If you haven’t read ‘The Clash of Civilisations?’ (1993/6) yet, I think you probably should. Huntington's analysis can be queried, and subjected to the death of a thousand academic qualifications, but he is definitely on to something.
Writing well before 9/11, Huntington argues that the old ideological certainties of the Cold War would be replaced by older religio-cultural (aka 'civilisational') divisions. Far from being drawn together by globalisation, the different civilisations would increasingly conflict. Liberal capitalism would not automatically triumph, as his former pupil (and utter charlatan?), Francis Fukuyama, had claimed. Democracy is a result of certain specific cultural circumstances; and it cannot easily be transplanted.
In 2004, he made the obvious point that American culture is the product of Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture, and he went on to claim that the recent huge influx of Latinos would unmoor the USA from its cultural roots.
Now, the US is not my country, but his point resonates with me. Dan will say that the Latinos are hard-working, and Enoch will applaud their overwhelming Catholicism, but I cannot help seeing such a huge migration as a threat to the West as a whole and to the country that leads us.
A high-breeding racially and linguistically distinct people with a partly non-western cultural heritage are colonising the USA. Latinos are not merely New World Spaniards, but Spanish-speaking people of mixed race who are largely of non-western descent. Inevitably, their arrival in the USA will change the linguistic basis of the US; and their attachment to democracy and classical liberalism will not be so strong. And ultimately those states in which they come to be a majority may wish to secede from the union…
Meanwhile, things are worse over here...but that is another story and another post...
Saturday, January 03, 2009
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2 comments:
paul - Dan would be correct to applaud the vast majority of Latinos as being hard-working. Of course, assuming they are also law-abiding (as in residing legally). A hard-working illegal is still a criminal who cannot, by definition, assimilate.
I also applaud their Catholicism only with several significant caveats: 1) that they live, to the best of their ability, to the letter, as in not Catholic in name only... "Catholics" of the Sicilian and Irish mobs need not apply in my book. That is, I'd take a decent Prod (even Evangelical) over a crooked so-called Papist any day.
2) I am looking for a silver lining here, as I do like the Mexicans in Mexico very , very much. I mean I like them in context. You are right to point out that they are foreign to the traditional culture upon which this nation has flourished. As much as I do in fact enjoy the company of Latinos, as well as their (and I am speaking mostly about Mexican Latinos, with whom I have had more contact) distinct culture, there is no question that some very fundamental concepts I hold as "self-evident" are foreign to them (in general). What this means is that, in general, the GIVENS upon which the society, its institutions, and its perpetuation rely, are not appreciated by this segment of the population. And when a certain percentage of the population do not believe or even understand the GIVENS as self-evident and desirable, the "Grand Experiment" cannot persevere.
Finally, 3) they are in all ways preferable to the Black Tide (re: Muslim Menace).
And anyway, the Grand Experiment is already over. I hate to report it... but it is true.
The Eastern Front has given way. Europe is not Europe.
"The Eastern Front has given way. Europe is not Europe."
Correct - it is in transition, but already the new continental Europe could be renamed Eurabia as an accurate classification of the new demographics. And as Boris Johnson is doing nothing to reverse the establishment of Londonistan facilitated by his Mayoral predecesssor, the capital of the UK is already a goner, so there can no hope for the country at large. Wave goodbye to the Anglosphere and all that was achieved under the auspices of the English Language. Already the yoof of this country use a pidgin West Indian as an argot and the latest issue of the junior Oxford English dictionary has had words removed relating to the British Empire that are now considered to be 'politically incorrect'.
As a 1930s child I consider myself privileged to have seen the best a superior civilisation fostered by my forebears and paid for in blood. The current usurper occupying the office of Prime Minister has dishonoured that sacrifice and succeeded in doing what previous tyrants have failed to do: steal our country, our wealth and worst of all, dissipate our spirit. Unless he is ousted forthwith, the status quo ante will never be restored. The fact that there has not been a putsch already indicates that the backbone of the country has been broken and the monarchy is neutered to simpering tokenism: a sop to tourism. Utterly depressing!
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