "churches" that confuse Grace with Greed. You know, David Brooks' party and people. The fault is not our stars but the economic system that ate the books and history. David's system, not mine. And not Obama's, FDR's, Lincoln's, or the Founding Fathers'. Not Korea's or Turkey's. America's. You own it.
2
" the age of strong MEN ". And perhaps that's the problem. Testosterone Poisoning. Boys will be boys, and SOME will become out-of-control
" leaders ". Overwhelming ego and power is NOT a good combination.
" leaders ". Overwhelming ego and power is NOT a good combination.
Yet ironically, it's the conservatives who have failed to conserve it. Perhaps because the phase we are in calls for honest national self-reflection. In doing this, of course, we must confront colonialism, slavery, and Jackson's starved Cherokees. We must confront Matthew Shepherd and Harvey Milk, and Jim Crow laws. We must confront the unfairness that sent some Americans to die in Vietnam, while others got deferment after deferment.
We are having issues not because we have lost these ideals, but because we find them so hard to live out. Jefferson penned that "all men are created equal" but as a slave owner he failed to see that those who created his beautiful gardens, tended his household, and even, as we now with good evidence about Sally Hemmings, serve as a concubine.
To talk about these things is not to denigrate the ideals, but to challenge our nation to become, as someone famous once said, "a more perfect union."
Of course, the textbook committees of Texas school boards and the Kentucky governor (including the Democrat) would rather we hear the second grade story about Washington and the cherry tree or learn with tax subsidies that Noah had dinosaurs on the ark. That's what's killing the liberal arts in my college: kids are told the only reason they are in college is to learn a trade of some sort and make a living. Literature, art, philosophy, foreign languages, political science? What good are they? And this isn't coming from liberals, trust me.
We are having issues not because we have lost these ideals, but because we find them so hard to live out. Jefferson penned that "all men are created equal" but as a slave owner he failed to see that those who created his beautiful gardens, tended his household, and even, as we now with good evidence about Sally Hemmings, serve as a concubine.
To talk about these things is not to denigrate the ideals, but to challenge our nation to become, as someone famous once said, "a more perfect union."
Of course, the textbook committees of Texas school boards and the Kentucky governor (including the Democrat) would rather we hear the second grade story about Washington and the cherry tree or learn with tax subsidies that Noah had dinosaurs on the ark. That's what's killing the liberal arts in my college: kids are told the only reason they are in college is to learn a trade of some sort and make a living. Literature, art, philosophy, foreign languages, political science? What good are they? And this isn't coming from liberals, trust me.
7
Excellent. well written essay recalling Yeats's "The Second Coming:" Things fall apart; the center cannot hold!" Brooks is right on the inevitability of totatalitarian rule in the world, and the decline of democracy, especially with the omnipresent threat posed by zealots from the Caliphate. Folks will demand a strong man, express a willingness to give up liberties in return for remaining safe.Even if Le Pen does not win,pressure to insure security on any c-in-c , at expense of civil rights will be tremendous. Read Macdonald's account of being shut down by BLM at Clairmont and UCLA, and wonder if this is not the result of anti intellectualism in our educational system. Knowing trivium and quadrivium is no longer a requirement for graduation, and you can get your degree w/0 even being able to pass a diction, word usage test.Liberals have taken over education, and this is the result. Wonder if Deray Mckesson,head of BLM who was challenged by Dallas Police chief to try out for the force but got cold feet, was among those who threatened Ms.Macdonald and prevented her from speaking. Cause of BLM is worthy. I just don't respect its leaders. But Brooks's essay presages a future in which the "homme fort,"allegedly speaking for the majority of citizens, will become commonplace. Am reminded of conversation with a woman from Guatemala who lived under the iron rule of Gen. Rios Monnt. "At least the streets were safe" was her reply to one of my questions.
2
Democracy is a means towards an end. The end being prosperity and freedom. For all their defects autocrats like Putin and Erdogan have done a better job at realizing those things for their people than many Western democracies - that are too dominated by special interests to care about the common interest.
If you study history you will see that there have been many periods before where Western democracy was in a similar sorry state. And on the other hand: autocracies that work to improve the country are often a precursor t real democracy. See for example South Korea.
If you study history you will see that there have been many periods before where Western democracy was in a similar sorry state. And on the other hand: autocracies that work to improve the country are often a precursor t real democracy. See for example South Korea.
"I want to know what were the steps by which men passed from barbarism to civilization"- Voltaire
Title: Introduction on the Nature and Foundations of Civilization.
"Civilization is a social order promoting cultural creation."-Will Durant
Title: Introduction on the Nature and Foundations of Civilization.
"Civilization is a social order promoting cultural creation."-Will Durant
1
Once again, yet another column by Brooks decrying the loss of the "civil center", the failure of political moderation, while refusing to acknowledge that here in the US, that loss has been the direct result of the policies of the political party that he has spent his entire professional career supporting. Where were you, David, when Mitch McConnell and the GOP vowed to block anything and everything that Obama would try to do, for the sole purpose of making him a "one-term President"? Where were you, David, when Bush and Cheney used a pack of lies to justify our invasion and destruction of another sovereign nation that posed no threat to us? Where were you, David, when Reagan launched his candidacy in Philadelphia, Mississippi? Where were you, David, when Nixon and Atwater launched their "Southern Strategy" that made explicit racism the core value of the GOP?
But now you are going to complain about Donald Trump, without accepting any responsibility for the fact that you helped create him.
But now you are going to complain about Donald Trump, without accepting any responsibility for the fact that you helped create him.
3
Thank you for a well written, well reasoned article and the link to Heather MacDonald’s talk.
You gave us a picture of a modern lynch mob made up of so called progressives demanding rights while destroying others liberties.
The universities need to get their "Red Guards" under control before legislatures and alumni shut off the taps.
They may have given the keys of then asylum to the inmates, but they do not control the purse.
The cowardly silence of the faculty and administration leaves one speechless. I guess they don't want their ratings to go down hugely bigely,
You gave us a picture of a modern lynch mob made up of so called progressives demanding rights while destroying others liberties.
The universities need to get their "Red Guards" under control before legislatures and alumni shut off the taps.
They may have given the keys of then asylum to the inmates, but they do not control the purse.
The cowardly silence of the faculty and administration leaves one speechless. I guess they don't want their ratings to go down hugely bigely,
1
Instead of seeing Western Civilization as a history of oppression it should be looked at as a progression that has led to freedom from oppression. The tools, rights, and institutions created by Western Civilization freed South African’s from apartheid, American’s from Slavery and Jim Crow, and millions around the world from colonialism. Only in free societies with democratic institutions could the oppressed and the people who hated oppression fight and defeat the oppressors.
Of course, progress wasn’t made in a straight line. We often took one step forward and two steps back and there were economic catastrophes and global wars, but western civilization always bent the arc of history toward justice.
The illiberal left on college campuses threatens this progress and promises to create a new form of oppression based on political correctness and safe spaces where no one hears a discouraging word. That don’t want to end oppression they just want to flip it so they can oppress the people they disagree with, the religious and anyone on the right.
We still have a long way to go to build a just world and it is a tragedy that the left, which I always felt myself a part of and whose values I used to be able to whole wholeheartedly agree with, has switched from a driving force of that progress into the biggest obstacle to it.
Of course, progress wasn’t made in a straight line. We often took one step forward and two steps back and there were economic catastrophes and global wars, but western civilization always bent the arc of history toward justice.
The illiberal left on college campuses threatens this progress and promises to create a new form of oppression based on political correctness and safe spaces where no one hears a discouraging word. That don’t want to end oppression they just want to flip it so they can oppress the people they disagree with, the religious and anyone on the right.
We still have a long way to go to build a just world and it is a tragedy that the left, which I always felt myself a part of and whose values I used to be able to whole wholeheartedly agree with, has switched from a driving force of that progress into the biggest obstacle to it.
1
Western Civilization is currently viewed with disfavor precisely because it's had such a good run for the past several hundred years. Since maybe around the time of the Renaissance, Europeans experienced scientific, technological, and economic advances at a rapid rate. And they methodically and ruthlessly leveraged these advantages politically and militarily, conquering and exploiting most of the rest of the planet. But the same traditions of philosophical freedom and openness that allowed them to gain those advantages eventually led to the realization that practices such as slavery and colonization were not consistent with their philosophies.
We also need to remember to keep things in perspective. If you trace any civilization's history back far enough, you'll find that at some point their ancestors were brutal conquerors (or at least tried to be). And those ancestors would have happily enslaved or colonized Europe if they'd had the opportunity, and the shoe had been on the other foot. It's all a matter of how recent that might have been. For instance, I don't hear many people clamoring for apologies or reparations from the modern nation of Mongolia for things that happened during the reign of Ghengis Khan. But if you ask someone in the Middle East when the Crusades ended, you might get an answer like "last Tuesday."
We also need to remember to keep things in perspective. If you trace any civilization's history back far enough, you'll find that at some point their ancestors were brutal conquerors (or at least tried to be). And those ancestors would have happily enslaved or colonized Europe if they'd had the opportunity, and the shoe had been on the other foot. It's all a matter of how recent that might have been. For instance, I don't hear many people clamoring for apologies or reparations from the modern nation of Mongolia for things that happened during the reign of Ghengis Khan. But if you ask someone in the Middle East when the Crusades ended, you might get an answer like "last Tuesday."
1
Nah, it wasn't the universities who broke the transmission of Western Civ: it was the right wing "thinkers" who feared that Enlightenment values would bolster an argument for a more open, democratic, egalitarian, and free society.
The entire idea of teaching the liberal arts became suspect. It was a plan for history as cherrypicking, culture as wars over Merry Christmas and as thin gloss for racism.
As a result, we have people who are stunningly ignorant of our own culture and history elevated to decision making for a multicultural world weighted with history. When Bush II needs to be made aware that there is a difference between Shia and Sunni, when Louie Gohmert and Sarah Palin get attention, it's a feature of the new order. Not to mention a President who is the last person in America to discover that he's ignorant of everything and whose only talent is capitalizing on the fears and lies spread by those who are battling Western Civ and western civilization.
The entire idea of teaching the liberal arts became suspect. It was a plan for history as cherrypicking, culture as wars over Merry Christmas and as thin gloss for racism.
As a result, we have people who are stunningly ignorant of our own culture and history elevated to decision making for a multicultural world weighted with history. When Bush II needs to be made aware that there is a difference between Shia and Sunni, when Louie Gohmert and Sarah Palin get attention, it's a feature of the new order. Not to mention a President who is the last person in America to discover that he's ignorant of everything and whose only talent is capitalizing on the fears and lies spread by those who are battling Western Civ and western civilization.
1
Brooks argues that universities are to blame for the failure to defend Western ideals such as rational discourse, paving the way for the rise of strongmen like Erdogan and Putin. If this is the case, why do such leaders target universities? Erdogan has fired thousands of academics in an attempt to eliminate one of the few independent sources of reasoned dissent in the country. Perhaps Brooks has it precisely backwards. Universities are big and messy institutions and do not speak with one voice but have the capacity to speak truth to power
1
Nice piece Mr Brooks, however, you seem to have side stepped (once again) the tennet that you're partly responsible for what we're witnessing. Nevertheless, what prevents me from sleeping at night is at what point will the military and law enforcement institutions fold to the dictator (current or forthcoming)? When that happens, it will be the end of democracy in the US and the end of western civ as we have known it.
