Nukes Threaten People; Ideas Threaten Civilizations

Townhall.com ^ | July 18, 2017 | Dennis Prager

[DownInFlames]

The Jews and intellectuals were the first to be purged.

[SoCal Pubbie]

The Hittites may have been overthrown militarily, but their civilization in the sense of culture and values was not that much different from the surrounding empires that overthrew them. I'm sure many of their customs and values lived on after the country was absorbed by the Assyrians. So too remnants of Inca culture lives on today in Peru. Christianity and Islam were bigger factors in changing cultures among the people of the Middle East and South America than the armies that brought those religions to new lands.

I would add that Prager does not preclude the threat of Russian weaponry to devastate our civilization. He merely argues that the ideas of the left are a more immediate threat.

[Tax-chick]

I understand Mr. Prager’s point. I just think it was expressed in such a simplistic way that defending it was a waste of brain cells. It is not “true” in any meaningful way: it’s an opinion, the explication of which would take time and specific evidence.

Re the Incas, I disagree. Their civilization was brought down with weapons (and disease). There are many surviving elements of traditional Andean culture - Inca and pre-Inca - but they are not a civilization as they once were. The civilization is now European.

Speaking of pre-Columbian civilizations, we had a guest priest at my parish on Sunday. He was from Guatemala, and he said the population of his mission area, near the Guatemala/Mexico border, was 85% Maya-speaking.

[Louis Foxwell]

Jews and other intellectuals were Stalin’s greatest supporters. Their adherence to communism explains NY Jews’ liberalism today, most of whom came from Russia. German and European Jews have no such allegiance.