Why have so many people lost their moral compass?
Victor Davis Hanson wonders:
Why then would millions ally themselves with this odious reincarnation of the SS?
Are they ignorant of the history of the Middle East?
Are they arrogant since few challenge their hate and threats?
Are they opportunists who feel mouthing anti-Western shibboleths gains them career traction in leftist-run media, academia and popular culture?
Are they bullies who count on the Western silent majority remaining quiet as they disrupt lives, trash Western tolerant culture and commit violence?
Like Hamas that they support, do they despise Jews? Why else do they express an existential hatred toward Israelis that they never display to any other group?
My answers:
Yes, to all. And as far as history goes, they are especially ignorant of the history of the Middle East, but it doesn’t stop there. They are not merely ignorant of the history; what information they do have is untrue, the gaps having been filled in by Hamas and leftist propaganda, as well as their “progressive” teachers. Many also get their history from Israel-haters at TikTok.
And why limit their ignorance of history to the history of the Middle East? They are ignorant of much of history; probably most of history.
But they are very sure about a few things that they have been taught, often for years and in many ways: that first-world nations such as the US and Israel are exploitative colonializers who deserve anything they get at the hands of the third-world people they’ve wronged. For this purpose, history hardly even matters. It’s a question of haves (Israel) and have-nots (Palestinians). Forget why some countries might be doing better than others – and anyway, meritocracies are bad white-privilege sorts of things that must be eradicated as well.
Once you accept the definitions, the rest follows. Just as black people cannot be guilty of racism because “powerless” people cannot be racists, and just as crimes committed by black people are explained as a reaction to being exploited, Palestinians by definition cannot be guilty. Everything they do is a result of exploitation by others more “privileged.” And even if the privileged end up looking like victims – murdered, raped, tortured – they are not, because they cannot be. They can only be oppressors.
This is the new morality. These things have been taught young people (and even middle-aged people) for years, and then spread around through word of mouth and social media. Thinking otherwise makes one a pariah. If you’re a caring individual, you side with Hamas and “understand the desperation that drove them to it,” as someone I know recently said to me. The extremity of the barbaric violence is a mark of the intensity of their desperation, not the sign of a bankrupt and amoral culture steeped in hatred. And the depth of the young peoples’ understanding of this third-world desperation is the mark of their own virtue.
A personal note: yes, all of this depresses me and is destructive, nonsensical madness.
VDH and Neo are very good at fleshing out the details, but as a simple minded person, all I need to understand about all of this is that the veneer of civilization is being stripped away.
That veneer has to be reapplied with responsible people acting responsibly if civilization is to survive. We are not doing that.
My Wife and I are 77. The more I read about what VDH is saying, and the mad push by some Governments to outlaw fossil fuels and go to Wind, Solar and EV’s the less I care about the future. Do I have maybe 10 to 15 yrs left. Don’t know. I just hope that I survive for that time, after that I just don’t care.
Would the average person under 40 even realize that Islam invaded Europe , and even sacked the Vatican, hundreds of years before the first crusade?
I think I was around 40 years old before I knew that the Battle of Tours between an invading Muslim army and Europeans took place in France hundreds of years before the first Crusade. I think the only reason I knew about the conquest of Spain by Muslims was because I had one teacher at school showed us the old movie ” El Cid”.
There should be an entire course on Muslim conquest in school.
It is amazing how little people know about history. There are a series of videos of black Americans reacting to Thomas Sowell and Canace Owens videos about slavery. What’s striking is that most of them were shocked that white people didn’t invent slavery, rather it was actually a common fact in most of human history, that black Africans participated in and profited from the trade, and that it was the English who suppressed it. I’m guessing that most of them don’t realize that slavery persists in large parts of the globe to this day (what do they think sex trafficking is?).
To me that is common knowledge. Middle-school level knowledge. What are they being taught???
A wag might counter-query how can one lose that which one has never possessed? But then, a mean wag, at that.
Couple the abysmal K-12 education today along with the duplicity of the MSM with the fact that 50% of the population are on the low side of the intelligence bell curve and you have a certain recipe for disaster.
Were assuming they had it in the first place
I’m sure I’ve linked this before, but this piece by an American Indian (Comanche) college professor, about his discussion with a white woman student is very relevant here:
https://ricochet.com/771458/bad-eagles-question/
This was about 20 years ago.
“And why limit their ignorance of history to the history of the Middle East? They are ignorant of much of history; probably most of history.”
Absolutely. But why even limit it to history? They are ignorant of even basic knowledge in all the humanities prior to the postmodern/ poststructuralist revolution. They are the embodiment of the Dunning Krueger effect; so ignorant they are unaware of (and totally uninterested) that they are ignorant.
“If you’re a caring individual, you side with Hamas and ‘understand the desperation that drove them to it,’ as someone I know recently said to me.”
Exactly. That’s what it comes down to for many ‘fools’ on the left (the ‘knaves’ have their own agenda and motivations, of course). You must ‘care’ for the ‘oppresed’. The latter is defined as anyone non-white, when opposing whites (and all Jews are defined as ‘white’ here). The former is defined as ‘defending and rationalizing EVERYTHING the latter does or is done in their name.’
