Rumors of death are not exaggerated

The Twilight of Multiculture and Inclusion

Spengler did not consider the humanities to be scientific disciplines, including history and philosophy. His rigid division of culture as ascent and civilization as decline did not seem convincing. A feature of Spengler’s beliefs was anti-Semitism, which was not alien to European intellectuals at all times. Like Voltaire and Wagner, Spengler saw Jews as destroyers of the cultures with which they came into contact in the Diaspora.

Spengler believed that civilizations, like living organisms, are doomed to completion, to death, in order to give way to young, energetic cultures. These ideas are consistent with many historical studies of the past and present. One can name “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon, the passionary theory of Lev Gumilyov, “Collapse” by Gerald Diamond and, recently, an endless number of publications on the topic “How Democracies Die”.

After the victory over fascism, the revival of Western democracies, the creation of the European Union and the end of the Cold War, Spengler’s predictions were remembered as a curiosity, associated not so much with historical analysis as with the psychological state of the author. But today the question of whether Europe and the entire Western civilization will survive does not raise doubts about its validity and relevance.

The traditional justification for democracies born of Western civilization, “Other systems are worse,” convinces few. Trust in democratic models of capitalism and the “invisible hand of the market” has fallen to a critical level, which today clearly indicates whose interests it is subordinated to, whom it serves and whom it ignores and exploits.

In the opinion of opponents, the political and economic organization of Western society is an oligarchy, plutocracy, kleptocracy – the power of a few, ensured by the unfair distribution of national wealth. Seen from the other side, it is ochlocracy, the rule of a populist-led mob, generated by universal suffrage and the tyranny of minorities. Weakened governments and social institutions cannot withstand destructive forces from above and below.

The crisis state of democracy is confirmed not only in academic circles, but also in the voice of the people. According to polls, only 20% of Americans are satisfied with the way democracy works, in France – 29%, in England 28. In Sweden, satisfaction is much higher – 58%, but defenders of a market without shores consider the Swedish model of social life to be socialism and have long predicted economic collapse for it.

But even in prosperous Sweden, the police do not recommend that women go out after 9 pm. Pogroms, arson, vandalism, attacks on government agencies and police stations, and synagogues have become a common part of European news reports.

This atmosphere created the ground for the strengthening of nationalist movements and parties. In the Netherlands, after 50 thousand illegal migrants found themselves in the country in one year, the far-right Freedom Party won the parliamentary elections. Her “Holland First” program includes closed borders, leaving the European Union, abandoning the euro, banning the Koran and closing mosques, and non-interference in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

In Ireland, after a migrant’s attack on a kindergarten, riots took place under the slogan “Ireland for the Irish,” roads were blocked, institutions and cars were set on fire and destroyed, and the police were attacked. Similar pictures can be observed in almost every Western European country.

And this is just the beginning. A true Apocalypse is inevitable when the rise in Earth’s temperature makes the southern regions of the planet uninhabitable, and climate disasters and famine force up to a billion migrants to seek refuge in Western countries.

It is difficult to hope that the next UN summit will resolve this dilemma in the face of increasing polarization of national interests and rapid population growth in the south of the planet and population decline in the north.

Multiculture, integration, and familiarization with the values of Western civilization did not work out. NATO does not have the capacity to solve this problem. And America will not save, it would have to cope with its borders, internal division and search for its place in the world.

“The Plot Against America”

The title of Philip Roth’s dystopian novel reflects a possible threat from fascism. America faces many dangers, real and paranoid, and the most plausible of conspiracy theories is an attempt to radically change the social, spiritual and physical appearance of the country. The destruction of monuments, the revision of history and educational courses, and the expulsion of literary classics from libraries turned out to be insufficient. The desired effect is achieved by the country’s open borders for the invasion of millions of people of a different culture and way of life. Unlike immigrants of the past, new settlers do not feel the desire to adapt; on the contrary, the country must adapt to their presence.

Before Obama, the process seemed like an anomaly, driven by border security shortfalls and the need to fill jobs. The first African-American president to reject American exceptionalism and nation-states saw uncontrolled immigration as an opportunity to overcome the dominant culture and organization of society and permanently cement the hegemony of the Democratic Party. Ideas of humanism, compassion, inclusion, awakening, and the fight against injustice and privilege were offered for mass consumption. The entire education system and the dominant liberal media were subordinated to the new ideology.

The results exceeded expectations. In December 2023 alone, border control registered a record number of 300 thousand migrants from South America. According to statistics, more than 50 million of the country’s residents were born abroad. No one knows the real number of illegal immigrants in the country. Trump’s attempts to somehow correct the situation were sabotaged.

Today, democrats also realize that things are moving towards a social explosion. The stronghold of the Democrats – big cities fully reflect and feel the fruits of the Obama-Biden policies.

Even CNN changed its rhetoric and showed the scale of the disaster. The host of the program, Fareed Zakaria, calls for following the example of Canada, Australia and other countries where strict standards for granting the right of residence have been established: language proficiency, education, and professional training.

If we follow the Canadian experience, this will give rise to another acute global problem – the “drain of the best hands and brains” from countries where they are especially needed to get out of poverty and dependence. Of course, it is beneficial to avoid the costs of training programmers, analysts, doctors, nurses, engineers, and operators of complex equipment, and this is quite in the spirit of a free labor market and an open society. But this is a clear robbery of the most valuable national resource, which cannot be the principle of policy of a country that proclaims itself the savior of humanity.

By the verdict of history?

Contrary to the obvious, government reporting on the state of the country and the comments and forecasts of Democratic Party propagandists convince us that the fundamental foundations of democracy, the economy and government institutions are strong, and all that is required to make things even better is to stay the course and not elect Trump.

