American Perversions: The Not-So-Great Generation and the Vision That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Chilling.

Then again, we live in chilling times.

Posted by rickl at August 15, 2010 11:53 PM

Sometimes you just depress the hell out me, Gerard. I suppose that's not a bad thing considering the topic. Mind if I rename this old poem "Psalm of the Cosmopolitan"?

God or money or treaties will save us all;
Enjoy such solace these various faiths afford.
And thus we play - as our crumbling temples fall,
And our necks at last at last come to the sword.

(Sorry for trespassing.)

Posted by Cameron at August 16, 2010 1:01 AM

Vereteno, a friend, retired university professor, legal immigrant and naturalized citizen, is also recently fearful.

She was raised in Stalin’s Russia and is unable to trick her logical mind into ignoring patterns and parallels.

She once told me “We are on correct path comrades.”

I think, she was being ironic.

Posted by MOTUS at August 16, 2010 6:11 AM

Excellent. Just excellent! A brief, accurate description of the way post-modernism has consumed an entire generation. Let’s hope the numb the dumb and the scum can still be beaten in the polls rather than on the killing fields. Vote while you can, kill if you must.

I wonder if there’s any way to make this required reading for incoming college freshman? They might understand it better than their parents who have long since sacrificed their left brains to the “if it feels good, do it” portion of the right orb. Although - to be clear – I’ve seen little in the younger generation to indicate they have the ability to grasp the magnitude of the evil that is about to overtake them. But they are young. So they have that going for them.

Posted by Dewey From Detroit at August 16, 2010 6:52 AM

Cameron, you hit the nail square on the head.

Gerard, I usually get great delight in your writings but, this is our new reality in a nut shell or maybe a cannon shell.
Not that I was unaware of what is happening around us...this brings it into the harsh light of day.

I have to get my head back into something cheerful but not forget to fight hard for my vision of America.

Posted by bobham at August 16, 2010 9:13 AM

If we are disarmed, all the dark dreams will surge forth, to become solid reality. Only the fear of open rebellion at this point in time causes the Feral One to not leave the shadows.

Posted by Vermont Woodchuck at August 16, 2010 9:35 AM

FDR was no Classical Liberal; Obama is his true heir. Even if it we were to accept that Classical Liberalism would inevitably pervert itself exactly in this way, as Moldbug insists, we should not confuse the wine with the vinegar. Joseph Schumpeter: As a supreme if unintended compliment, the enemies of the system of private enterprise have thought it wise to appropriate its label.

FDR was the master, Obama is a lazy student, and it shows. We tend to make him more than he is because we do not wish to see ourselves as more wanting than we already do.

Garrett-
Outwitted were those who kept trying to make sense of the New Deal from the point of view of all that was implicit in the American scheme, charging it therefore with contradiction, fallacy, economic ignorance, and general incompetence to govern. But it never intended to make that kind of sense. Its meaning was revolutionary and it had no other. Opposite and violently hostile ideas were represented by the same words. This was the American people’s first experience with dialectic according to Marx and Lenin.


Posted by james wilson at August 16, 2010 9:37 AM

Brilliant. Steynian, even.

Posted by Paul at August 16, 2010 10:09 AM

"Steynian" is high praise indeed, although "I am not worthy."

Posted by vanderleun at August 16, 2010 10:21 AM

The unnamable vision always leads to unspeakable crime.

Today's progressives unite (a) the "purity" of environmentalism with (b) cosmopolitanism. By accepting Gore-type environmentalism the progressives identify themselves as the morally pure, superior group, which entitles them to make decisions about the daily lives of all Americans. The pseudo-Marxism (really a form of fascism) of the progressives allies itself with cosmopolitanism, which encourages the progressives to meddle in the rest of the world, romantically involving themselves in the plight of whatever supposed victims are fashionable for the day.

Posted by Gloria at August 16, 2010 11:03 AM

Great turn of phrase, Gloria. I'm promoting it to the keynote quote.

Thanks.

Posted by vanderleun at August 16, 2010 12:04 PM

An absolutely brilliant essay, Gerard! As I've said: I wish on my best day I cd write as clearly and insightfully as you do on your worst!

