Posted by
Mantic on Friday, February 16, 2007 11:34:26 AM
There are four big categories to a thinking person's life: God, Family, Country and Me. As we struggle with trying to understand major religious, cultural and political groups, it might be helpful to overlay a group priority of God or Country or Family or Me.
Libertarians? Me
Islamofascists? God
Military? Country
Mothers? Family
The above is a highly simplistic categorization, but the understanding of these major drivers may help us to understand motivations and reactions to events.
Those who put God above all will be social conservatives. That is because religion is the primary dispenser of moral instruction. Those who put God far above all other elments may be the most obdurate in their life view because they are driven farther and harder by a source they feel to be unambiguous. Islamist put God way, way above all else. In that they are the most intractable and immune to what we in the West would call reason.
Country is similar in concept to God. "God & Country" is a fusionist slogan that a nationalist would use where they feel that God has blessed the Country they live in and there is a strong link. Nationalism can seek to replace religion if it cannot co-opt it. Nazi Germany, Soviet Union are examples of Country supplanting God. Manifest Destiny of America is a fusionist concept linking God with the United States.
Family, as an identifier, covers most of the human race unless their secular nature has stripped them of family relationships. A good vision of family is the Arab world. Although Islam is the overlay, the tribal allegiances can trump virtually everything. In Iraq, there is Sunni and Shia, but with in cities it can be tribe vs. tribe that determines the allegiance to Iraq, the Country.
The Me identifier has infected the west. Secular humanism, GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) issues, women issues, political correctness is most of its forms is 'ME" identification. Who I am , what I do and my privelege to do so are Me issues. Those more interested in ME than in the broader identifiers can weaken institutions because institutions are social constructs. In the end, "ME brings down social constructs because of it's singular focus on a single unit. Those seeking personal power devolve into ME identification. Dictators become ME people. The Democrat party is run by ME interest groups. Therefore it is inward looking and will eventually lead to decadence because it only looks inward. Europe is a ME continent. It's focus is on personal welfare, lifetime employment... life without risk. Because of that Europe is demoralized in the literal sense. It has lost its moral sense.
Where is the power? What makes a civilization vital? It is not through ME. It is through humans putting their trust in higher institutions... It is through humans realizing that there is more than self. A mother sacrifices for her child. That is power. A soldier sacrificing himself on the battlefield. That is power. A Christian sacrificing his time and money to help others. That is power.
There is a flip side to that. The Hamas youth strapping on a suicide belt to murder Israelis, knowing that Allah will look kindly on his act... that is also power. The Nazi war machine knowing that the Aryan nation is pure and needs to rule the world... that is also power.
If Europe and the U.S. continue to slide into ME, those with identities at higher levels will have the vitality and the power to overcome us. For Country and Family, we need to fight the forces that would take our way of life from us. In that there is power. It seems the ME Democrats would take that ability away from us.