1
The responsibility of citizenship is to search for a vision to understand, encapsulate and accommodate social form, whether local or national. Information machinery has grown vast, ever invasive and incomprehensible. The scale of information about our bodies, our communities and our world is far beyond the comprehension of any single citizen. The products and services awaiting development cannot find enough engineers and experts to bring them into existence. While rapid change has been a salient topic of public discourse since the mid-twentieth century, nobody has ever found a successful way to stop the avalanche that overwhelms the attempt to comfortably package it into a modest set cognitive frameworks. Instead of trying to drink from a fire hose, why not use it to wash the stone wall, or to turn loose the water to wash out a swamp?
2
The idea that teaching the darker sides of our history in academia led to Trump is absurd. It is precisely the people who got an education and learned the full view of history who were the *most* opposed to Trump and the most supportive of centrist politics, both center-left and center-right. College educated whites were the demographic that swung most strongly against Trump; it was the people who weren't as exposed to modern critical education who voted for him. Looking abroad, the countries that are most critical of their history, such as the defeated Axis powers of Germany and Japan, also seem relatively immune to the illiberalism sweeping other parts of the world.
If we want to do a better job of preventing illiberalism, it sounds like we need to do a better job of teaching more people just how illiberal we have been. The idea of "it can't happen here" or "only other people do bad things" is a far greater cause of illiberalism than self-criticism.
If we want to do a better job of preventing illiberalism, it sounds like we need to do a better job of teaching more people just how illiberal we have been. The idea of "it can't happen here" or "only other people do bad things" is a far greater cause of illiberalism than self-criticism.
2
I expect better from you , mr. Brooks. Where is your party in maintaining fairness, honesty, patriotism, belief in the constitutions, trust in government, and a sense of the job of government is to serve the people not just the corporations. Instead you blame the universities which have been on the chopping block since Reagan. Remember the firing of the University Chancellor of the UC system. It will be bumpy, but our democracy will prevail. Note that the majority of Americans voted for Hillary and they are out there in droves fighting back. Democracy will come back stronger than ever..
2
I disagree that Trump is a strong man. I would call him a weak man obsessed with greed and celebrity. He will fall because at least in the U.S. (hopefully in Western Europe as well) democratic institutions remain sturdy. The formidable challenge to democratic rule in my view is the enormous disparity of wealth, and it is incumbent upon our institutions to address this growing problem by implementing progressive policies that begin righting the playing field by transforming citizens into stakeholders.
Who is the we that thinks this?
THEY ARE ALL YOUR SIDE. You preach to the converted here.
American Conservatives are the biggest danger to 'Western civ' by showing how stupid they are to the whole world - no one wants to emulate idiots.
The 'West' has successfully dumbed down their populations so much that fear and ignorance will make democracy fail. Where are the engineers and doctors? Asia. When you read of a discovery is it 'Adam Smith' or is it an unpronounceable name you read? Americans have become the most mediocre 1st world I have seen.
THEY ARE ALL YOUR SIDE. You preach to the converted here.
American Conservatives are the biggest danger to 'Western civ' by showing how stupid they are to the whole world - no one wants to emulate idiots.
The 'West' has successfully dumbed down their populations so much that fear and ignorance will make democracy fail. Where are the engineers and doctors? Asia. When you read of a discovery is it 'Adam Smith' or is it an unpronounceable name you read? Americans have become the most mediocre 1st world I have seen.
1
I remember reading how Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke and Joseph Priestley uncovered the mysteries of respiration in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I was struck by words like "dissenting clergyman". Dissenting clergyman? What the hell is that? In Latin America, the dictatorial Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition took good care of any dissenting clergymen. The freedom to question is essential for progress and prosperity, and it is, I'm afraid, a legacy of Western Civilization.
"Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative." True, but many people never knew that narrative; those don't count in DB’s world because they were/are mere hewers of wood etc. Magna Carta was a deal for the barons. It’s only connection to the churls and villains was that it was a step away from tyrannical monarchy. And in the home of Magna C, that journey isn’t over. (Wait until T. May becomes T. Rex after the UK election.)
On the other hand, America has always had extreme right-wing fanatics. They sympathized with Hitler. They lynched blacks. They turned the dogs loose on protestors. And they are now running the executive branch. They are not new. They’ve been turned loose by a minority of voters. Only in bloody dictatorships have we seen participation in “elections” approach 100%. In “western” countries before this century it was rarely over 70%. But something happened in Europe. More people voted. They were on the march, even if they didn’t know where they were going. In the USA, since 1900, voter turnout has not exceeded 70%, while 2016 saw participation near a two-decade low. A minority gave us the antithesis of a Renaissance man as POTUS. The fish stinks from the head down.
On the other hand, America has always had extreme right-wing fanatics. They sympathized with Hitler. They lynched blacks. They turned the dogs loose on protestors. And they are now running the executive branch. They are not new. They’ve been turned loose by a minority of voters. Only in bloody dictatorships have we seen participation in “elections” approach 100%. In “western” countries before this century it was rarely over 70%. But something happened in Europe. More people voted. They were on the march, even if they didn’t know where they were going. In the USA, since 1900, voter turnout has not exceeded 70%, while 2016 saw participation near a two-decade low. A minority gave us the antithesis of a Renaissance man as POTUS. The fish stinks from the head down.
1
We will never revert to the old beliefs about Western civilization any more than we will revert to using the beliefs of Newton instead of the beliefs of Einstein and Bohr. For better or worse the days of doing this are gone forever.
32
As a scientist, I can tell you that we absolutely rely on the fundamental truths that Newton codified, in combination with those discovered by Bohr, Einstein, and countless others. They are all powerful tools for understanding our world, they do not invalidate each other.
As a socitety, why can't we also develop a complete understanding of our history and our culture?
As a socitety, why can't we also develop a complete understanding of our history and our culture?
2
You treat Newton, Einstein and Bohr as "beliefs" as if they are religious doctrines. This is a category error. These are theories amply proven in many ways. Bohr's does not invalidate Einstein, nor Einstein invalidate Newton -- each builds on the other and accurately describes and predicts certain categories of things in the universe.
Or, to put it in simply: Relativity does not stop the apple from falling from the tree.
Or, to put it in simply: Relativity does not stop the apple from falling from the tree.
2
Ha! What a thing to say. As if science is comparable to Socrates. Are we getting wiser? Does wisdom and culture advance as science does? Is today's culture better than it was at any point in the past? Science has a built-in inevitability to its advancement; civilization, my friend, does not. There are things, no matter how old, that will never be surpassed or replaced, will never be outdated, and should never be. Not everything progresses -- in fact, many things regress.
With the powerful control that money has over our politics, a factor that was accelerated with Citizens United, it's no surprise that people are losing faith in American democracy.
1
There is no need for the public square to be "religiously informed" as those exposed to faith-based reasoning are usually misinformed. Brooks ignores the profound conflict between the advance of Western civilization and the pernicious influence of religion. Certainly for the last 500 years or so, religion has acted as a drag on most of the advances of Western civilization. The current "mess" which is well articulated by Brooks is largely the result of religious-type thinking, i.e., the acceptance of falsehoods "on faith."
1
Something happens when you get older and reflect on the direction the world is heading, that makes people think fondly of the "good ol days". Whether its nostalgia or worry from breaking from the status quo, older individuals tend to have a cynical perspective about the present. The moral fabric of this country is falling apart! No one is going to church anymore! Kids have lost their respect! I wonder if Brooks remembers his grandfather talking about the glory days. Cue the Springsteen
While I agree with all the comments about Western Civ leaving out women, people of color, LBGTQ people and colonial people it seems to me a more obvious critique of the idea of that Western Civ ever existed is World War I and World War II. If that's what the people who brought us Western Civ do to each other (and everybody else who were just minding their own business while they're at it) then it is time for some new ideas. The world is in the state it is in because of the resolution of these catastrophes brought about by those in charge of Western Civilization.
1
An article by Rachel Nuwer published April 18 on the BBC, "How Wester Civilization Could Collapse," is far more instructive than David Brooks's lament because it goes beyond the idea of Western Civilization and instead delves deeply into the global impact of environmental and economic forces that are combining to challenge our democratic principles. Coping with the stressors of climate change, population growth and "dropping energy returns," as cheap fossil fuels become more environmentally expensive, will require reason, goodwill and a willingness to cooperate beyond tribal, national and class boundaries, themes that sounds more like the teachings Pope Francis and the Dahli Lama than the governing principles of political leaders active today.
1
How can we worry about learning the history of western civilization when most people can't afford to go to college? Even when they can teaching the humanities and social sciences is just an afterthought. Getting big money out of all levels of government is a good first step and then raise taxes to a level that can actually sustain our first world country over the long haul.
84
In the 1950s, state universities were affordable, but now they are are expensive. The reasons include: the growth of bloated bureaucracies in university administrations, and the siphoning of money into athletic programs and away from academic programs. Both are fixable.
1
Hey Rick. I share your concerns, but want to point out that Western Civ isn't just something taught at universities - first, it starts in grade school, but more importantly, for the past century at least it's informed every sphere of life - I would wager more than 99% of American recognize the concept of freedom of speech and the press, it would be near impossible to grow up not knowing. I'm taking valuable time to share this - show me I'm making any impact at all, and you'll make my day. Best, Aaron
The fall of western civilization has been a conservative trope since Seneca.
3
1935-1975 Hmm. What else was happening in those years? Oh yes - the rise of Nazi Germany to the fall of Vietnam. At least 60 million deaths fighting over colonialism (a Western contribution Brooks overlooks). It's a little surprising the non-Western world put up with our "leadership" for as long as they did - but we didn't give them much of a choice did we.
2
I think its a gross oversimplification to say faith in western civilization has collapsed. All examples listed in this Op-ed have one common cause, leadership. This is one of the main reasons people are gravitating to more authoritarian politicians.
2
I do think that many on the Right tend to whole-heartedly embrace intolerance and authoritarianism. I haven't found that this is true of the left or of the center. I will say that those of us on the Left tend toward snobbery with a hint of socialism. But then again, we tend to be educated and rational, and the Right is less so and seems to want others to do their thinking for them and tell them how to feel. They seem ripe for a dictatorship, as seen by their embrace of Trump, who would be a third-world dictator-for-life if given half a chance.
2
I might not be as bright as David but I always looked at religion as tending towards the authoritarian by it's very nature. Sure you can point out cases of religion being used to advance freedom and liberal thought but for every one of those examples there are at least five on the other side of the spectrum.
Is it possible to be non religious, on the center left in politics AND believe Western Civilization is superior in many ways to most others? I imagine I'm in a pretty small minority.
Is it possible to be non religious, on the center left in politics AND believe Western Civilization is superior in many ways to most others? I imagine I'm in a pretty small minority.
2
Mr. Brooks over simplifies a series of competing ideas and philosophies, while failing to provide depth of analysis or understanding between the permeability of ideas and philosophy that have been exchanged between the world's cultures over the millennia. He does intellectual history the same disservice as the closed minded students, Trumps, or mullahs in so doing.
Brooks like Dowd spent years sniping at Hillary and now regrets the carnage his supercilious ivy-league posing conservatism hath wrought.
Brooks like Dowd spent years sniping at Hillary and now regrets the carnage his supercilious ivy-league posing conservatism hath wrought.
3
Why does Brooks believe that the ideals he is promoting here rely on a "noble lie" about our history for their validity? Why can't one defend liberal democracy while also being honest about the past?
3
Obviously Mr. Brooks sees himself as this deep thinker, able to discern the large shifts of historical proportions. Hence this rather ridiculous analysis of what ails "western civilization" today.
One only has to go back less than one century to see the shortsightedness of the Brooks analysis. "Western civilization" was being attacked and was close to extinction by the nationalistic fervor of the Nazi era and the anti-western, anti-judeo-christian movement of the Bolshevik revolutions around the world.
