Dissident Thoughts #1
A new series begins here on my Substack aiming to address cultural and social issues in a more concise and direct way than I deal with monetary issues.
People need something bigger than themselves to strive for
A new series begins here on my Substack aiming to address cultural and social issues in a more concise and direct way than I deal with monetary issues.
People need something bigger than themselves to strive for. This is a firmly held belief I have had for some time now and I stand by it. The historical pillars of traditional life in the West are under attack daily from the left and have been for decades now. Among these I include:
The church
The family
The community
The nation
What all the above have in common is that they are all bigger than the individual. They all require some degree of sacrifice and commitment as well. Most of the things that have traditionally brought meaning, purpose and belonging to life have been subject to a relentless assault by the left, by capitalism and modernity in general; this is a primary reason for our struggle in today’s world I feel.
I don’t think that we can ignore the fact that the decline of these four pillars has coincided with the rise of individualism. Individualism stands opposed to each of the four pillars and undermines them all. I sincerely believe that in order to understand all of the above and, furthermore, to devote oneself to them fully means coming to terms with the limitations of ourselves as individuals as they all require a certain degree of critical self-reflection that is antithetical to individualism. The church, the family, the community and the nation all add to our life in ways that we alone cannot and we should never lose sight of that.
All these things are hard to commodify; they cannot be bought and sold, there is no special offer to be had and they don’t come in different colours or sizes either.
In Hollywood and on television they are scoffed at and derided, often as antiquated and out of touch with modern society and modern values. The media and academia regularly disparage them as the products of a period in history marked by patriarchy and racism.
Of course, there is plenty of hypocrisy at work both behind the scenes and in front of us by the regime. I used ‘church’ and not religion because two of the Abrahamic religions are spared the ritualistic humiliation that Christianity is regularly subjected to. Traditional communities based on shared values and a shared culture are mocked but the ‘LGBT community’ and the ‘black community’ are openly celebrated. Germany and the UK are required to re-examine every last inch of their history and society but Japan is not.
Without something greater than ourselves to strive for we are lost in the moral wilderness that is modernity.