But may I posit a pot-hole on the glorious road to cosmopolitanism?

What's gonna happen when the Muslims start burning down the "bath-houses" in San Francisco? A crisis is too valuable to waste!

Oh, and little Switzerland is one of the most heavily armed and mobilized countries on earth. A Switzerland of ~300 million is no pushover.

And they just banned new mosques there.

Posted by JewishOdysseus at August 16, 2010 3:58 PM

Apropos to the discussion and highly recommended: Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell.

Posted by Harry at August 16, 2010 5:27 PM

Speaking of Thomas Sowell, he is saying exactly the same thing as Gerard about the "citizens of the world" on Uncommon Knowledge:

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=NDEzYWY2NjdiZDI0NzdhY2RhM2U4YmRmOGVmMDM2OGU=

Posted by Western Chauvinist at August 16, 2010 7:51 PM

Gerrard: The term cosmopolitan, and the phrase: "rootless cosmopolitan" were very important in the history of the Soviet Union:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootless_cosmopolitan

Who were the "rootless cosmopolitans"? They were Russian Jewish intellectuals accused by Stalin of being disloyal to he Soviet Union during the post-WWII era.

Everything considered, I am sure that the same thinking is now found in the White House.

Posted by Fat Man at August 16, 2010 9:38 PM

I remember 20 years ago searching around for a group of liberty-focussed people whom I could at least have discussions with. Even in a large western city there weren't many options, and certainly no scope for having daily contact with intelligent people who have an appreciation for individual liberty.

That's all changed now. It seems that the internet has helped the left in a strategic sense (organising, spreading talking points etc), but the deeper understanding of the leftist enemy we are developing, via articles such as Gerard's, is storing up intellectual ammunition (logistics) that will blow them off the battlefield. Logistics beats strategy, as the old army saying goes.

Posted by Brett_McS at August 17, 2010 2:49 AM

It would be easier to cite this to other people if you were spelling "citoyens" correctly.

Posted by Rollory at August 18, 2010 5:55 AM

Right you are. Fixed. Nothing like copy and paste to replicate an error.

Posted by vanderleun at August 18, 2010 11:07 AM

November is going to be so interesting.

Posted by Eric Blair at August 19, 2010 10:23 AM

November is going to be so interesting.

Posted by Eric Blair at August 19, 2010 10:23 AM

This struggle did not begin and will not end in November. That is just the start. These people are playing for keeps and do not suffer proletariat fools. Will you; write, speak, and teach what this country is about or will you whistle through the forest hoping it is not you they come for?

Posted by kehoe at August 19, 2010 4:57 PM

"those rising regimes and forces whose roots and plans for the future"

EUropeans, Arabs, Chinese, Africans, et.al. will get the leaders they dream about, wish for, work for, and deserve.

Given all the hate coming down from the top, how many Americans at the bottom will convert to Islam to see (or hope to see) those at the top get what they deserve. Or to put it in the particular: given the hatred SF homosexuals have for America, how many Americans will convert to Islam, if it means the extermination of the SF homosexuals? Obama should be careful of what he wishes for; for the new American Moslems will not be restrained by cries of "racism" when they come for their enemies.

Posted by tehag at August 20, 2010 5:24 AM

Let me start by thanking you for writing both an interesting and thought-provoking essay. I recommend that everyone reads it at least twice! I've always admired the willingness to tackle a subject head-on, no holds barred like you've accomplished here. It's a virtue other bloggers would be wise emulate.

I'm compelled however, to quarrel with one issue. More of a typo really, but a typo that may lead many readers to draw the wrong conclusions.

Words have meaning, and it's especially important for a great writer like yourself to protect those meanings vigilantly. I think you'd agree with me too, when I say degradation of the English language has played no minor role in our societal decline. Which is why I must call attention your misuse of "classic liberalism."

"Classical liberalism" is the political philosophy America's founding generations championed - free market economy, rule of law, constitutional government, freedom of religion, etc. In fact, "classical liberalism" represents the extreme opposite of everything espoused by FDR, JFK, LBJ, and the other progressives.