Yes, there are very disturbing trends around the world, anti-liberal, anti-democratic trends, but to argue that they are due to changing trends in how universities choose to teach history, or the values of western civilization, is arrogantly short-sighted. Most people who voted for Trump, for the Erdogan dictatorship, who may vote for LePen in France, have never been in classes where "western civilization" is taught.
One only has to go back less than one century to see the shortsightedness of the Brooks analysis. "Western civilization" was being attacked and was close to extinction by the nationalistic fervor of the Nazi era and the anti-western, anti-judeo-christian movement of the Bolshevik revolutions around the world.
Yes, there are very disturbing trends around the world, anti-liberal, anti-democratic trends, but to argue that they are due to changing trends in how universities choose to teach history, or the values of western civilization, is arrogantly short-sighted. Most people who voted for Trump, for the Erdogan dictatorship, who may vote for LePen in France, have never been in classes where "western civilization" is taught.
4
Just read the account of Macdonald's Claremont McKenna visit. Here we must
remember that the Republican Political Machine has refused to give us
responsible gun control legislation since the 1960's.
remember that the Republican Political Machine has refused to give us
responsible gun control legislation since the 1960's.
3
A major flaw in Western Civ tomes and classes is that they elevate the study of white history and philosophy above those of the Orient, the Mideast and Africa. The Great Wall of China and the centuries of eastern philosophy and religion are ignored; the Great Zimbabwe (look it up) and the history of the African peoples prior to the arbitrary divisions of their lands is called European civilization of inferior peoples; and Middle Eastern religion and history were overwhelmed by the Crusades' designed to elevate Christianity over Islam.
So don't cry over the demise of Western Civ — mourn the fact that we don't have classes in World Civilation.
So don't cry over the demise of Western Civ — mourn the fact that we don't have classes in World Civilation.
139
We do have those classes in world civilization, actually. I took them in high school as well as in college, and that was longer ago than last year. One would hope there'd be more of them these days.
Durant's focus was on the part of history that mattered most to and was most intelligible to his readers. Not much was happening south of the Sahara, the orient was well represented in his work, the far east less so as it was remote and did not directly affect western civilization.
David, you say the decline began "particularly" with the universities. That is an interesting spin. One could say that the rise of self determinations by formerly colonized people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America coupled with the rise movements for fully equality under the law in America by African Americans, women, LBGT, and Latinos AND the resulting authoritarian blowback, particularly by Republicans is the real reason for the decline.
3
Mr. Brooks doesn't merely suggest a correlation; he goes straight to causation: the woes of our time are a "consequence" of critiques of the Western Civ narrative. But this logic doesn't hold water. To take only one example, the most destructive, terrifying illiberalism in the West came during the 1930s, as Germany and Italy turned the narrative of Western progress into the dream of domination––all in the name of superior values and technological genius.
And this happened at a time when schools in the US and Europe rarely bothered to critically assess the darker side of Western history, from Atlantic slavery to colonial genocide. An unblemished Western Civ narrative was taught as gospel. But somehow the rising illiberalism of our own time is the fault of educators who don't gloss over the fact that aggression and liberty are *both* part of the story of the West?
And this happened at a time when schools in the US and Europe rarely bothered to critically assess the darker side of Western history, from Atlantic slavery to colonial genocide. An unblemished Western Civ narrative was taught as gospel. But somehow the rising illiberalism of our own time is the fault of educators who don't gloss over the fact that aggression and liberty are *both* part of the story of the West?
5
I agree about the ill advised silencing of controversial speakers at Universities. Not listening to opposing thought is stupid and does not serve democracy regardless of your political viewpoint.
However, I disagree with your Left-Right scale.
The Republican Party is Hard Right and anything past that is simple corporate authoritarianism- I will spare you the common use term Fascist. The God of our age is the Corporation and the interests of a narrow elite. The intentions, ants and desires of the vast majority do not count.
The Democratic Party is Center Right and the Progressives are now engaged in a battle for the soul of the Clintonite leadership.
After Sandy Hook most Americans, most Republicans and most Gun Owners wanted common sense changes to our gun laws and yet nothing happened. The two most popular Federal Programs are Social Security and Medicare, yet there has been a better than 50 year Jihad by Peter G Peterson and others to destroy both programs. A listing of the disconnect between the wants of a broad majority of the American people and the actions of Presidents, Courts and Congress could fill a large volume.
Why is that?
President Jimmy Carter a couple of years back (2015) on the Thom Hartmann Radio Program said that America was now an Oligarchy- not becoming- is, as in currently. Here is a link to the comment (1 minute 26 seconds) on the Program's You Tube Page ( https://youtu.be/hDsPWmioSHg ). That is a former President, people.
However, I disagree with your Left-Right scale.
The Republican Party is Hard Right and anything past that is simple corporate authoritarianism- I will spare you the common use term Fascist. The God of our age is the Corporation and the interests of a narrow elite. The intentions, ants and desires of the vast majority do not count.
The Democratic Party is Center Right and the Progressives are now engaged in a battle for the soul of the Clintonite leadership.
After Sandy Hook most Americans, most Republicans and most Gun Owners wanted common sense changes to our gun laws and yet nothing happened. The two most popular Federal Programs are Social Security and Medicare, yet there has been a better than 50 year Jihad by Peter G Peterson and others to destroy both programs. A listing of the disconnect between the wants of a broad majority of the American people and the actions of Presidents, Courts and Congress could fill a large volume.
Why is that?
President Jimmy Carter a couple of years back (2015) on the Thom Hartmann Radio Program said that America was now an Oligarchy- not becoming- is, as in currently. Here is a link to the comment (1 minute 26 seconds) on the Program's You Tube Page ( https://youtu.be/hDsPWmioSHg ). That is a former President, people.
6
Dave
The removal of western civilization from academia is solely a function of progressive liberals. For more than four decades they have berated western civilization and "white European culture" as oppressors. You know them well. These are the same people that pay you weekly as an employee of the New York Times.
Look at your colleagues on the Opinion pages. Charles Blow and Paul Krugman cannot write an article without a scathing statement toward someone who thinks differently than they do. So much for reasoned discourse in the public square. Blow in particular has written articles that read like manifestos.
Dave, you are marinating in the cultural trend you seem to raise alarms about.
The removal of western civilization from academia is solely a function of progressive liberals. For more than four decades they have berated western civilization and "white European culture" as oppressors. You know them well. These are the same people that pay you weekly as an employee of the New York Times.
Look at your colleagues on the Opinion pages. Charles Blow and Paul Krugman cannot write an article without a scathing statement toward someone who thinks differently than they do. So much for reasoned discourse in the public square. Blow in particular has written articles that read like manifestos.
Dave, you are marinating in the cultural trend you seem to raise alarms about.
1
So many point it out each week,nu but Mr. Brooks never writes a column about the moral and civic devastation wrought by the Republican Party since Reagan. Always hand-wringing about secular liberals and their horrid tolerance of diversity and concern for cultural narratives beyond that of the wealthy plutocrats Mr. Brooks prefers, never does he look squarely at his own tribe of cultural terrorists but instead strains to magnify the most miniscule error of his secular, liberal nemesis to achieve a self-righteousness almost unmatched in the NYT. 50 times a week Brooks is asked to apply his analytical nature to a clear-eyed look at the GOP and 52 weeks a year he looks away. Why is that, Mr. Brooks?
5
This generation knows so much less liberal arts than past generations. Yada yada yada.
Until the US stops illegally invading non-Western countries, the Western bashing should continue. GWB wad going to bring democracy to Iraq. 500 000 dead civilians and counting.
Until the US stops illegally invading non-Western countries, the Western bashing should continue. GWB wad going to bring democracy to Iraq. 500 000 dead civilians and counting.
2
This is a jumbled and confused article. Brooks has long been infected by the anti-Trump hysteria characteristic of the Left, but this article is even worse than usual. Trump is hardly an ideal man, an ideal politician or an ideal President, but the totalitarian Left and the overly-fastidious Brooks (and his ilk) have been driven crazy by his election.
It is nothing short of obscene to include Trump with dictators such as "Putin, Erdogan, el-Sisi, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un" -- and it is disrespectful to their many victims. Being tortured to death because you dared to say something the Great Leader didn't like is hardly the same as not having a "safe space" at your university. [Indeed, even incluidiing the others with Kim Jong-un is also obscene.] Trump may be a boor and (in some areas) an ignoramus, but he does not have the blood of hundreds or thousands of his citizens (or millions in the case of Kim Jong-un) on his hands.
While Brooks overall point, that the elites in the West are losing (or have alreasy lost) their faith in Western Civilization, is true, the solution is not to elect yet another anti-US, racial/gender redistributionist Democrat. Trump was, to paraphrase Churchill, the least desirable candidate, except for all the others.
And, Mr. Brooks, if you think Trump is reactionary and oppressive, you are the ahistorical ignoramus. If Trump fails, he will ultimately be replaced by someone like Putin, if you are lucky, or like Kim Jong-un, if you are not.
It is nothing short of obscene to include Trump with dictators such as "Putin, Erdogan, el-Sisi, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un" -- and it is disrespectful to their many victims. Being tortured to death because you dared to say something the Great Leader didn't like is hardly the same as not having a "safe space" at your university. [Indeed, even incluidiing the others with Kim Jong-un is also obscene.] Trump may be a boor and (in some areas) an ignoramus, but he does not have the blood of hundreds or thousands of his citizens (or millions in the case of Kim Jong-un) on his hands.
While Brooks overall point, that the elites in the West are losing (or have alreasy lost) their faith in Western Civilization, is true, the solution is not to elect yet another anti-US, racial/gender redistributionist Democrat. Trump was, to paraphrase Churchill, the least desirable candidate, except for all the others.
And, Mr. Brooks, if you think Trump is reactionary and oppressive, you are the ahistorical ignoramus. If Trump fails, he will ultimately be replaced by someone like Putin, if you are lucky, or like Kim Jong-un, if you are not.
In the end God is in charge of history and not human beings.
We need to cherish and preserve Western civ. The modern world would cease to be what it is without it - for those that caught the wave.
However, Western civ has also been about destructive use of military power to engineer the world to its own image - and to its own economic benefit. How to undo Sykes-Picot or Iraq II, Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan? Even now, as we demonstrate MOABs in the wasteland of our making - Afghanistan, and bring the world to the brink of Nuclear War in the to Korean Peninsula and enviously wish to put the Globalization genie back in the bottle because it no longer serves our needs - or close our minds to "foreign" ideas, or ignore the dangers of climate change, or let our people slide into economic depravity because of our hostility to economic fairness, and place racial politics ahead of humanism - well maybe we're only left with Canada as the engine of Western Civ, and that may not be enough.
However, Western civ has also been about destructive use of military power to engineer the world to its own image - and to its own economic benefit. How to undo Sykes-Picot or Iraq II, Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan? Even now, as we demonstrate MOABs in the wasteland of our making - Afghanistan, and bring the world to the brink of Nuclear War in the to Korean Peninsula and enviously wish to put the Globalization genie back in the bottle because it no longer serves our needs - or close our minds to "foreign" ideas, or ignore the dangers of climate change, or let our people slide into economic depravity because of our hostility to economic fairness, and place racial politics ahead of humanism - well maybe we're only left with Canada as the engine of Western Civ, and that may not be enough.
