Mark Steyn: The Apathy of Defeat

Western Standard (Canada) ^ | September 25, 2006 | Mark Steyn

[vimto]

Not read Kiplin before (to my shame).

I will now. Prophetic!

[managusta]

I think that Steyn has lost some faith in the youth of Western Civilisation.
However,currently we are reliving 1933, when the Oxford Union debated "This House would under no circumstances fight for its King and country".Yet as Kipling notes there comes a tipping point as those same Oxford students discovered in 1939.

[alwaysconservative]

Excellent points, as usual!

[rlmorel]

[aculeus]

Thanks for posting.

[Dems_R_Losers]

You are so right. Look at what has happened to Rick Santorum. He is one of the few really courageous leaders who has spoken bluntly about the need to defend our Western culture. Yet the elites in the media have turned him into a caricature "right-wing zealot." And even many conservatives turn on him because he isn't perfect. We can't even seem to defend our own leaders as we constantly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

[expatpat]

Thanks for the Kipling -- hadn't seen that one.

[ichabod1]

Kipling Rocks! Or, put another way, down here in Texas we keep smiling at you right friendly like right up to the point where we cock the shotgun.

Tommy
I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

[Earthdweller]

I usually like Mark Steyn. He is brilliant, but, I think he has been sipping at the French Whine cup with this one.

If the men in this country don't get some of what they used to have real soon and defeat this thing I have but two choices, hand over everything to the French or to the Islamics.

If I choose the French then I can live among girly men for an eternity and spend my days brushing up on intellectual warfare and nagging them like little poodles on a leash.

If I choose the Islamics I can plan on a brainless existence of simple reproduction.

It would be really nice to have a third choice....if you don't mind!

So for today Mark..your leash is on order. You can cancel it at anytime.

[The Toll]

This is all a result of our failing to be a real nation any longer. It is hard to defend something that is rotten in its core. Even natives of this land who cherish its history feel like a minority and get disgusted from time to time. It is hard not to believe that the gig is up and it's best to find an escape. Someone left the gates open and we are changed forever. Face it, the truth is that we suffered the most devastating attack in our history five short years ago and half of the country doesn't care. It's true, they do not care. They hate this country anyway.

[Liberty Valance]

There's always been a market for self-loathing in free societies: after all, the most effectively anti-western idea of all was itself an invention of the West, cooked up by Karl Marx while sitting in the Reading Room of the British Library. The obvious defect in communism is that it's decrepit and joyless and therefore of limited appeal. Fascism, likewise, had many takers in those parts of the cultural West that were politically deficient--i.e., continental Europe--but it had minimal support in the heart of the political West--i.e., the English-speaking world. So the counter-tribalists came up with something subtler and suppler than communism and fascism--the slipperiest ism of all. The great strength of "multiculturalism" is not that it's an argument against the West but that it short-circuits the possibility of argument. If there's no difference between English Common Law and native healing circles and Tamil Tiger fundraisers and gay marriage and sharia, then what's to discuss? Even to want to debate the merits is to find oneself on the wrong side--for, if the core belief of multiculturalism is that there's nothing to discuss and everything's equally nice and fluffy, then to favour honest argument puts you, by definition, on the extremist side."

So well written that it needed to be repeated. Thanks Mr. Steyn.

[eureka!]

bump

[American in Israel]

big-shot analysts in Moscow and Beijing have concluded that...the broader jihad can be a useful (if unwitting) proxy for Russia and China.

So the Jihad rides a Red Horse. Russia is supplying a large industrial factory base for the mass production of nuclear weapons in Iran, and China is delivering its long range Balistic Missile systems to deliver the warheads to the West. Strange how close this is to an old prophecy:
Rev 6:3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come."
Rev 6:4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that {men} would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

[Earthdweller]

"....and as Mark Steyn says, its hard to see how we'll recover it."

Well then just all you whiny sissies step aside and let a real woman take over! Is this the American male version of PMS?

I'll take on the PC crowd by myself if I have to. I'm not giving up until God takes the last breath out of me.

[Fury]

Depressing...

[S.O.L.]

How about this?
Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

[dervish]

powerful article.

"The great strength of "multiculturalism" is not that it's an argument against the West but that it short-circuits the possibility of argument."

Well put. But the hypocrisy of the left is such that while it is okay for Hezbollah 'freedom fighters' to target civilians the West may not. While it is okay for the world of Islam to subjugate women and make homosexuality a crime with a death sentence, the left maintains that the West must be totally blind to any differences between the sexes and accord total and complete recognition and benefits to homosexuals.

So the left does not really apply a neutral standard at all.

[ModelBreaker]

Yet as Kipling notes there comes a tipping point as those same Oxford students discovered in 1939.

The tipping point will come when the passive middle (who just want things to be nice and for people to stop saying things that make them think that things might not be as nice as they want them to be) feels threatened in a real and immediate way. They won't get there easily because they will twist and turn for some rationalization that will let them think things will get nice again without any effort on their part--we were mean, if we just were nicer blah blah blah.

But the muslims will not allow them that luxury forever. Sadly, it's going to take at least one dem administration and some terrible losses of life before they they emerge from their stupor. Then woe to the folks who made their lives uncomfortable.

Currently, conservatives make their lives uncomfortable by talking about the WOT and unpleasant issues like abortion and homosexual marriage (which they would prefer would just go away as issues because they're not nice). That's why we are being punished this election cycle.

[okie01]

Profound, as usual. And a bit depressing, because it's truer than one would like.

It appears that saving the world has been left to the Anglosphere once again. The troubling part is that only half of us are available to do it...and the other half are either sitting in the stadium, watching, or are on the enemy's side.

[andrewwood]

While there is a long and dishonorable strand of passivism and nihilism in western thought, as well described by Steyn (and Kipling)I think a lot of today's apathy comes in reaction to the Korean and Vietnam Wars, where noble conviction, courage and purpose led to large loss of life, for no great result( Korea) or in disgrace and defeat (Vietnam).While many have learned lessons from those engagements and moved on,without losing faith in Western ideals, many in my generation (student in the sixties) unfortunately have not.