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After that, I agree with you. If there is a God, I'm sure he is looking at humanity and shaking his head and saying "I'll never try that again". In fact, he might be saying that about life in general, wishing he had just left all the dumb rocks spinning their eternities away in their orbits and galaxies and black holes.
Not Humanity but the Western World!
Reason: Liberalism, Leftism, Dechristianisation.
“Liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide”, so James Burnham
Now I shall address said Mr. Burham's idiotic statement directly, by bringing the following two points to your attention:
1. The Western world is a great deal better off than it was in its pre-liberal era, namely the first half of the 20th Century, when Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal were in the iron grip of ultra-conservative dictators, and most of the rest of the continent were conservative semi-constitutional monarchies.
2. It is the official stated goal of US foreign policy in the Middle east in general and Iran and Afghanistan in particular, to strongly Liberalize the governing of those nations.
Is it Mr. Burnham's position that those Liberalizing trends were suicidal?
Burnham has not even established that there is or ever was a "Western Suicide". But he goes ahead and not just ascribes an ideology to this non-existent phenomenom, but even identifies the single vocabulary word that defines that ideology. Tolkeinesque.
As for your own "dechristianization" quip, note that none of the nations in the forefront of economic progress over the past couple of decades are Christian.
This begs an interesting question. Do you think intellect and freedom were an intermediate step in the evolution of the Ant? If not, why do you think they would be in Man's trajectory toward Anthood?
Would not intellect and freedom, themselves, once having been gained, apply themselves to selectively direct our march toward whatever it is that we are to become?
There are 22,000 species of Ants, which evolved from wasps, all of which, to one degree or another, exhibit the kind of socialization we associate with Ants. Surely they arrived at that persuasion long before (120-million years ago) they would have had a chance to cogitate or reflect on their nature as free individuals.
No. I don't think that any other form of life on this planet developed intellect and freedom, so I don't think it was an intermediate step. So ants never "chose" to be a species which acts more like a single organism. I believe that intellect and the freedom that that ability allows is the most efficient form of evolutionary progress because of the nearly limitless number of "experiments" that evolution can take at any given time. Freedom allows the probability of successful evolution or progress to take a quantum leap over rigid social structures that can only make single experiments at any given time.
Imagine if every man were a scientist. Would mankind make more advances and discoveries if every person performed their own experiments, or if the collective decided to do one experiment at a time? Whether or not you would agree that "infinite experimentation" would be more productive than "collective experimentation", it should be obvious that members of the "collective" never needed to develop independent thought at all. If "collective" experimentation was superior, why would not evolution have dictated that man simply rely on pure instinct instead of thought? I am no expert on evolutionary theory, just asking some questions. It would certainly be much more efficient to have tiny brains without individual thought and march in single file lines if we were "meant" to be a collective.
Without this natural freedom, we are left to be futile sacrificial animals in the experiments made by the very few who are capable and willing to use independent thought to manipulate the mindless followers.
As is the case in our history, "we" will form "societies" which serve only those who are willing to initiate force, not intellect, upon the masses. At best, humans will be a herd of animals led, and slaughtered, by the most evil amongst us.
Finally, if we are to be nothing more than a part of a larger organism, or "society", it is indeed the cruelest of all possibilities that we were given the ability to think indiependently and yet not the ability to act upon that independent thinking.
I don't know if we humans are on the decline, but we sure seem hell-bent in dirtying our nest...oil in our oceans and huge swirling masses of trash, chemical fumes in our air, dumping pollutants in our rivers and streams, chopping down the forests, creating bigger and more diabolical weapons for war, genetically modifying our foods without even knowing the long-term effects...shall I go on?
We were given an Eden, if you believe in the bible, or we inhabited a natural paradise, if you don't...and just look what we've done with it!
I think we deserve to fade away and let our poor stained world try to heal herself without us continuing it use her as a trash heap.
Species get added to the endangered list all the time; many have vanished altogether. We helped a few along--like the passenger pigeons.
It's just egotistical of us to think that we won't or cannot share the same fate. The polar bears are swimming for their lives on vanishing polar ice..doesn't that tell us something??
1. The Western world is a great deal better off than it was in its pre-liberal era, namely the first half of the 20th Century, when Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal were in the iron grip of ultra-conservative dictators, and most of the rest of the continent were conservative semi-constitutional monarchies.
The pre-liberal world could survive for centuries, but "thanks" libs, lefties & Co we will get Caliphates and Sharia law very soon.
2. It is the official stated goal of US foreign policy in the Middle east in general and Iran and Afghanistan in particular, to strongly Liberalize the governing of those nations.
ROFL,
you can not revive an dead.
Quote:
Is it Mr. Burnham's position that those Liberalizing trends were suicidal?
Not only Mr. Burnham but also any guy with sound mind can call "goal" above unrealistic.
Quote:
As for your own "dechristianization" quip, note that none of the nations in the forefront of economic progress over the past couple of decades are Christian.
The pre-liberal world could survive for centuries, but "thanks" libs, lefties & Co we will get Caliphates and Sharia law very soon.
ROFL,
you can not revive an dead.
Not only Mr. Burnham but also any guy with sound mind can call "goal" above unrealistic.
Still, but not long more.
OK, it's your turn. Prove your statements. Prove that "we will get Caliphates". Prove that Asian nations will advance "not long more". No, I'll make it easy on you. No proof required. Just one single scrap of evidence.
While you're at it, I'd also like to know what the spot price of gold will be in 60 days.
Sirry 88, I have seen too many women hig tied and shot on theor knees in the name of Alah, to ever come to terms thjat this ugly faith is or was ever worthy of note.
That 72 virgins, living in the 14 th century and wearing rags and burka's is a thing to be done.
Lotto number 36 tells me Killem All and Let God sort em out. I see no peace in the arrogance and wealth these people have come to know. Before 1930 they herded goats and rode camles and when WW-2 came to be the Germans were real friendly for OIL and after that we became real friendly for OIL.
If there were on oil there would never have been this problem. They would live in what ever peace which was throat slitting and herd goats.
A friend of mine was killed over there in the mid 70's a hard hat deep sea diver, and killed for his pay in gold which he sent home. Over there there are 2 kinds of people the haves and the haves not.
I am not familar much with the bible, but as I understand it in the Old Testament there were 2 brothers and they were in a bad way with one another of some inheritance. One became the first Jew and the other the first muslim. He was the looser then and ever since if you ask me the rest of them are loosers to this day.
This group of peoples are not a people I will ever like. They have no honor, no morals and no ethics. I don't care what you say on this one, my limited brain power is all made up.
I don't know iof there is a god really i thi9nk there is, but then if there is there is just one, no matter what you call him.
I had 3 christian men come to my place once and condem me to hell, which is fine by me, but I wonder how they were so high and mighty as to be able to tell.
I find more god in my woods than I ever did in a box. I don't need a witness, I don't need another human to confirm it. I know where the wind walls are, and can go there any time I want. If you know what a wind wall is 88, I will be surprised, but if you do you will be amoung the first I ever knew that does.
I don't trust you fer squat, and consider you an enemy, but on the other hand you are bright, informitive and bold.. Men can be measured by their enemy....
I can respect you for that and I do. You have earned some respect atleast.
Were you going to get me a gold coin as a token of appreication? In 60 days gold with be 30 bucks more an troy oz as it is today.
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