3
I am not sure about Turkey whether it is eastern or western country. We like to criticize Erdogan because he is erratic and undemocratic. But what about our president? What is the background and history of western civilization and values? It is the history of colonizing and illegally occupying and ruling the Asian and Africa countries by force. The British Empire committed genocide in India , looted the country and destroyed the traditional civilization. What French did to Algeria and so many African countries? The history of western civ. is two world war, killing ruthlessly Jewish people. Europe had leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Lenin and all of them committed genocide. We illegally attacked Iraq and killed almost 200,000 people. What we did to Iran removing Mosaddek , an elected leader and putting Shah in power. Same thing done in Indonesia putting Suharto in power who killed so many of his own people. We did to Allende in Chilli and kept Pinochet ,the killer in power for decades.
4
I think there has been a rather robust criticism of our own President; not as much as he deserves, perhaps, but it's out there.
1
Capitalism is failing the middle class, and this makes Brooks uncomfortable. Maybe stop trying to force morality on an immoral system.
2
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 22 October 1945
As true today as it was then...
Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 22 October 1945
As true today as it was then...
1
Yes, the university-leftists overreached, but in the USA the dominant role was played by the right wing, which found that shrieking lies and picking and demonizing political enemies was a route to power. Help us walk them back, Mr Brooks.
6
Either you support free-speech and a pluralistic society or you don't.
It's no excuse to say you engage in censorship and demonizing of other viewpoints, but it's okay because you do it to a lesser extent than the other side.
It's no excuse to say you engage in censorship and demonizing of other viewpoints, but it's okay because you do it to a lesser extent than the other side.
The demonization of the few university students that overreached, and drawing an equivalence for the excesses of the right wing, has been a constant theme of Mr. Brooks, and makes me wonder if he really is not picking sides in this new blame game.
1
@PH but it's not ok to slam the vast majority of serious minded and curious students with the implied assertion that they are all closed minded and a danger to civilization.
I read this earlier this AM.
There are points I agree on and those I disagree but that would take too long to compose.
But here's my take:
A nation, any nation, depends upon a shared political and social paradigm. A republic and this is a republic, depends upon an educated electorate. We seem to be missing both who have gone AWOL.
There are points I agree on and those I disagree but that would take too long to compose.
But here's my take:
A nation, any nation, depends upon a shared political and social paradigm. A republic and this is a republic, depends upon an educated electorate. We seem to be missing both who have gone AWOL.
5
The crisis of Western Civilization is that we have had a total failure of leadership in that our politicians have given over our government to the corporations and big banks and they have allowed little to be done to stop climate change. Our leaders have left us high and dry and the changing climate will end our civilization as we know it. They have allowed this to happen because of greed - plain and simple. They caved into the desire for money over principle and what is right and good for their people and their countries. They've even allowed the big banks destroy the economy and punished very few of the people who orchestrated the destruction. When you allow such a massive wrong to go unpunished and even allow those who committed the wrong to make even more money you know your civilization is done - FINISHED.
126
Bravo, Joe! Many thanks for a great contribution.
We no longer believe in democracy because the ideal of one person one vote has become one dollar one vote.
Vicious unfettered and inhumane capitalism is our religion and political philosophy. That is what western civilization has come to now. That is not something that inspires love and admiration. Just greed and cynicism.
Vicious unfettered and inhumane capitalism is our religion and political philosophy. That is what western civilization has come to now. That is not something that inspires love and admiration. Just greed and cynicism.
its just not faith but other elements of western civilization. One should note how in secondary schools and universities, especially in the US, the roots of classical civilization are for all practical purposes not even taught (I..e, Roman and Greek history, western thinkers, etc.). I have had students who did not know who Voltaire or Cicero was. Did not know that the origins of the the Senate were Roman.
Much of this is simply due to racial self - hatred. As these were "lily white" civilization and dead Caucasian males they are not longer looked upon as worthy of teaching. It is this racial hatred that is running amuck and destroying Western civilization.
Much of this is simply due to racial self - hatred. As these were "lily white" civilization and dead Caucasian males they are not longer looked upon as worthy of teaching. It is this racial hatred that is running amuck and destroying Western civilization.
3
I don't believe what you say is true at all. The reason why many colleges are not teaching these specific courses or the courses are not as readily available to students, is economic. Many colleges simply cannot afford to hire faculty with an expertise in a subject that might not be offered every semester. Furthermore, adjuncts with this expertise are not common.
The reason why many students do not know about the Roman senate, for example, is not that it is "lily white." It is because education has changed from being meant to broaden experience and understanding, to imparting skills for careers and economic independence.
The reason why many students do not know about the Roman senate, for example, is not that it is "lily white." It is because education has changed from being meant to broaden experience and understanding, to imparting skills for careers and economic independence.
No, Yoda, it's just plain, unvarnished ignorance due to shortchanging students' education by cutting back budgets. Thanks to Republicans!
1
blu sky, these topics, when I was in high school (in the 1970s) were taught. Today they are not. It is difficult to believe that economic reasons are behind it (more like political pandering and racial identity). With respect to imparting skills, schools did that back then to. Probably far better than they do today. Today schools are just worse.
1
The only real Crisis of Western Civ is sitting in the White House arranging his hair and makeup, stuffing his and his children's pockets with your tax money. There is so much money to steal he brought in other morons and thieves.
The Murdochs, the Kochs, Adelson, McConnell, Ryan et al are seeing their dreams come true.
You may as well quit reading books, Mr. Brooks. None of the above do.
The Murdochs, the Kochs, Adelson, McConnell, Ryan et al are seeing their dreams come true.
You may as well quit reading books, Mr. Brooks. None of the above do.
3
Thankfully we have left the Obama Age of cruise control and just coast. The misplaced anger of the left will continue to prevail with violent protests and physical damage to people and property. People can see it for themselves and they do not need a biased columnist guiding them.
That "cruise control" kept us out of all the mistakes you see being made now by this misguided administration.
"The faith in the West collapsed from within."
"These days, the whole idea of Western civ is assumed to be reactionary and oppressive."
These two broad assertions merit more investigative and substantial reporting from the Times to explore their veracity. At least give us a pro-con op-ed debate format or a magazine feature for a start.
"These days, the whole idea of Western civ is assumed to be reactionary and oppressive."
These two broad assertions merit more investigative and substantial reporting from the Times to explore their veracity. At least give us a pro-con op-ed debate format or a magazine feature for a start.
If the overall portrait of contemporary issues weren't so bleak, I would get a kick out of the idea that the fall of western civilization can be laid at the hands of university professors!
I have lived my entire adult life in the belief that ideas matter. But not for a minute did I ever think, even as one, that professors had so much influence.
I, too, have deep concerns about the current state of global political affairs and domestic matters such as the violent protests on our college campuses. But to look for root causes, history indeed has much to teach us, for better and for worse.
I have lived my entire adult life in the belief that ideas matter. But not for a minute did I ever think, even as one, that professors had so much influence.
I, too, have deep concerns about the current state of global political affairs and domestic matters such as the violent protests on our college campuses. But to look for root causes, history indeed has much to teach us, for better and for worse.
87
Your conclusion about university professors misses the deeper point.... look back at how many history departments used to exist. Now they've been peeled off into all kinds of studies. Our fascination with smaller bits of history and our worthwhile concern for indigenous people have splintered the larger story.
When students in China don't know what the episode of Tiananmen Square is (as is now the case), we can see that lack of knowledge of the past is a tool, intentional or not, of totalitarianism, which may be our next chapter in Western Civilization.
When students in China don't know what the episode of Tiananmen Square is (as is now the case), we can see that lack of knowledge of the past is a tool, intentional or not, of totalitarianism, which may be our next chapter in Western Civilization.
Money trumps morality.
5
In a nutshell, yeah. That's the problem.
America has replaced shared morality and sacrifice ideals with Wall Street, libertarian individualistic ethos - greed is good.
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 film about a boat that has been destroyed, leaving criminals dead, and the key to this mystery lies with the only survivor and his twisted, convoluted story beginning with five career crooks in a seemingly random police lineup.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
Rephrasing of the phrase "the finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist" by Charles Baudelaire
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Usual_Suspects
America has replaced shared morality and sacrifice ideals with Wall Street, libertarian individualistic ethos - greed is good.
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 film about a boat that has been destroyed, leaving criminals dead, and the key to this mystery lies with the only survivor and his twisted, convoluted story beginning with five career crooks in a seemingly random police lineup.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
Rephrasing of the phrase "the finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist" by Charles Baudelaire
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Usual_Suspects
"Corporations are people, my friend." Thus spoke Romney and the Western Civilization (American version) realized it had no clothes.
Like all other examples in history, an enduring and successful civilization must have a coherent ideology, a killer app that goes with it and an economic model.
Western civ's fundamental ideology is racial superiority and white supremacy. The killer app is provided courtesy of Christianity and its missionary vision.
Put the two together and you can see why it led to the extermination of millions upon millions of other folks with different-looking faces.
As these two organizational principles lost steam and weakened, the economic model took over most of their functions: it is now both THE ideology (capitalism) and THE killer app (globalization/development/speculation) all in one.
The result is that the only entities with any rights left in society ARE the corporations. We the citizens ("the people?") are at their mercy.
Like all other examples in history, an enduring and successful civilization must have a coherent ideology, a killer app that goes with it and an economic model.
Western civ's fundamental ideology is racial superiority and white supremacy. The killer app is provided courtesy of Christianity and its missionary vision.
Put the two together and you can see why it led to the extermination of millions upon millions of other folks with different-looking faces.
As these two organizational principles lost steam and weakened, the economic model took over most of their functions: it is now both THE ideology (capitalism) and THE killer app (globalization/development/speculation) all in one.
The result is that the only entities with any rights left in society ARE the corporations. We the citizens ("the people?") are at their mercy.
3
I thought going to a university was for broadening your education, not making a statement. Where have we gone wrong?
Embezzled in stone on many campus is the motto "the truth will set you free". Today it's whose truth you choose to embrace that sets you on course, whether it be right or wrong. Some shout "God is Great" as they go on a killing spree while others say the same as they work in poor neighborhoods to help those in need.
It does the world no good to have divisive leaders spewing hate and falsehoods. When will truth and justice finally overtake this alternate reality. It actually starts with a good education, especially in our universities offering the freedom of truth.
Embezzled in stone on many campus is the motto "the truth will set you free". Today it's whose truth you choose to embrace that sets you on course, whether it be right or wrong. Some shout "God is Great" as they go on a killing spree while others say the same as they work in poor neighborhoods to help those in need.
It does the world no good to have divisive leaders spewing hate and falsehoods. When will truth and justice finally overtake this alternate reality. It actually starts with a good education, especially in our universities offering the freedom of truth.
So much for the end of history.
Putting Mr. Cameron alongside Mr. Obama and Frau Merkel is quite a stretch.
"Western civilization is a history of oppression."
Twas ever thus. Human "nature" doesn't change. :-(
Twas ever thus. Human "nature" doesn't change. :-(
Underneath the the philosophical phrases and trappings, Brooks is just a typical Republican: If there's a problem, blame education and blame the left.
As if the crowds cheering on Thumper Don were all leftist university grads! As if Ted Nugent and Kid Rock were "radicalized" on left wing college campuses. Get real, Brooks - they never even got near higher education.
What a joke of an argument.
Trump and his cronies in chaos would gladly roll back the entire Enlightenment if they could, and they certainly seem to be trying to do so.
As if the crowds cheering on Thumper Don were all leftist university grads! As if Ted Nugent and Kid Rock were "radicalized" on left wing college campuses. Get real, Brooks - they never even got near higher education.
What a joke of an argument.
Trump and his cronies in chaos would gladly roll back the entire Enlightenment if they could, and they certainly seem to be trying to do so.
9
Oh please, Brooks spread the blame on all who deserve it. Did you actually read his article?