In an otherwise brilliantly written essay, you've unfortunately defined America's worst tyrants as the rightful heirs of our founding vision. I think you can understand the dire implications of perpetuating such a falsehood, wouldn't you agree? Or what comes next? Thomas Jefferson the Marxist?

I'd like to thank you again for writing this superb essay, and humbly ask that you reconsider the use of "classical liberalism."

Thanks!

P.S. - Yesterday I happened to post a copy of Ralph Raico's "What Is Classical Liberalism?," which originally appeared in "American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia." Blog link above, article still on front page.

Posted by theCL at August 20, 2010 12:55 PM

An apt and excellent photograph of the world, recreated in the sea near Dubai.

Dubai - the perfect symbol of the progressive push against reality.
Dubai - Ghost town that rises out of the desert, built on the backs of non-citoyens who outnumber the fabulous 100 to 1.
Dubai - gilt with a veneer of crumbling wealth and tacky bling.
Dubai - whose potable water has become poisonous sludge.
Dubai - which built its tower to the heavens in order to once more unite the world is now coming undone.
That is what happens when the Luddite progressives meet the Luddite Muslims and make unholy alliance.
Let the profits of Ba'al dance round the byre and pyre for their flaming Golden Calf. We already read the outcome of this story, long, long ago.

Posted by Jewel at July 14, 2011 5:42 PM

If some Western city does indeed become a fireball, it will indeed be at least partially the fault of Shrub. Why? Because the correct response to 9/11 would have been, at an absolute minimum, the sudden conversion to a pile of rubble of the palace of the King of Mordor. Not, repeat not, attacking a country that had nothing to do with the events of 9/11.

It could be argued, and many have, that the really correct response to 9/11 would have been the conversion of the Kaaba to a rapidly expanding cloud of highly ionised plasma. But neither happened, because either would have cost Shrub's family and friends money.

Posted by Fletcher Christian at July 14, 2011 11:37 PM

Iraq tried to assassinate Bush the Elder long before 9/11. As for not having anything to do with 9/11, so what? Bush's mistake was in saying we aren't at war with Islam when Islam has made it clear for many years now, that it is at war with us. His mistake was declaring a war on 'terror' which is but a war tactic. If it weren't for political correct sensitivities and legal hamstringing, perhaps we could actually war.

Posted by Jewel at July 15, 2011 2:22 AM

Jewel - Precisely. And when fighting a war, given the ability (which the US certainly has and even the UK has to some extent) which is the better target - the centre and heart of the enemy's strength, or some peripheral region only loosely associated with it? (Iraq and Turkey were probably the world's most secular Islamic states, once.)

Unless the US government decides to put national security in front of financial gain for megacorps, then sooner or later Wretchard's Three Conjectures will come into play. If I currently lived in a major city, I'd be selling up and moving now. I don't want to be one of the casualties in the slow-motion Armageddon that is before us.

I can only hope that Wall Street or the City of London gets it first.

Posted by Fletcher Christian at July 15, 2011 10:25 AM

The tipping point will be something no one saw coming, Fletch, even the ones who saw it coming all along will not be able to anticipate the slim and singular straw that finally breaks the camel's back, but break it will and it will be sudden.

Posted by Jewel at July 15, 2011 8:34 PM

Linked and excerpted here: http://bobagard.blogspot.com/2016/07/holding-themselves-in-high-regard.html

Posted by Bob Agard at July 5, 2016 8:46 PM

"For some it will always be 1968", and that is for damn sure. I spent 68 humping the bush in RVN and I still keep plenty of guns, ammo, food and medical supplies at hand.
As a former Minnesotan I am quite familiar with HHH and Colman...both spent a lifetime suckling at the teat of the Frankfort school elitists along with FDR, JFK, and LBJ. But you skipped the Bushes, and Obama. Colman was bff with Lugar from Indiana. Lugar was Ted Kennedys favorite rino. They all dripped with a poison needed to kill liberty in its sleep.
At this point it should be obvious to all that no branch of government follows any Constitutional rule of law. A lot of people will meet their maker because of it...I will meet mine on my feet and not on my knees.

Posted by indyjonesouthere at July 6, 2016 1:29 PM