Every civilization has its own peculiar characteristics, and because of them, each has its own vulnerable areas… areas that a clever adversary can take advantage of. Our Western civilization is no exception.
And most unfortunately, we've been under a sharp attack for many years by people who found our weakness and are exploiting it. I'll explain how and what we need to do about it.
Our Foundations
Western civilization was built upon the Judeo-Christian tradition… and primarily on the Christian tradition. Anyone who claims differently simply doesn't understand the civilization or doesn't want to. Whether or not the doctrines of Judaism and Christianity are true, these are the foundations of our civilization[1]. That can't really be disputed.
These principles – things like compassion for the outsider, forgiveness, and loving your neighbor – are demands for enlightened and righteous action in the world.
So, how do you subvert people in a culture centered on righteous action? You convince them of sin of course. You find one way after another to make them feel like they – and their civilization – have failed to be righteous; that's the weak point. Then you convince them that they need to absolve themselves in ways that suit your agenda.
Have you noticed that the guilt slingers always have a preset conclusion for you… a single thing you must do to absolve the guilt they tossed upon you?
Here's an example: An imposer of guilt says that your community has allowed sewage to be poured into the river. And along with that comes an either/or solution: A new regulatory agency must be given sweeping powers… and if you don't agree, you favor sewage in drinking water!
This trick has been eviscerating the West for decades. There's even a well-known school of thought known as critical theory that promotes this. These people have dedicated themselves to criticizing everything possible about Western civilization... and have prospered by it.
Their tool is weaponized guilt… the West's Kryptonite.
So, if we're going to survive as a civilization – and I think we really, really should – we must stop being suckers to everyone with a fresh criticism. These people are not trying to build; they're trying to tear down.
Stated differently, we must stop believing that we suck. Because we don't.
How to Ditch the Guilt
We ditch our guilt by facing up to what we've done in the past. And we can start that process by giving ourselves credit for the good things we've done. We're not supposed to pretend that those things never happened; we're supposed to feel good about them.
Secondly, we need to face the things we've actually done wrong and fix them. If you were unfair or cruel or whatever, gather up your guts and fix it. Go to the person you hurt and apologize. Make a public statement if you must. Restore what was lost any way you can. If that's hard or embarrassing, tough. Do it anyway.
We become suckers for guilt when we leave our errors in an unfixed state. We can fool others, but we know what we've done and we know what we haven't repaired. That state of mind makes us vulnerable to guilt.
So face your errors and fix them.
Adding to our troubles is the fact that huge swaths of modern Christianity focus on telling people how badly they suck. It's how they “evangelize.” I'll pass up a dissertation on how Christianity has strayed from its roots, but I'd like you to understand that Jesus's message was not “You suck.” In one place he repeats and defends the saying, “You are gods.” In another he says that God loves us as much as God loved him (Jesus).
But regardless of theology, we need to ditch the guilt. If you've done something bad, fix it. Then fix yourself so you don't repeat it. But after that, stop complying with people who trade in guilt.
Guilt Mixed with Politics Is Nothing but a Weapon
Please remember that guilt plus politics is a toxic mixture. It serves to dethrone reason and transfer power to clever abusers. Don't concede good intentions to people who wield this weapon against you. They aim to chop things down, not to repair them.
Let me make this very clear:
Guilt mixed with politics is poison. It's a weapon designed to destroy Western civilization.
So repair your errors and then reject the guilt.
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Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com
[1] To be clear: Greece and Rome are not part of Western civilization. Those civilizations were based upon slavery, which Western civilization removed because of its new morals. Did we borrow from them? Sure. Just like we borrowed writing from the Sumerians and the alphabet from the Phoenicians.