David Foster’s link is especially relevant; as that Comanche professor noted, this attitude is actually deeply patronizing and condescending. It implies non-whites have little individuality, moral reasoning, agency or impulse control. They simply react, even in barbaric ways, due to the oppression they’ve suffered at the hands of whites.
Kipling’s ‘White Man’s Burden’ turned on its head, perhaps?
Huh. I tend to think I am more well-versed in history than the average person, but I’d been unaware of the 846 Saracen raid on Rome before now. Some of the most extravagant relics were in churches then outside the city walls, and there’s reason to believe the churches were specifically targeted because of the combination of vulnerability and riches. What’s certain is that the raiders never made it inside the city walls, which means Wikipedia doesn’t have it in its list of ‘Sacks of Rome.’
There was a follow-up in 849, which didn’t go so well; many of the raiders were captured, enslaved, and put to work finishing the Leonine Walls inspired by the first raid.
“Losing” their moral compass implies that they had one previously. I would wager 90% of Hamas supporters in America are either under 30 and indoctrinated at universities, or are Muslims and similarly indoctrinated by their religion. This is more a case of the masks coming off.
There’s probably no hope for the second group, but perhaps the first will grow up, and maybe there will be enough blowback that our universities will start to regret the monsters they have created (if only because of the impact on donations).
“Losing” their moral compass implies that they had one previously.
This cannot be repeated often enough. The moral compass from much of the Western world was stripped away in the post-War influx of Marxist de-constructionists into the thought-shaping institutions. Where we are now is the bitter poisonous fruit of those seeds.
I would amplify #1 and #3 of VDH’s list of four “Are they’s?”
There is a vast sea of ignorant morons out there. OK, they are not morons generally, but for the purpose of this topic, they are.
And who is leading &/or directing this mob?
“Opportunists who feel mouthing anti-Western shibboleths gains them career traction in leftist-run media, academia and popular culture.”
Make no mistake. In a great many instances these opportunists are gaining career traction. If it is working for you, do more of it.
It’s always (dis kai tris t’agatha) a good thing to take time to read and re-read the Cave metaphor in Plato’s Republic, bk. VII.
True, today’s young don’t have much of a moral compass to lose.
But their teachers in school and in college … many, if not most, were older and knew better or should have known better.
The boomers and millenials in education were better educated, yet they rolled over for the Barbarians at the Gates.
I’m not sure I would have done better in their shoes. But the academics and scientists too (climate change, renewable energy, transgender) have really let us down.
Make no mistake. In a great many instances these opportunists are gaining career traction. If it is working for you, do more of it.
TommyJay:
Exactly.
The loss of a moral compass, I think, has a lot to do with so many people no longer affiliating with a church congregation. When you go to church (or synagogue) you get a weekly dose of the Bible, which presents an objective morality. God says something is a sin, it IS a sin, and it is wrong to do.
Remember Obummer defined a sin as “Being out of alignment with [his] values”? That is pretty damned relativistic.
According to Wikipedia (so it MUST be true), “In 1963, 90% of U.S. adults claimed to be Christians while only 2% professed no religious identity. In 2016, 73.7% identified as Christians while 18.2% claimed no religious affiliation.” And I’m willing to bet that a sizable percentage of that 73.7% never goes to church. (Anecdotally, I know a ton of people who consider themselves “Christian,” but haven’t set for in a church in DECADES. So I suspect the truly “unaffiliated” is much higher.)
Churches are dying. In my home town, two congregations got down to just a couple of older families and voted to disband. There are soooooo many churches for sale on real estate sites. One of the largest synagogue congregations where I lived for awhile, sold their synagogue and school to a Hindu congregation. (At least it’s not sitting empty, rotting.) I grew up in the Midwest and there are still so many empty, dying churches.
I find it distressing and depressing to see the over the top, crazy way people get into decorating for Halloween. I find that more obscene than the commercialized over the top Christmas decorations. For the upcoming “winter holidays” one pet store is offering an opportunity for people to bring their pets in to get its photo taken with Krampus. Seriously.
When there is no objective sense of what is right and what is wrong, nothing is wrong. It makes it easier for these idiots to justify rape, murder, torture as an expression of a fight for freedom. After all, it isn’t out of alignment with their “values.”
To continue: In today’s world, you would likely not find a Sir Charles James Napier. Because today, the relativistic masses would whine, “It is their custom! Who are we to question it?” Women in India should celebrate him.
But I’m sure there are young British idiots who are clamoring to cancel his memory — remove stairs of him and his name from any buildings.
Someone Else:
Please don’t bury the lede on Napier!
Here’s what he said about suttee, the Indian practice of burning widows after the husband’s death. Sadly, like many things, it’s not known as well as ought:
________________________________
Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_James_Napier
Steve Hayward has a great post today at Powerline.
In it he points out a major factor in the left turn of universities.