Yes I did read it and I just re-read it, which leads me to wonder if you did. The article mostly cites evidence for the decline of the traditional (optimistic, best case scenario) 'western civilization' thinking - which is hard to argue with - and parks the responsibility at the door of (leftest) academia. No mention of Saint Ronald's dumping of the correctly named Fairness Doctrine at the behest of Roger Ailes, to mention just one case that the blame might be spread to.
1
The narrative of Western civilization is missing an important point: As these ideas first came into live Athens was a democracy of sorts, excluding women, slaves and foreigners. Plato was not your exact standard bearer of Human Rights and Aristotle served one of the crulest kings in the ancient world. Cicero was a Republican for sure, but he was no man of the people either. And so it goes on: Many of the Founding Fathers were slaveholders sometimes commingling with their female servants and the French revolutionaries send Olympe de'Gouge to the scaffold for her defending of women's rights. Western civilization is was it is - a great narrative and nothing else.
2
So I guess the Postmodernists are responsible for the rise of Trump? A little simplistic, don't you think. I,too, share Mr. Brooks disdain for "Critical Theory," with its glib notion that "all truth is constructed." But I know that the REAL threat to American Democracy isn't coming from the Left. It's coming from Right Wing Demagogues--the inevitable result of an economic crisis brought about, at least in part, by policies which people like Mr. Brooks long supported. America isn't devolving into the Women's Studies dept at Berkeley, Mr. Brooks. America is devolving into Fascism. And you, as a public intellectual, were part of the problem. But thanks for the lesson in Western Civ! Too bad it won't be read by anyone who really needs it.
4
Brooks is being disingenuous. Many young people, followers of Bernie Sanders, are warming to socialism with universal healthcare and free college education.
Western civilization has been built on the drifting sands of confusion and delusion. There is no societal fix. Each of us, each human from birth through to death, must turn inward for balanced action in the world.
What a whiny spiel! First of all the past 40 years have been a corrective to the notion that Western Civ is the only real civ and all others are primitive others. From great hubris comes great blowback. Now we can appreciate the good the West has brought and the Bad. The Durant books told a tale comforting to middle class Americans, but it was no less propagandistic than Pravda. We still have a movement to deny any unpleasant aspects of our history as evidenced by textbook battles in Texas. So many of the USA's problems come from our steadfast refusal to consider any ideas not our own as worthwhile. A nation that elected Trump is not a nation that needs is myth of superiority over all others reinforced
2
The history of Western Civilization is the history of white men. Without them the year 2017 would be very much like the year 1017. I would definitely not have the handheld device I am now typing on. Everything would be horse and wagon.
1
This greatly exaggerates the threats. See my response forthcoming in 2 weeks in the Journal of Democracy.
"All I can say is, if you think that was reactionary and oppressive, wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it."
Sorry, David, superior white oppression, "wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it," is a poor defense of Western civ. If the West is now assumed to be reactionary and oppressive, it is not because the rest of the world suddenly decided to spit a loogie in its direction, but because the West has all too often been Donald Trump in disguise. It is its conduct that has sewn the West's present moment, including in the Middle East.
If, in part, democracy is the expression of a country's values, please keep in mind, ours gave us Trump. And we have Trump, not because, ". . . many people lost faith in the Western narrative," but because "educated" men, like you, David, continue to think that Reagan was a great man. Trump is the discarded afterbirth of that view.
Democracy is a faith that can only grow by example; words can guide, but simply are not enough. Too often, Western civilization has been reduced to a profit margin. The West has a track record. If America and the world are realigning themselves, the answer can be found in that record.
Sorry, David, superior white oppression, "wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it," is a poor defense of Western civ. If the West is now assumed to be reactionary and oppressive, it is not because the rest of the world suddenly decided to spit a loogie in its direction, but because the West has all too often been Donald Trump in disguise. It is its conduct that has sewn the West's present moment, including in the Middle East.
If, in part, democracy is the expression of a country's values, please keep in mind, ours gave us Trump. And we have Trump, not because, ". . . many people lost faith in the Western narrative," but because "educated" men, like you, David, continue to think that Reagan was a great man. Trump is the discarded afterbirth of that view.
Democracy is a faith that can only grow by example; words can guide, but simply are not enough. Too often, Western civilization has been reduced to a profit margin. The West has a track record. If America and the world are realigning themselves, the answer can be found in that record.
What people have lost faith in is the power of simplistic narratives like the one Brooks peddles today. He seems to have completely missed the point that those crazy leftist university professor types that conservatives continue to obsess about, leveled their criticisms of Western institutions not to disparage democracy, egalitarianism, and liberty, but to expose the hypocrisy of the colonialist, patriarchal, white supremacist forces that undermined the values they took credit for promoting. The death of "The West" as an idea came from the defenders of oppression who exalted (And continue to exalt, like Brooks) the commodification and dehumanizing of some people to preserve their own liberties. Look back to the discourse of Southern slaveholding elites and you'll see their favorite words were "liberty" and "freedom," much like the discourse of those who today fight against just wages, health care, and sane gun laws. Brooks is a propagandist, not for the "values" he espouses of The West, but for the maintenance of Western power structures and hierarchies that demand those values apply only to the beneficiaries of the system, not its victims.
2
You are utterly confusing many issues. Assuming that Western civilization showed progress in philosophy & science is fine. Teaching children that Colombus discovered America or that Europeans had to civilize savages is not.
In Western societies, men routinely owned women, children and slaves. That is not ok, David. Pretending "Western Civ" was the best of all possible worlds is idiotic.
In Western societies, men routinely owned women, children and slaves. That is not ok, David. Pretending "Western Civ" was the best of all possible worlds is idiotic.
2
Brooks, your column reads like an off beat MAGA tune. If you have a problem with the MAGA slogan, then you should have a problem with blind embrace of so-called great Western ideas. Today, the fiercest defenders of Western civilization are those you call the "hard right." The so called hard right's xenophobia and its belching of western this and western that are no coincidence. Your battle, Mr Brooks, should be to redefine the notion of Western civ that your fellow Republicans and other conservatives adhere to.
Oh David. You're experiencing the suffering of change. White, male people above 50 were born at an extraordinary time in America. That's all they've ever known. All sources of information, images of leadership and success visible to them were created by people who were white and male. It seems like an eternal reality, but it isn't. The only constant is change.
There's an article in today's Times about two brand new movies "The Promise" about the Armenian genocide by the Turkish Ottomans, and "The Ottoman Lieutenant" which is the 'white-washing or patriarchal obliteration" of the fact of that genocide. The former was never taught in Western Civ. In 1893 Americans overthrew the sovereign nation of Hawaii, usurped their rights, stole their property and destroyed their culture. Western Civ describes those events as heroic expansion of America and the enlightenment of a primitive people. Those same islands are now demeaned by a US AG as 'an island in the Pacific'.
The world is in a dramatic period of worry-making change on many levels. Chicken Little and Eeyore should stop trying to go back to the enchanted past. The 'values' held dear, served some people well. They never served all. Many were used, abused and never discussed in Western Civ.
So, stop whinging and follow the advice of the longest reigning world leader, Elizabeth II: Keep Calm and Carry On (and be open to change.)
There's an article in today's Times about two brand new movies "The Promise" about the Armenian genocide by the Turkish Ottomans, and "The Ottoman Lieutenant" which is the 'white-washing or patriarchal obliteration" of the fact of that genocide. The former was never taught in Western Civ. In 1893 Americans overthrew the sovereign nation of Hawaii, usurped their rights, stole their property and destroyed their culture. Western Civ describes those events as heroic expansion of America and the enlightenment of a primitive people. Those same islands are now demeaned by a US AG as 'an island in the Pacific'.
The world is in a dramatic period of worry-making change on many levels. Chicken Little and Eeyore should stop trying to go back to the enchanted past. The 'values' held dear, served some people well. They never served all. Many were used, abused and never discussed in Western Civ.
So, stop whinging and follow the advice of the longest reigning world leader, Elizabeth II: Keep Calm and Carry On (and be open to change.)
148
To: Candace Byers
Your remarks seemed based on many false assumptions about and prejudices against middle-aged white males. I am 61, white, and grew up going to public schools in Wisconsin and Indiana, before getting degrees from Indiana University and Michigan State University.
I learned about the Armenian Genocide in elementary school, from an Armenian woman invited to visit our class in Racine, Wisconsin. We had a 6-week course on the Kiowas (Native Americans) in 8th grade in Valpraiso, Indiana. We learned about Mao's Long March and the resulting deaths of millions of Chinese in a World Affairs course in 9th grade.
I could cite countless further examples of exposure to topics not championing Western Civilization. So you just might want to re-examine the premise of your point of view.
Your remarks seemed based on many false assumptions about and prejudices against middle-aged white males. I am 61, white, and grew up going to public schools in Wisconsin and Indiana, before getting degrees from Indiana University and Michigan State University.
I learned about the Armenian Genocide in elementary school, from an Armenian woman invited to visit our class in Racine, Wisconsin. We had a 6-week course on the Kiowas (Native Americans) in 8th grade in Valpraiso, Indiana. We learned about Mao's Long March and the resulting deaths of millions of Chinese in a World Affairs course in 9th grade.
I could cite countless further examples of exposure to topics not championing Western Civilization. So you just might want to re-examine the premise of your point of view.
"Keep Calm And Carry On" was good advice from Elizabeth's childhood, not from her reign and not from her.
Roy Cohn was a lawyer. He was very aggressive, hurt people, and eventually was disbarred for unethical practice. He also gave D. Trump legal and strategic advice and
guidance. Here are some of Cohn's ways of dealing, which I place alongside D. Trump's:
"-I bring out the worst in my enemies and that's how I get them to defeat themselves."
[D. Trump behaves undiplomatically and aggressively toward whom he perceives to be opponents].
"-Go after a man's weakness, and never, ever, threaten unless you're going to follow through, because if you don't, the next time you won't be taken seriously." [D. Trump may have behaved this way during business dealings. It is not clear if he has behaved this way yet in the role of president. I'm not sure if what he has done in regard to Syria, apparently differing with Russia, is like this tactic (?); or, is it a behind-the-scene maneuver with Russia ?]
- "I don't want to know what the law is, I want to know who the judge is." [Could "the judge" be for D. Trump the court of public opinion, public opinion which does not equal reasonable good judgment (?) ]
- "I don't write polite letters. I don't like to plea-bargain. I like to fight." [There is evidence from D. Trump's campaigning and tweets that he adheres to these methods].
guidance. Here are some of Cohn's ways of dealing, which I place alongside D. Trump's:
"-I bring out the worst in my enemies and that's how I get them to defeat themselves."
[D. Trump behaves undiplomatically and aggressively toward whom he perceives to be opponents].
"-Go after a man's weakness, and never, ever, threaten unless you're going to follow through, because if you don't, the next time you won't be taken seriously." [D. Trump may have behaved this way during business dealings. It is not clear if he has behaved this way yet in the role of president. I'm not sure if what he has done in regard to Syria, apparently differing with Russia, is like this tactic (?); or, is it a behind-the-scene maneuver with Russia ?]
- "I don't want to know what the law is, I want to know who the judge is." [Could "the judge" be for D. Trump the court of public opinion, public opinion which does not equal reasonable good judgment (?) ]
- "I don't write polite letters. I don't like to plea-bargain. I like to fight." [There is evidence from D. Trump's campaigning and tweets that he adheres to these methods].
Western civ gave us borders, then more borders, and all we "civilized" inhabitants of this planet ever do is fight over these stupid borders while destroying our planet as we go.
Get rid of all borders and let freedom ring! We must learn to live with our fellow inhabitants of this one and only planet we will ever know, and we must nurture this planet simply because it nurtures us. We need an Earth First policy. Else, we all fail.
