Reality is undefeated. No amount of word salad virtue signaling, regurgitation of “diversity is our stength” “no borders no walls” "hate has no home here" will change that. Even though their power structures are polar opposites, the woke and jihadists share a common hatred for Western civilization and many other similarities: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-wage-a-progressive-jihad
That's the basic Christian worldview, all humans are sinful by nature (the concept of original sin) and you can't resolve that by simply trying harder and implementing better laws. You have to take human nature into account when trying to build a viable society. Anyone who has studied especially the Communist history of the 20th century knows what absolute atrocities are born out of utopian ideas and grand ideologies. Progressive ideology isn't different, it sounds great but it can not withstand the reality of human nature.
There is no joy in having seen this all coming. We have all been witnesses to so much folly and destruction in what made the world great and wasted so much time. How do you deprogram the generations who have wallowed in this nonsense and repair trust in journalism and government. I fear that these problems so easy to create will take decades to repair.
I have two degrees in Liberal Arts (Comparative Religion, in effect), have read most of the major "intellectual" works of the Left, and was a moderate Democrat until I was 25 or so.
Having said that, I can honestly say that seen INTELLECTUALLY Conservatism is vastly richer, more interesting, and of course more practical than all the pseudo-pieties--and of course patent nonsense-- masking moral cowardice and not infrequently outright sadism that characterize the Left today.
For those with an inclination, one good book to start with, in addition to everything by Sowell and everything by Paul Johnson (particularly Intellectuals), is "Reflections on the Revolution in France", by Edmund Burke. Everything going on today was going on in some form back in France in the 1790's, and certainly canceling (for which the penalty was public beheading), and virtue signaling, and he was critiqueing it then.
None of this is new. None of these conflicts are new. None of these REALIZATIONS are new.
It was written in Ecclesiastes "There is nothing new under the sun" perhaps 2,500 years ago. The main difference between Conservatives and those delusional and childish enough to think that THIS TIME ridiculous ideas will work, is that we LEARN FROM HISTORY. Leftists don't. They don't learn at all. They don't learn from their own history, because they live in fantasy worlds. There is no virtue in delusion. Obviously.
October 7th should have been a wake up call especially liberals to how evil can strike at any moment. Watching posters of kidnapped children being ripped down this weekend is evidence many liberals found it easier to blame the Jews for the atrocities committed by monsters.
As a long time conservative who has endured the arrogant dismissal, loathing and ridicule of progressives for years excuse me if I’m slow to accept that this “awakening” is real. The same people who built a statue glorifying a drug addicted rapist while cheering BLM and antifa tyranny are only now having a great awakening? When I see enough of you cancel your NY Times and Washington Post subscriptions and stop listening to NPR that they all disappear forever maybe my faith in the wisdom and character of my fellow citizens will be restored. When I stop having to endure race baiting self promoters on tv after every white on black crime regardless of the statistical insignificance I might start to regain hope for racial progress. When enough of us begin to truly be curious about how elected officials making middle class incomes amass generational wealth while claiming there is no proof of influence peddling or insider trading I might be encouraged. I could go on but you get the point. Because we might agree on our support for Israel excuse me if I don’t suddenly embrace or trust you as an ally in fighting on the issues that matter in saving our country. It’s not just about Israel. Western Civilization and capitalism is not the cause of all the world’s problems, it is its best hope. Defend and protect it, it’s survival is not a given.
Brilliant article! I am also one of those people who has become politically conservative overnight after this issue. Never thought I would vote conservative until now. Even when I saw illogical and harmful demands were made about inclusion of trans women in sports, prisons, too much focus on skin colour. I still thought at its core these people mean well and want to create a more equal society, they are misguided, brainwashed and maybe misinformed due to hyper polarization driven by social media. But there is no way anyone can brainwash a moral person to think that killing babies is a form of “resistance”.
Sadly, I have seen no viewpoint shift among my acquaintances. Two days ago I had someone say to me that the terror attacks were Israel’s fault because they taunted the oppressed by having a music festival so close to the “open air prison”.
I am finding that most of the left is merely a collection of empty academic credentials and meaningless phrases without a rational thought among them. Nor a meaningful life experience in the whole lot. There are indeed to perspectives. One based on reality. The other based on a warped self image.
Fantastic! I made the transition from Unconstrained to Constrained after reading Thomas Sowell in 2020, when considering the COVID and George Floyd response in my community. I want to share this article with so many friends who may not be Free Press subscribers— HELP! How do I do so?
Let's never forget who said he was about to "fundamentally change America". He didn't start the slide from "constrained" to "unconstrained" but he clearly greased the rails. Through his proxies, he is still there and is pushing hard. It is through clear-eyed articles like this that perhaps, just perhaps, we can see what is happening to us.
Spot on - reading this directly after watching a man in London needing Police protection from a mob of people with Palestinian flags. And why was the mob angry with him ? Because he had an English flag with God Save the King written on it. One can only hope that it is not already too late.
I am going to send this to all my democratic friend. I moved to the other camp when the schools,courts and medical establishment tried to change my child’s gender without me- I have seen the dangers first hand. And it is real
An often overlooked byproduct of modern immigration is the contempt of Western cultural ideals through pseudo-assimilation.
Under the guise of kindness and compassion, we’ve made the obscene tolerable, our weaknesses - our hubris as virtuous.
While our Western youth reconcile with manufactured Identity oppressions, an Ideological fervour of Jihadists has shown the true privilege to which most of us reside…
“If our civilization is allowed to collapse, it will not be replaced by a progressive utopia. It will be replaced by chaos and barbarism.“
Thank you, KK.