Public opinion sees a different picture. According to polls, only 18% of Americans are satisfied with the state of the country, 78% believe that the country is going in the wrong direction. Almost a quarter of Americans and a third of Republicans are convinced that everything is so bad that patriots must resort to violence to correct the situation. 79% use negative language to describe their feelings about politics. And this is in a country where the typical answer, adequate to the national character and tradition, is “Everything is Great”, “Wonderful”, “All right”. In a country where you’re supposed to be cheerful and confident, only 36% believe in the “American Dream” and that “If you work hard, you can get there.”

Who is guilty? 72% have a negative opinion of Congress, 58 of Biden, 56 of Trump. 77% believe Biden is too old to lead the country.

The public consciousness is in alarm: 41% believe that “a secret global Cabal controls the world,” 70% want the legalization of drugs, apparently seeing no other way to cope with everyday stress, 52% have weapons in the house. 61% fear that artificial intelligence will be a threat to humanity. 52% suggest that the US is entering a new world war. The picture is complemented by a record increase in deaths from drug addiction, suicide, on the roads, and mass shootings.

This is not a selective selection of negative information by opponents of the Democratic Party, all data is from the latest issue of The Week, which publishes reviews of American media and is clearly sympathetic to the Democrats.

Immigration and racial conflicts have pushed away from the field of public attention the central problem of any society – the people’s well-being. Gone forever are the days when a factory worker, teacher, policeman, postal worker could feed a family of four, have a decent house and car, and not really worry about credit debts, health insurance and school fees for children. At the same time, even with a national debt of 34 trillion, the number of billionaires and their wealth is growing; pandemics, cold and hot wars, and party feuds are not obstacles to this. The gap in the distribution of national wealth increases at all times and under all conditions.

Obama’s achievement – healthcare reform, presented as a manifestation of government concern, has led to an even greater rise in the cost of the medical care system. At costs two to three times higher, Americans’ life expectancy and physical and mental health are worse than in other developed countries. Education in an American school costs 5-10 times more than in India, Pakistan, Thailand, Cuba, but politically correct education gives results worse than in the Third World. Universities that produced specialists, experts, and highly qualified scientists are today preparing aggressive demagogues, intoxicated by utopias about the world order and human nature.

The USA was the main conductor of globalization, presenting it as a planetary model of American life and worldview; The result of this policy is the severance of international cooperative ties, the growth of nationalism and isolationism, the deterioration of crisis relations with former active partners China and Russia, and the disunity of interests in the European Union.

The struggle for democracy around the world has led to enormous sacrifices and costs and has resulted in the strengthening of authoritarian regimes and the weakening of the US position in critical regions.

The list of problems can be continued for a long time; the critical flow comes from above and below, from left and right, from conservatives, liberals and independents. True patriots will say: “If you don’t like it, leave.” But today the most dissatisfied true patriots are the ones who, together with Trump, fear most that they will lose the country. The fears are not unfounded.

It is tempting to portray the decrepit Biden as the personification of the decline of Western civilization. Perhaps the artistic image is justified, but holding the American president responsible for the course of history is similar to holding Romulus Augustus responsible for the collapse of Rome, Constantine for the fall of Byzantium, Nicholas for the fall of the Russian Empire, Clement Attlee for the collapse of the British Empire, Gorbachev and Yeltsin for the liquidation of the USSR.

Not everyone is saddened by the fall of Western civilization. The collapse of civilizations does not mean the physical disappearance of countries and peoples. We are talking about the loss of spiritual, moral, cultural values and norms, convictions and beliefs, which will be replaced by another system of being and thinking.

If European civilization disappears, the vast expanses of the continent will not be empty, this is obvious today; there is no need to even wait for whites to become a minority. For every white child born, there are 3-4 colored ones, and the most popular boy’s name in many European cities is Muhammad.

The Cassandra of our time, Oriana Fallaci, was the first, and perhaps the last, to be horrified by this prospect. In her book “Rage and Pride,” she warned: “…Our culture, our art, our science, our morals, our values, our joys will be destroyed… We will perish in every sense… I’ve been saying this for twenty years. .. Twenty years… Wake up people. Wake up!” As in the times of the prophet Isaiah and John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness was not heard, although the book was written in New York, at the hour of truth, in the wake of September 11, 2001.

From birth, America has followed the path of creating a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society. Having gone through the civil war, overcoming slavery and segregation, children of different nations, invited and uninvited, realized a common destiny, formed a new nation, formed a national character, and believed in their exclusivity and historical mission.

But today, for half the country, its past is imperialism, exploitation, racism, inequality, privilege. “Cancel culture”, “Wokeness”, “Progressivism” aggressively and uncompromisingly define the social life and consciousness of youth.

It is not smart and dangerous to blame your troubles on external forces, foreigners and conspiracies. Civilizations degrade and disintegrate primarily due to internal contradictions, loss of unity, identity, loss of the will to defend their values and beliefs.

One can take comfort in the fact that the fate of Western civilization, which is less than 10% of the world population, is not the biggest problem for the survival of mankind. Nuclear wars, climate threats, overpopulation of the planet, resource shortages, and global pandemics threaten the preservation of life on Earth.

For those who are saddened by the pessimistic picture, we can say as a consolation that recognizing reality has positive aspects. Historians, and not only historians, following great literature, realized the unpredictability, cruelty and injustice of the world and the futility of hopes for building a paradise on Earth. The world has not become worse, it has become more open and there are more opportunities for understanding it and less for illusions and utopias. Research reported by The Week found: “Happy thoughts are associated with poor memory, poor verbal development and poor decision-making abilities. Optimism is a product… of low cognitive ability.”

Perhaps changing psychological attitudes and sobering up consciousness will allow us to look at the world more realistically and make better decisions, at least in the next elections.