Get rid of all borders and let freedom ring! We must learn to live with our fellow inhabitants of this one and only planet we will ever know, and we must nurture this planet simply because it nurtures us. We need an Earth First policy. Else, we all fail.
Mr. Brooks, if you prefer the democratic alternative to premodern mafia states, run by family-based commercial clans," then I suggest you start supporting those who want more democracy (even if they're a bit noisy) and taking power from the family-based commercial clans.
1
Good description of the problem; very poor analysis of its causes. I find it incredible that you would blame all of this on the universities, and I would remind you that support for the modern illiberal demagogues comes primarily from those who lack a college education.
2
Ah, NYT. Here is our 'Democracy is dead' column. Where were you when Bernie--a politician who has dedicated his long career to Democracy, fighting against special interests and championing the rights of the poor and oppressed, was running a hard and competitive race against your favored candidate? There was almost no coverage of him and the huge grassroots groundswell around him, save some negative ones about Bernie bros and 'grumpy grandpa'. Here there were gushing pieces over Hillary and aghast articles over Trump--'cuz the latter drives page-views and clicks, and after all, you are a business. The young people of this country are not rejecting Democracy; acknowledging the shortcomings and hypocrisy of the Western "enlighten those savages!" mindset does not mean the baby is thrown out with the bathwater. It's strange of you to say there is no defense of our values when more people are out protesting and defending them than any time in recent history. My only hope is that the Democratic Party can get it together and take the lessons from Bernie's candidacy--and Trump's--that they need to. We do want someone to genuinely stand up for our rights against the entrenched interests; we don't want a tired regurgitation of the say-one-thing-do-another party line. There's still time!
2
I am typically a big fan of David Brooks but blaming universities for the so-called collapse of modern Western Liberalism because 1 out of 100 courses offered recount Western oppression of its indigenous peoples and former colonies? Seems far fetched at best and intellectually dishonest at worst. What about the rise of unchecked globalization? The loss of manufacturing jobs due technological advancements? New forms of communication that render the spread of false information and propaganda a mere click away? Government captured by lobbyists and corporate interests? And in the United States, Anglo self-entitlement and the loss of the work ethic and risk-taking initiative that fueled our immigrant ancestors? We are in a scary time where for many it is easier to scapegoat the "other"... immigrants, Muslims, Jews, minorities...than to accept personal responsibility. But don't count out Western liberalism yet. We may have to evolve and adapt to a changing world but we defeated Nazi Germany, brought the Iron Curtain down, withstood McCarthyism and propelled humankind to space. We must engage and not retreat; embrace and not fear the future.
1
Two things don't line up here. First, while it is true that we are in the middle of a populist resurgence (Brexit, Trump, maybe LePen) it is nothing like the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 1930s which saw the rise of Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini. Perhaps this is the reason young Americans were so quick to identify democracy as an important element of society -- they were living in a Western world that seemed to be abandoning it! Second, it is silly to say that "the great cultural transmission broke" with critiques of Western Civ that grew up in the 1960s and 70s. Really? You would pin the rise of authoritarianism on the power of tweed-wearing university professors over the effects of the racism, immigration, unemployment and poverty? Ideas are powerful, yes, but you give them too much weight here.
1
Dear Mr. Brooks,
I don't really get it. There are embers out there that still want to carry the flame. Institutions that want to help humans become "thick," to quote an earlier piece. Why not spend a few hundred words to stoke those flames? I know the bottom up approach might not "sell" newspapers, but it might, over a generation, be important.
Jason Tipton
I don't really get it. There are embers out there that still want to carry the flame. Institutions that want to help humans become "thick," to quote an earlier piece. Why not spend a few hundred words to stoke those flames? I know the bottom up approach might not "sell" newspapers, but it might, over a generation, be important.
Jason Tipton
"This Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, the need for a public square that was religiously informed but not theocratically dominated."
Religiously informed? Wasn't Socrates an atheist? And probably Montesquieu as well? Please don't rewrite history.
Religiously informed? Wasn't Socrates an atheist? And probably Montesquieu as well? Please don't rewrite history.
Donald Trump is the result of years of devolution of the GOP. It gives me no pleasure to note that Brooks is weeping over the milk spilled by his people.
The decline in democratic ideals has arisen in conjunction with the dumbing down of America. Let's face it, we have become a profoundly stupid, shallow country. Until and unless this is addressed, the country will continue its decline.
Few leaders today think in terms of the people winning. It's party winning. It's us against them -- one party versus the other. And it's about holding your breath. Compromise is evil. And I'll shut down the government if I don't get my way. Minorities can bring stymie majorities -- and get away with it. Mitch McConnell stated it well during Obama's first term -- "our number one legislative goal is to make Barack Obama a one-term president." That he failed is beside the point. It's today's thinking.
Bring back the pledge of allegiance to the classroom. To have the complete WC experience follow with a couple Hail Marys.
1
The problem is not with the ideals of western civilization, it is with the execution of the governing models used in the countries of the west. Here in the US we have allowed the rise of an autocracy, the overweening influence of the rich, the utter corruption of our government, and abandonment of any real effort to assure economic justice and security for the many.
Given those failings, can anyone really be surprised that many Americans are disenchanted with our "democracy," an institution that has allowed two Presidents elected by the minority in 16 years and continues to lock in place the unresponsive cesspool that is Congress?
Given those failings, can anyone really be surprised that many Americans are disenchanted with our "democracy," an institution that has allowed two Presidents elected by the minority in 16 years and continues to lock in place the unresponsive cesspool that is Congress?
You sound as depressed as I am. Maybe folks gather around Trump because they feel he might be the last strong man standing, and better to risk being beat up by a tough bully than to have all the other bullies coming at you. I fear they are misguided. Not in their belief that he is a bully but that he is tough. To me he is a weak read, buffeted and blown about by every breeze that blows. In his voice I hear the death rattle of a nation.
So the people who taught our young to hate America, to hate Christianity and traditional values ended up with Trump instead of the borderless, globalist utopia we had with Obama?
I'll take it if he supports American values and increases my chance of surviving the economic collapse intentionally created by the elite.
I'll take it if he supports American values and increases my chance of surviving the economic collapse intentionally created by the elite.
When corporations become people you know that the end of democracy is upon us.
Question: if we brake up that 57% in favor of democracy, whice percent of Democrats and which percent of Republicans populate that universe?
I ask because I'very heard people like Rush pushing for a "qualified" voting right.
People like us, you know...
I ask because I'very heard people like Rush pushing for a "qualified" voting right.
People like us, you know...
I had to laugh when David Brooks immediately invokes Will and Ariel Durant's History of Western Civilization and its popularity as his starting point to lament the demise of "the world as we know it." I received my multitude of Durant volumes as a "gift," an incentive really... OK, a bribe for joining The Book of the Month Club. Did that program skew the publisher's numbers?
Those volumes remained ensconced on an honored place on the family bookshelf for decades and were never, ever read. I suspect we were not alone.
Those volumes remained ensconced on an honored place on the family bookshelf for decades and were never, ever read. I suspect we were not alone.
1
David: For every action there is a reaction, right? Well "Western Civ HAS been reactionary and oppressive" - and your party has led the charge. Please consider another piece titled something like: "How Will the Oppressed Rise Up".
You portray our world in the most simplistic terms referencing famous leaders and historians. But while these guys were writing high falutin' philosophical fantasies, people were being burned at the stake, tortured, lynched, gassed - you name it - because they were DIFFERENT. Things haven't changed - they are just getting worse.
I get your point about the change in leadership - Obama vs Trump, etc. But I think what is happening is just a revealing of our human underbelly - and it's really selfish, ignorant and ugly. There were always "high tower" philosophers who tried to make sense of it. But now that we can all see everything that can happen all the time - isn't it just like looking at bacteria eating bacteria under a microscope? It was always there, we just didn't see it.
The question for social leaders like you (and you are a respected leader) is how can you coalesce around a movement to restore decency on the public stage so we can at least pretend we are better than bacteria. It's going to take a leader with compassion, moral strength, and amazing charisma - someone who can teach tolerance. I wish I could be optimistic.
You portray our world in the most simplistic terms referencing famous leaders and historians. But while these guys were writing high falutin' philosophical fantasies, people were being burned at the stake, tortured, lynched, gassed - you name it - because they were DIFFERENT. Things haven't changed - they are just getting worse.
I get your point about the change in leadership - Obama vs Trump, etc. But I think what is happening is just a revealing of our human underbelly - and it's really selfish, ignorant and ugly. There were always "high tower" philosophers who tried to make sense of it. But now that we can all see everything that can happen all the time - isn't it just like looking at bacteria eating bacteria under a microscope? It was always there, we just didn't see it.
The question for social leaders like you (and you are a respected leader) is how can you coalesce around a movement to restore decency on the public stage so we can at least pretend we are better than bacteria. It's going to take a leader with compassion, moral strength, and amazing charisma - someone who can teach tolerance. I wish I could be optimistic.
The message of Mr Brooks column,norms of conduct are more important than results ."The American Tragedy"is that decent people vote for Trump ,a hollow man with no compass.
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An indisputable fact of world history applies here 100%.
Weakness always results in destruction and suffering.
Weakness always results in destruction and suffering.
A trend that David leaves out is the impact "hate" radio has had on the American psyche.
That coupled with the drum beat of right wing faux TV news has reinforced racial prejudice, vilified moderate and progressive politics, and coarsened our political discourse.
A divided country is a weakened country, ripe for plunder.
That coupled with the drum beat of right wing faux TV news has reinforced racial prejudice, vilified moderate and progressive politics, and coarsened our political discourse.
A divided country is a weakened country, ripe for plunder.
Mr. Brooks omits one of the key elements in the Turkish crisis: the urban / non-urban schism. Just as in America, the big cosmopolitan city is overwhelmingly liberal and tolerant (opposed to Erdogan and horrified by his totalitarian tendencies, just as residents in most big American cities tend to be horrified by Trump). Just as in America, support for the backward-thinking, religious extremism is strong in the hinterlands.
Mr Brooks,it is not true that the " regimes" in Russia and China are far more unstable than our "democracies".Please give us some "facts" about your negative assessment.The so called "regimes" are on the contrary examples of "stableness", supported by the great majority of the peoples living under these "regimes".Your own "democratic nation" is instead very unstable on the moment.There is no factbased reason to put the blame on the other part of the world.
Russia and china are more stable than the US at the moment, Kienhuis? Is that a joke?
If "reasoned discourse" is in disrepute, Mr. Brooks might want might to inquire of himself, and the party and business interests he represents for the reasons why. The expectation that you can lie, cheat and abuse faith in "certain values" indefinitely is perhaps unreasonable.
But of course this is a David Brooks column, so we conflate everything from Erdogan, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to "fragile thugs" on American college campuses, in a terrifying "collapse of the center" -- meaning, apparently, the views of David Brooks and the American Enterprise Institute.
But of course this is a David Brooks column, so we conflate everything from Erdogan, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to "fragile thugs" on American college campuses, in a terrifying "collapse of the center" -- meaning, apparently, the views of David Brooks and the American Enterprise Institute.
There is no permanently enduring civil institution. The West has been dominant ever since Martin Luther nailed that document to the church door that chilly morning long ago. Do you think that Western Liberalism is the end of history? That is a very naive view. We seem to be morphing into an ethno-tribal kind of thing with a unifying mythology at its base. I think that those societies that have a believed mythology will endure, those without will fail. I see no hope in the faces of the ultra liberal young elite and the despaired of the great plains. Just a large disconnect from reality and empty hopes. Remember democracy gave killed Socrates and gave us Trump. I jokingly tell my friends to buy a prayer rug and a Koran. Maybe....
