Though I tend to follow Jordan Peterson's activity, I admit I'm not up to speed with the direction and the goings-on within his Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), which he launched in 2023 together with several other traditionally Conservative figures, like Philippa Stroud and John Anderson. But when this speech from one of their recent conferences popped up in my feed, I decided to... well, catch up.
Paul Klee's 'Senecio', one of a myriad of European artists worth preserving. src
I happen to think Douglas Murray (agree or disagree with him, and I do both on several points) is one of the most eloquent and charming speakers in the media today. As such, who can resist. It's a pleasure to listen to him, even when you don't like what he's saying (and isn't that, after all, the point?).
"We've wasted so much time in recent years. People have made us move at such a retarded speed, we've had years of talking about the most basic things our species already knew. Men and women - what are they? Come on. Who had time for this? [...] There is a civilizational cost to be made to go at the speed of the slowest kids in the class."
When you see the title, you think it's there for shock-value, and perhaps 'speechless' is a stone's throw too far, but it is a remarkable speech, one highly worth watching.
"One response to the mass migration has been what I've described as the deculturation of our societies - the idea that in order to welcome people into our societies, we effectively have to pretend we are uninteresting places, unimportant places until migration made us interesting. [...] We in the West have created an extraordinarily complex and rich flavor, and we have spent recent years pretending that we have no flavor, or that flavor is only something that other people bring to us. It is, of course, flat-out wrong, but it's something we've told more than one generation. That we don't have something very great, or if we do, we oughtn't talk about it too much. I believe that is wrong. What we have in the cities of Europe and the West are the greatest civilization that the world has known. We have the choice either to live in the wastelands or rebuild them. [...] Culture isn't simply something that people can revere, but that young people can actively add to."
Interestingly enough, the talk which was given at ARC's conference in London just this week came as an important echo to JD Vance's speech in Munchen last Friday (I think it was) and the subsequent to-and-fro between the "evil" new American empire and our fading, beautiful, but disastrously-led Europe.
It was reassuring to see many European voices that don't fall in line with the mainstream boo-hooing of Vance's speech or of the Trump administration in general, but rather appreciate that as disturbing as it may be for us in Europe to talk about this sad state of affairs, we need to address the monster in the room before we can do anything about it. (Unsurprising, perhaps, if you're familiar with their takes on Trump, Musk et co, or the fact that Vivek Ramaswami himself is on the ARC's board of direction.)
But then again, people like Murray have been decrying the fall of the West for years, which has earned them a place in the great right-wing extremist hall of fame, simply for saying that perhaps all those boring old white statues were toppled had something worth saying, after all.
"I would urge in the age of reconstruction that our great task is not just to break through with innovation but to reclaim what is ours. To say that we love it, and that if people wish to join us in the veneration of this civilization, they are very welcome to do so. If they do not wish to join us, there are other places they can be."
It has always been the preferred tactic of schoolyard bullies, convincing their victims that to speak up is cowardly and dangerous on their part. It's perhaps why speeches like Murray's can pass for tongue-in-cheek when really, he says nothing shocking or out of the ordinary. He is saying this is our house, we must look after it. He is saying if you will not respect my house, leave. And why shouldn't he? If someone used your pillowcase to wipe their boots, you'd have no trouble saying "leave". It is, after all, your house. And it's neither cowardly nor does it need to be dangerous to take pride in it.
It's often struck me in the past few years that MSM voices often deride these crazy alt-right nationalists for taking pride in their history and country. It might seem like an absurd, random thing to mock. For young people like myself, it may even seem funny. To laugh at these old-timers, so pathetically chained to their old ways. It is, however, worth considering the perils of raising young generations who've been brainwashed into thinking they come from ugly, culture-less, oppressive places. That their parents are reprehensible. That their shared past is something brutish, to be embarrassed by.
It's enough to look at any child who comes from a broken home to understand the difficulty of outrunning such shame. What happens then when the entire youth of the West comes out of broken nations?
This song got lodged in my head after I listened to Murray's talk. I wonder why.
We may not speak of nation
We may not speak of soil and flags
What do they know of Europe?
Only Europe know
(Recommend the talk, as well as others avaialble on the ARC channel. You may not agree with everything. I don't, either. Again, we used to be able to listen to that sort of thing.)