I think we can make out more specifically one of the greatest examples of the law of unintended consequences from a well-meaning social policy: the student draft-deferment system of the 1960s. Thousands of young men who might not otherwise have gone to, or remained in college, did so to avoid the draft, and many thousands of them continued into graduate school to continue avoiding the draft, and newly radicalized departments, especially sociology, expanded to absorb the draft-dodgers. (This was also the beginning of grade inflation and dumbing down the curriculum, as sympathetic professors wanted to make sure students kept their academic standing clear.
Lyndon Johnson used the draft for Vietnam to avoid the ruckus that would have resulted from activating reserves. He then allowed more than one deferment which made the problem worse. I was in college then, class of 1960, and medical school class of 1966. I could not detect the politics of my professors at the time. I think the left turn occurred after the deferments.
All of us are suffering from the vast ignorance of so many.
Although all our lives are diminished in some ways, I have special empathy for the Jews of the world over these past 7 weeks. Most Jews know history; the history of the Jewish people at least. One would forgive Jews living in America, the UK, other progressive, Western nations… One would forgive the Jews here and in those nations for being optimistic, hopeful. The pogroms are over.
But now, to witness the vile hatred of the past 7 weeks and to know it has been there all along; waiting for an excuse to yell and scream and shout and threaten. It truly must be terrifying. And, so very, very disappointing. I forget who said it, but I heard a metaphor that throughout human history anti-semitism has been a mirror. Whatever the reason given for driving out Jews is actually the underlying flaw of the society committing the genocide. Rather than face our culture in the mirror and be repulsed by what we have become, what we have allowed to grow, our society fixates on a scapegoat.
God help us.
Rufus:
Not that you or anyone else here necessarily disagrees.
I stand with the Jews.
It feels weird to say that. Am I any different from those who stand with the Palestinians?
Facts matter. History matters. I don’t think it’s that complicated, unless one feels the need to reach a different conclusion.
In his way James Joyce stood for the Jews. The hero of Joyce’s masterpiece, “Ulysses,” was Leopold Bloom, a Jew. Not an accident.
That was a big deal in 1922 when “Ulysses” was published. Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” (1926) posed a Jew as the deservedly unpleasant outsider.
I’m revisiting that era in French. Today’s anti-Semitism is even more stupid and evil but ’twas ever thus.
huxley,
I do not stand with people who rape, torture and murder, or people who celebrate or excuse those tactics in justification of any outcome.
Joh Baker: December 1, 2023 at 12:10 pm
They might start by watching some of the You Tube videos by Bill Warner.
He shows there were over 500 “wars” fought by Islamic forces over the centuries trying to conquer “Europe”, with the (supposed) final pushback near Vienna in 1683.
However, I had not realized that an attack on the Vatican was part of that. And Thanks, boohah, for your amplification of that not being successful.
But the invasion of Europe continues apace, with one refugee or migrant worker at a time, followed by numerous children (born locally or elsewhere).
huxley on December 1, 2023 at 7:37 pm
“My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed.”
This story was the first time I had ever seen the word “gibbets” used. I came close to calling it a “giblet” by mistake. I guess just another example of how we often learn via “stories” rather than boring dull facts alone.
@ Mike K > “I think the left turn occurred after the deferments.”
I agree.
My college years were 1970-1976, and the shift from Center-ish (universities have not been Right since Yale ceased to be a divinity school, and may not have been even then) to hard Left was noticeable over that period, even allowing for my move from a mostly STEM undergraduate campus (Rice) to the poli-sci graduate department at UT-Austin.
The first generation of beneficiaries of the deferments were not all leftists or even Democrats (AesopSpouse being among them), but it was mostly “progressives” who stayed in academia. I escaped that fate by a series of what looked like at the time to be unfortunate events, but were probably blessings.
Had I continued in my intent to become a poli-sci researcher, I would either have succumbed to the hive mind or gotten myself fired.
Rice fell completely into the Woke camp some years ago.
Wikipedia: “Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has its roots in a Theological Department established in 1822”
Put succinctly and with great clarity as always.
Two of my favs: Neo and VDH.
Social media is the root of all evil, as is being demonstrated here. Again.
To stretch a metaphor, a person with no compassion does not know direction
The question is why so many chose this one from the enormous number of options.
A blank slate does not demand this to the exclusion of all else.
My guess is they did not :lose”anything but found an outlet for an existing foulness.
It was waiting
,”compassion” should be,”compass”
The book title “Suicide of the West” comes to mind.
Richard Aubrey, I like your metaphor very much. It may be a stretch, but it’s helpful in thinking about how and why this evil is spreading. Unfortunately, I’m afraid you have it right about the underlying psychology.
Maybe I’m old fashioned. I still think Jews have a right to exist. I also believe I have the right to self defense. Of course everyone agrees. We part ways when it comes to the means. How dare those Joooozzx fight back! Somebody might get hurt!
The Jews’ right to exist and my right to self defense are linked. I’m fixing to write a book which no one will read
How many people read that one?
Graphic novel genre, for the young uns?
It was directed at Jordan
Has it occurred that no one is born with a moral compass? Can I describe two women who died screaming when their neighbors but burned them to death. No, I can’t. Sheer terror. They died screaming that’s what the Canandian peace keepers who got there 1st told me. I have no reason to doubt them.
Peace keepers
Bosnia/Balkans?