Have the fools taken over the world? To see Europe broken to pieces by the idiocy of people like Marine le Pen, Boris Johnson and Theresa May and to be compelled to endure a slanderous deceiver like Trump is just sickening beyond belief. One thing is certain: the days when David Brooks and I walked the Quad at Chicago are gone forever. We may hope that reason prevails, but nobody has any guarantees in the world we inhabit today.
Odd to hear David Brooks lament the fall of liberalism, now that conservatism rules the land or most of it. Republicans have worked hard to get us where we are now, and we should be living iin a conservative paradise. The wealthy are wealthier than ever; voters are convinced that corporations and the wealthy are oppressed, and the voters are happy to make further sacrifices to help the 1% amd big business; stock markets are rising; we are at war;and Hillary, while not yet in jail, is out of the picture. Conservatives rejoice!!!
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The problem is not losing touch with Western Civ but rather with any form of civilization and civilized behavior.
Everyone is constantly reading, but most of what is read is not worth it.
Survival may depend upon technology. Civization depends on humanism.
Everyone is constantly reading, but most of what is read is not worth it.
Survival may depend upon technology. Civization depends on humanism.
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So over the last 40 years it was all a big con job. We have not have any war on christianity or conservatism, it was just the opposite, the war on liberalism. The liberal values in western civilization are under assault and it nothing else but an inside jobs by conservative forces, both religious of any color, and plutocratic to shift the power back to capital holders.
Trump is the American version of this war where the con men actually fooled the population that it is all about them.
Trump is the American version of this war where the con men actually fooled the population that it is all about them.
If faith in the West was lost, it wasn't due to a lack of education. It was due to the inability of today's politicians to measure up to the politicians of old.
Two words in this essay sum up the emerging danger: "majoritarian dictatorship." We've managed to sell half a loaf without an appreciation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the contract called a constitution.
David
Please be more careful. Here's what you said:
...Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, the need for a public square that was religiously informed but not theocratically dominated.
You are wrong. No one stopped teaching the importance of reasoned discourse, property rights, or even a public square. The only thing that has diminished on your list is religion (you mean Christianity) as a governmental driving force, and we non-Christians are very very thankful for that.
What you meant to say was that people stopped teaching the dominance of Western Civilization. True, and true that we have a more holistic grasp of the world now. Good!
We are slowly entering a more globally-conscious phase of our social organization. Humans have evolved from wandering tribes, to city-states, to nations, to continental regions, and finally a global consciousness. This is required to deal with global problems - and all problems are global now. Ask that Trump voter in Michigan who thinks he'll get his job back from Mexico (good luck on that).
The problems of our society are the inevitable - inevitable - result of the relative decline of standard of living of "Western" countries as a flat earth allows people with incomes 1/10 and 1/100 smaller to compete equally. There are other causes. Your sociological thesis falls low on the list. Please be more careful in your thinking. We read what you say.
Please be more careful. Here's what you said:
...Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, the need for a public square that was religiously informed but not theocratically dominated.
You are wrong. No one stopped teaching the importance of reasoned discourse, property rights, or even a public square. The only thing that has diminished on your list is religion (you mean Christianity) as a governmental driving force, and we non-Christians are very very thankful for that.
What you meant to say was that people stopped teaching the dominance of Western Civilization. True, and true that we have a more holistic grasp of the world now. Good!
We are slowly entering a more globally-conscious phase of our social organization. Humans have evolved from wandering tribes, to city-states, to nations, to continental regions, and finally a global consciousness. This is required to deal with global problems - and all problems are global now. Ask that Trump voter in Michigan who thinks he'll get his job back from Mexico (good luck on that).
The problems of our society are the inevitable - inevitable - result of the relative decline of standard of living of "Western" countries as a flat earth allows people with incomes 1/10 and 1/100 smaller to compete equally. There are other causes. Your sociological thesis falls low on the list. Please be more careful in your thinking. We read what you say.
It isn't either/or, and nobody has a monopoly on the truth
Welcome to the real world. The West is declining just as all civilizations do. You just happen to be alive to witness it. Go back to Plato and re-learn that all things, including civilizations, are born, go through a period of growth, enter a plateau phase, and then decline. What would lead you to think that the West is different from Egypt, Rome, or any other civilization you care to mention?
Your values are just that: your values. There's absolutely nothing to show that values, no matter how precious they may seem to you and me, are immortal. I can't imagine living in a world in which individual freedom is extinguished, but that doesn't mean that future generations will hold the same belief.
Compared to the current competition, Western values and norms are indeed superior. But we should recognize that the West has been a civilization constructed by and for the benefit od white males and their chosen companions -- it has in fact systematically oppressed and even exterminated "inferior" peoples and cultures. To many outsiders, the West is a monster spreading death and destruction. And to the extent that the global environment is collapsing -- climate change and a sixth extinction underway -- it's largely the West that is responsible.
In any case, it's utterly clear to anyone not trapped by the Western idea of progress that the West itself is entering an end phase from which it won't and can't recover. It's a natural process, like it or not.
Your values are just that: your values. There's absolutely nothing to show that values, no matter how precious they may seem to you and me, are immortal. I can't imagine living in a world in which individual freedom is extinguished, but that doesn't mean that future generations will hold the same belief.
Compared to the current competition, Western values and norms are indeed superior. But we should recognize that the West has been a civilization constructed by and for the benefit od white males and their chosen companions -- it has in fact systematically oppressed and even exterminated "inferior" peoples and cultures. To many outsiders, the West is a monster spreading death and destruction. And to the extent that the global environment is collapsing -- climate change and a sixth extinction underway -- it's largely the West that is responsible.
In any case, it's utterly clear to anyone not trapped by the Western idea of progress that the West itself is entering an end phase from which it won't and can't recover. It's a natural process, like it or not.
If the ancient Greeks had been as obsessed with consumerism and profits -- the way our investor class is today -- "Western civilization," as David so reverently refers to it, would never have gotten off the ground. Humanistic values would have been replaced by raw greed..the kind we live with and live under today...
Today, liberal civilization and democracy simply can't compete with the ideals, not of truth and knowledge, but shareholder value.
Garbage in, garbage out.
Today, liberal civilization and democracy simply can't compete with the ideals, not of truth and knowledge, but shareholder value.
Garbage in, garbage out.
1
I for one will stand up and defend the West.
Let's not forget, western civilization ended slavery. Oh yes, they say, Americans had slaves. True. But everyone had slaves. The Arab world ran the largest international slave market for centuries, selling more slaves than the triangle trade every year for more than two centuries. What ended that? Western imperialism did. India had a brutal caste system that normalized slavery for untouchables. What ended that? Western imperialism did. China had a system of institutionalized slavery built off conquest. What ended that? Well you can fill in the rest.
Human rights? That's a western idea sure enough, and I am pretty fond of those. Separation of church and state? Western. Codified law? The west. Proportional punishment? The West yet again. Every major mathematical advance after algebra? Most major branches of science? Vast bodies of philosophical work? The enlightenment? The dramatic reduction in global poverty? The dramatic rise in standards of living? All thanks to the West baby.
The West rocks. I mean it really rocks. I believe Western civilization is the best one out there, and I am proud to be a part of it.
Let's not forget, western civilization ended slavery. Oh yes, they say, Americans had slaves. True. But everyone had slaves. The Arab world ran the largest international slave market for centuries, selling more slaves than the triangle trade every year for more than two centuries. What ended that? Western imperialism did. India had a brutal caste system that normalized slavery for untouchables. What ended that? Western imperialism did. China had a system of institutionalized slavery built off conquest. What ended that? Well you can fill in the rest.
Human rights? That's a western idea sure enough, and I am pretty fond of those. Separation of church and state? Western. Codified law? The west. Proportional punishment? The West yet again. Every major mathematical advance after algebra? Most major branches of science? Vast bodies of philosophical work? The enlightenment? The dramatic reduction in global poverty? The dramatic rise in standards of living? All thanks to the West baby.
The West rocks. I mean it really rocks. I believe Western civilization is the best one out there, and I am proud to be a part of it.
David spins myth as history and fancy as policy. This edifice of Western Civilization that he laments is collapsing in on itself. It's not from a lack of faith. Nor is it from external pressure. And it's certainly not from the very few well publicized events on college campuses or the absence of the great men theme of history.
It's falling apart because this voracious form of capitalism that he see's as the natural outgrowth of Western civ has turned into a cancer that devours everything in its path in the name of productivity and profit. Our economic system has destroyed family life, emptied out urban areas, reduced rural districts to poverty and depression and is destroying the very planet that sustains it.
It's only imperative is its expansion and production of more and more wealth for those who control the reigns. FDR briefly put this beast under control. But it has fought back with a vengeance and through global financialization has entered an era where it's unclear if anyone can curb its excesses.
Under these conditions is it surprising that we see the rise of authoritarian governments? The same happened the last time we saw a global economic crisis.
But David can't imagine that the system that he embraces has totally run amuck. It must be the extremists! No it must be the lack of confidence! How about it might be a system that has run its historical course and is now unstable, unpredictable and has concentrated too much power in the hands of far too few?
It's falling apart because this voracious form of capitalism that he see's as the natural outgrowth of Western civ has turned into a cancer that devours everything in its path in the name of productivity and profit. Our economic system has destroyed family life, emptied out urban areas, reduced rural districts to poverty and depression and is destroying the very planet that sustains it.
It's only imperative is its expansion and production of more and more wealth for those who control the reigns. FDR briefly put this beast under control. But it has fought back with a vengeance and through global financialization has entered an era where it's unclear if anyone can curb its excesses.
Under these conditions is it surprising that we see the rise of authoritarian governments? The same happened the last time we saw a global economic crisis.
But David can't imagine that the system that he embraces has totally run amuck. It must be the extremists! No it must be the lack of confidence! How about it might be a system that has run its historical course and is now unstable, unpredictable and has concentrated too much power in the hands of far too few?
1
It is hard to believe that "illiberalism" and authoritarian rules ("strong men") arose only after and were consequences of "many people … in universities" stopped teaching a rose-tinted narrative of Western civilization, one that erased its inevitable failures. Surely a more nuanced and accurate view of history helps us to move toward a better future more effectively, though, alas, not in a linear manner.
It was reported on PBS News hour last night that 40% of Trump supporters rely exclusively on Fox for their news. I would think an explanation for the crisis confronting Western Civilization does not need to go much deeper than that.
There does seem to be a backwards motion, towards a chaos stabilized here and there by strongmen. A corrupt global capitalism is the driving force. It's a time of upheaval; the people who remember first-hand the world wars that shaped our current geopolitical landscape are almost all dead. No one can say with any certainty how this will all go from here.
The problem with not teaching that Western Civilization has been oppressive is the Western Civilization *has* been oppressive. The Earth does circle the Sun.
In the long run, truth(s) are better than self-dealing narratives.
The problem with not teaching that Western Civilization has been oppressive is the Western Civilization *has* been oppressive. The Earth does circle the Sun.
In the long run, truth(s) are better than self-dealing narratives.
1
Sadly, history shows that cycles of authoritarianism, such as that we are now on the front edge of, tend to broken by war, but first a key nadir must be reached (genocide, famine, isolation, etc.). If Russia tracks a descent resembling anything close to what Venezuela is experiencing, look out.
As an immigrant to the United States I've come to the conclusion that I don't really live in a democracy. What with the electoral college not giving one man one vote, the gerrymandering of districts giving Republicans more seats in the House even though more people voted for Democrats, the Supreme Court letting corporations have more power in the mix.
With their greed, dishonesty and hypocrisy the Republicans have basically removed the civil from our civilization and until it is reversed I will repeat - we don't really live in a democracy here in the US of A.