Reality is undefeated. No amount of word salad virtue signaling, regurgitation of “diversity is our stength” “no borders no walls” "hate has no home here" will change that. Even though their power structures are polar opposites, the woke and jihadists share a common hatred for Western civilization and many other similarities: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-wage-a-progressive-jihad
That's the basic Christian worldview, all humans are sinful by nature (the concept of original sin) and you can't resolve that by simply trying harder and implementing better laws. You have to take human nature into account when trying to build a viable society. Anyone who has studied especially the Communist history of the 20th century knows what absolute atrocities are born out of utopian ideas and grand ideologies. Progressive ideology isn't different, it sounds great but it can not withstand the reality of human nature.
There is no joy in having seen this all coming. We have all been witnesses to so much folly and destruction in what made the world great and wasted so much time. How do you deprogram the generations who have wallowed in this nonsense and repair trust in journalism and government. I fear that these problems so easy to create will take decades to repair.
I have two degrees in Liberal Arts (Comparative Religion, in effect), have read most of the major "intellectual" works of the Left, and was a moderate Democrat until I was 25 or so.
Having said that, I can honestly say that seen INTELLECTUALLY Conservatism is vastly richer, more interesting, and of course more practical than all the pseudo-pieties--and of course patent nonsense-- masking moral cowardice and not infrequently outright sadism that characterize the Left today.
For those with an inclination, one good book to start with, in addition to everything by Sowell and everything by Paul Johnson (particularly Intellectuals), is "Reflections on the Revolution in France", by Edmund Burke. Everything going on today was going on in some form back in France in the 1790's, and certainly canceling (for which the penalty was public beheading), and virtue signaling, and he was critiqueing it then.
None of this is new. None of these conflicts are new. None of these REALIZATIONS are new.
It was written in Ecclesiastes "There is nothing new under the sun" perhaps 2,500 years ago. The main difference between Conservatives and those delusional and childish enough to think that THIS TIME ridiculous ideas will work, is that we LEARN FROM HISTORY. Leftists don't. They don't learn at all. They don't learn from their own history, because they live in fantasy worlds. There is no virtue in delusion. Obviously.
Great piece!
I have been saying it for years, and been laughed at in the process, that the anti-Israel/BDS sentiment has always been baked into the DEI agenda.
October 7th should have been a wake up call especially liberals to how evil can strike at any moment. Watching posters of kidnapped children being ripped down this weekend is evidence many liberals found it easier to blame the Jews for the atrocities committed by monsters.
As a long time conservative who has endured the arrogant dismissal, loathing and ridicule of progressives for years excuse me if I’m slow to accept that this “awakening” is real. The same people who built a statue glorifying a drug addicted rapist while cheering BLM and antifa tyranny are only now having a great awakening? When I see enough of you cancel your NY Times and Washington Post subscriptions and stop listening to NPR that they all disappear forever maybe my faith in the wisdom and character of my fellow citizens will be restored. When I stop having to endure race baiting self promoters on tv after every white on black crime regardless of the statistical insignificance I might start to regain hope for racial progress. When enough of us begin to truly be curious about how elected officials making middle class incomes amass generational wealth while claiming there is no proof of influence peddling or insider trading I might be encouraged. I could go on but you get the point. Because we might agree on our support for Israel excuse me if I don’t suddenly embrace or trust you as an ally in fighting on the issues that matter in saving our country. It’s not just about Israel. Western Civilization and capitalism is not the cause of all the world’s problems, it is its best hope. Defend and protect it, it’s survival is not a given.
Brilliant article! I am also one of those people who has become politically conservative overnight after this issue. Never thought I would vote conservative until now. Even when I saw illogical and harmful demands were made about inclusion of trans women in sports, prisons, too much focus on skin colour. I still thought at its core these people mean well and want to create a more equal society, they are misguided, brainwashed and maybe misinformed due to hyper polarization driven by social media. But there is no way anyone can brainwash a moral person to think that killing babies is a form of “resistance”.
Sadly, I have seen no viewpoint shift among my acquaintances. Two days ago I had someone say to me that the terror attacks were Israel’s fault because they taunted the oppressed by having a music festival so close to the “open air prison”.
I am finding that most of the left is merely a collection of empty academic credentials and meaningless phrases without a rational thought among them. Nor a meaningful life experience in the whole lot. There are indeed to perspectives. One based on reality. The other based on a warped self image.
Maybe I just need a better set of acquaintances.
Critical thinking is not for the faint of heart or mind. It demands you step away from ideology and towards fact and humanity.
It isn’t “hard”. You just have to turn off the noise and KNOW the answers don’t lie within political positions but within an honest frame of mind.
Fantastic! I made the transition from Unconstrained to Constrained after reading Thomas Sowell in 2020, when considering the COVID and George Floyd response in my community. I want to share this article with so many friends who may not be Free Press subscribers— HELP! How do I do so?
Let's never forget who said he was about to "fundamentally change America". He didn't start the slide from "constrained" to "unconstrained" but he clearly greased the rails. Through his proxies, he is still there and is pushing hard. It is through clear-eyed articles like this that perhaps, just perhaps, we can see what is happening to us.
Spot on - reading this directly after watching a man in London needing Police protection from a mob of people with Palestinian flags. And why was the mob angry with him ? Because he had an English flag with God Save the King written on it. One can only hope that it is not already too late.
I am going to send this to all my democratic friend. I moved to the other camp when the schools,courts and medical establishment tried to change my child’s gender without me- I have seen the dangers first hand. And it is real
An often overlooked byproduct of modern immigration is the contempt of Western cultural ideals through pseudo-assimilation.
Under the guise of kindness and compassion, we’ve made the obscene tolerable, our weaknesses - our hubris as virtuous.
While our Western youth reconcile with manufactured Identity oppressions, an Ideological fervour of Jihadists has shown the true privilege to which most of us reside…