With their greed, dishonesty and hypocrisy the Republicans have basically removed the civil from our civilization and until it is reversed I will repeat - we don't really live in a democracy here in the US of A.
377
I am glad you made this comment. It is hard for citizens to believe in the tenets of democracy when we do not live in one anymore. I live in a small town where democracy is very much alive. People speak openly about issues, criticize government and the dominant corporation, serve on committees, run for public office, join the Rotary and Chamber, work on behalf of schools, etc. I see that scaling up slightly to the state level, though a case can be made that CA is simply too big and populous to be governable. But I don't see that democracy scaling up at the national level at all, anymore. Once did, but since Bush v Gore, and now the total disenfranchisement of CA voters in the last election, and seeing what is happening in just the first 100 days of an illegitimate government, I barely recognize the country I grew up in, nor the government and heritage I studied in college.
We are witnessing at the collapse of values and ideals built along a century and hopefully trying to shape new ones. Cultures are liquifying into web-based tribes and idividualization is substituing belongingness. Democracy is a serious burden and takes time, so the simplistic choice to give up to a Lone Leader who takes decisions for everybody is more and more frequent.
Sadly this is a correct analysis. Our institutions have broken down in large part because people have become fat, lazy, and dis-engaged in the social-political process. Give them football on a flat screen television, an I-Phone, and some cheap consumer goods and they don't care about anything. Unfettered capitalism and great wealth concentrated in too few hands inevitably leads to this. Jefferson warned about it from the start of the Republic.
Was it post-modernism during the 1970s that led to the rejection of western democracy, or was it the build up of great wealth in the 1980s forward, concentrated in the hands of a few dozen families, that led those very-wealthy families to realize that more of their money could be preserved under an autocrat than a democrat ?
David Brooks joins the far right in blaming universities for the rise of illiberalism and authoritarianism. Never mind decades of commercial lying that breeds cynicism, the war on science that is daily echoed in the halls of Congress by Republican Representatives and Senators, the affirmation of market fundamentalism by foundations and think tanks funded by corporate billionaires, and the work speed-up that has so many people on a treadmill. Brooks would rather characterize Western Civilization courses as the culprit, a characterization, by the way, worthy of Donald Trump.
Dear David, your beloved Republican Party has been at the forefront of this collapse since Reagan. If ever there was a group pushing for a revival of the ancien regime, they were it. Trump is their love-child.
That said, good op-ed. Let's hope individuals of intelligence and moral courage on both sides of the aisle come together. Nowadays only Canada seems to have retained a modicum of dignity.
That said, good op-ed. Let's hope individuals of intelligence and moral courage on both sides of the aisle come together. Nowadays only Canada seems to have retained a modicum of dignity.
2
David Brooks serves up a warmed-over leftover version of a stale decades-old conservative criticism of social history, multiculturalism, and other recent trends in Western scholarship. I would say that those scholars who justifiably pointed out the shortcomings of Western culture and the outright injustices sometimes committed by Western nations did so in part because they wanted the West to aim for standards of justice and inclusiveness. I will agree with Brooks that we would also do well to acknowledge Western values such as toleration--and to insist that the West begin to practice what it preaches. But for Brooks to blame honest, open, and sometimes critical scholarship for the rise of rightwing authoritarians, though, seems to turn history--not to mention the values of tolerance, freedom of expression, open inquiry, and democracy itself--upside-down and inside-out.
1
The Ball of Cement Theory of Advanced Civilization.
As an avid science fiction reader, I have always been intrigued by the image of the surface of our planet becoming uninhabitable and humanity being forced to live underground. The atmospheric limitations of living in space will create similar life styles. The surface of the earth will be covered in cement.
The pessimism expressed in this opinion piece and by most of the comments are all true. Dictatorship is on the rise. Democracy is waning because the average citizen is too stupid to be allowed to vote. Climate change chaos is inevitable because any possible reversals are just too expensive. The rich will continue to be in control and the rest can just eat dirt. And on and on and on.
Pessimistic? You.
But humans are, if nothing else, adaptable. Viewing the future from today's perspective may not be attractive. But the humans living underground inside the ball of cement will (mostly) think its just fine.
As an avid science fiction reader, I have always been intrigued by the image of the surface of our planet becoming uninhabitable and humanity being forced to live underground. The atmospheric limitations of living in space will create similar life styles. The surface of the earth will be covered in cement.
The pessimism expressed in this opinion piece and by most of the comments are all true. Dictatorship is on the rise. Democracy is waning because the average citizen is too stupid to be allowed to vote. Climate change chaos is inevitable because any possible reversals are just too expensive. The rich will continue to be in control and the rest can just eat dirt. And on and on and on.
Pessimistic? You.
But humans are, if nothing else, adaptable. Viewing the future from today's perspective may not be attractive. But the humans living underground inside the ball of cement will (mostly) think its just fine.
It is right and proper that when people study Western Civ these days they learn more than the somewhat hackneyed, cheerleader narrative of Will Durant. There was oppression, and white men did force their values and culture on others.
The problem comes when the alternative narrative is that the white men were simply the bad guys. That's not true either. For one, the actions of people in various centuries must be judged by the standards of those centuries. You can't throw out the ideas of Jefferson simply because he owned slaves.
One of the problems of Durant is that his histories are histories of 'Great Men', when in fact western history (and all history) is best taught as one of great ideas and flawed men. The counter-reaction to the Durant narrative has been to create new heroes, heroes who were oppressed by the white men rather than the oppressors. That, of course, also misses the point, and teaches young people that the only good people are victims, a sentiment all too prevalent on college campuses. The oppressors and the oppressed are two sides of the same coin -- they need to be taught, but only in the context of changing ideas and values as history progresses. Avoid heroes; teach the philosophy, and the failures of all men and women to match their moral ideals in practice.
The problem comes when the alternative narrative is that the white men were simply the bad guys. That's not true either. For one, the actions of people in various centuries must be judged by the standards of those centuries. You can't throw out the ideas of Jefferson simply because he owned slaves.
One of the problems of Durant is that his histories are histories of 'Great Men', when in fact western history (and all history) is best taught as one of great ideas and flawed men. The counter-reaction to the Durant narrative has been to create new heroes, heroes who were oppressed by the white men rather than the oppressors. That, of course, also misses the point, and teaches young people that the only good people are victims, a sentiment all too prevalent on college campuses. The oppressors and the oppressed are two sides of the same coin -- they need to be taught, but only in the context of changing ideas and values as history progresses. Avoid heroes; teach the philosophy, and the failures of all men and women to match their moral ideals in practice.
Once again David Brooks has completely missed the point. It is the conservative movement that has eroded public discourse and trust in democracy. Rupert Murdoch, Grover Norquist and the Far Right have convinced Americans that government is the enemy.
Tax and Spend Liberals, on the other hand, believe government can help alleviate the effects of unbridled corporate, capitalist abuses.
So who hates Western Democratic Ideals? People who've dedicated their lives to teaching philosophy, governance, history and literature at Universities or the followers of Ayn Randian Objectivists, Social Darwinists and Norquistian "shrink the government until it's weak enough to drown in the bath" conservatives?
On your head be the collapse of western democratic ideals, David.
Tax and Spend Liberals, on the other hand, believe government can help alleviate the effects of unbridled corporate, capitalist abuses.
So who hates Western Democratic Ideals? People who've dedicated their lives to teaching philosophy, governance, history and literature at Universities or the followers of Ayn Randian Objectivists, Social Darwinists and Norquistian "shrink the government until it's weak enough to drown in the bath" conservatives?
On your head be the collapse of western democratic ideals, David.
Well, Western prosperity was built on oppression, although that oppression is no different from any other dominant civilization in the past. The wealth of Colonial America, all the way up to New England, was funded by the Triangular Trade. How can you ask decedents of slaves to fully embrace the system under which they were bought and sold? The answer is, you can't go back to a flawed idea of civilization. You can, however, build a new one that is inclusive, that benefits from diversity, that names oppression when oppression is seen, and that collectively strives, through knowledge, dialogue and self-critical awareness, to be better and greater than before. And that will not be what has traditionally been called "Western." Globalism is the logical destination of this journey.
I would counsel David Brooks to take a look at the thinking of Karl Marx. The bourgeoisie in its progressive period (the struggle against feudal reaction) championed the values that Mr. Brooks refers to as ennobling. That period is long gone. The best of that spirit of liberty, fraternity, equality was recast in the form of socialism aspirations (which has been realized absolutely nowhere in the present period). I can understand Mr. Brooks nostalgia for a bygone era but his explanations and perspective are completely ahistorical. Based on that outlook, as Louie Nye used to say, "You can't get there from here."
Take it a step further. This backlash to nationalism from liberalism represents the last gasps of a world of multiple sovereign cultures. They are all fighting the homogenization imposed by the inevitable worldwide single culture that globalization and the internet have made possible.
Multiple states walling themselves off to prevent infiltration of the other impure cultures are each as evolutionarily doomed as any over-specialized species in nature.
The mass of humanity has well begun the transformation into a single mass society, we just don't know it yet. Unfortunately, at this point, we are experiencing the pain of that metamorphosis.
Multiple states walling themselves off to prevent infiltration of the other impure cultures are each as evolutionarily doomed as any over-specialized species in nature.
The mass of humanity has well begun the transformation into a single mass society, we just don't know it yet. Unfortunately, at this point, we are experiencing the pain of that metamorphosis.
In what should we have faith? Certainly the ideals of democracy. But the devil is in the details as always. The US is not a shining city on the hill. The House of Representatives is merely a gerrymandered partisan orgy unrepresentative of the electorate, and is rightly despised. The senate is no great deliberative body-- it is predominately owned and operated by big donors and corporate interests, ensuring the Supreme Court (as well as lower federal courts) is no more than a collection of partisan dictators (of "interpretation") serving life terms. Trump appeals to the least common denominator comprised of hatred and intolerance, often born of fearful economic self interest, and gets elected not by a majority of the citizens, but another quirk in the laws. All branches are rightly despised. Obama was the last statesman. The US is not exceptional; it mirrors the rest of the world, except with much more power. The world is entering a very dark night.
Much credit for the decline in the western civ legacies has to lie at the feet of elite universities and the dominance of graduate schools and their exclusive focus on professional education. This was ushered in after WWII and the rapid development of a technological society. In pursuit of professionalism as the core of the college curriculum out when went values teaching and the dominance of a humanist liberal arts tradition centuries old. The well rounded person became the careerist. No wonder campuses today bear the fruit of the leaderless culture of an administration and faculty wedded to relativeism.
The Durants' brand of Western Civilization may not be taught in the universities any longer, but this kind of progress narrative is still taught in the grade schools and high schools, where most American voters learn about history. And I doubt that Putin, Erdogan, et. al. were elected by people influenced by the revisionist history you deplore. You've got the causation backwards, Mr. Brooks. The world has been changing; the historians tell their new stories in reaction to those changes.
Democracy happened in the 240 year history of the US for approximately 30 years following WWII - 12% of our history as a nation. The tenets of western civilization have always been about securing the rights of "man" or the elites at the expense of the every man and woman by getting them to fight each other over scraps and deluding them into thinking that one day they will gain a seat at the table.
You're blaming the rise of the right, the resurgence of prejudice and hatred, increasing economic inequity, etc., etc. — on Western Civ courses? And not only in the U.S. but in many countries that don't have Western Civ courses in their universities? This is silly.
the reason is the false dichotomy. If I don't reject the whole thing then therefore I'm one of them.
Well unlike conservative wingnuts we liberals refuse to try the same things over and over expecting different results.
Rightist science mockers are a waste of time and space.