“The seeds of progressive values are not to be found in Aztec civilization before Columbus, and they are scarcely in evidence outside of the western world and its closest allies (in Israel and East Asia, for example.) To acknowledge this fact is not to justify the crimes of our civilization, only to keep them in correct perspective. But that is what the activist left, in its unhistorical self- righteousness, cannot do: it cannot tell the difference between antifa vandalism and D-Day,” summarized Daniel McCarthy in The Spectator’s July edition.
That ending paragraph, in a rather good column headlined “Self-righteous vandals; the attempt to prettify history is ugly,” hints at a reason the truly educated and thinking capable adults find it so difficult to take seriously the political demands of the young and passionate as well over-credentialed older radicals.
It is not that we all disagree that our society and political systems need constant improvement. It is not that we disagree that injustices happen to people often, although many of us do not subscribe to the idea that experiencing injustice is significantly limited to specific groups as identified by those seeking political power from those groups. It is not that we even reject the idea that those in society might have honored, with statues and the like, some who are not really so deserving of public memorial.
What makes us so unwilling to follow along is that we know enough to understand that much of the very society known collectively as Western Civilization and its attendant institutions, traditions, and values are what affords us the historically unique opportunities to regularly make improvements without regressive revolution.
Throwing the proverbial “baby out with the bathwater” is what Leftists and the passionate mob are most often suggesting: They wish to destroy the very cultural norms that allow for debate, dissent, disagreement, and change all in the name of affecting change – often ill-defined change with little more than instant emotional gratification in return.
A reason we reject the calls of the passionate mob and Leftists
That ending paragraph, in a rather good column headlined “Self-righteous vandals; the attempt to prettify history is ugly,” hints at a reason the truly educated and thinking capable adults find it so difficult to take seriously the political demands of the young and passionate as well over-credentialed older radicals.
It is not that we all disagree that our society and political systems need constant improvement. It is not that we disagree that injustices happen to people often, although many of us do not subscribe to the idea that experiencing injustice is significantly limited to specific groups as identified by those seeking political power from those groups. It is not that we even reject the idea that those in society might have honored, with statues and the like, some who are not really so deserving of public memorial.
What makes us so unwilling to follow along is that we know enough to understand that much of the very society known collectively as Western Civilization and its attendant institutions, traditions, and values are what affords us the historically unique opportunities to regularly make improvements without regressive revolution.
Throwing the proverbial “baby out with the bathwater” is what Leftists and the passionate mob are most often suggesting: They wish to destroy the very cultural norms that allow for debate, dissent, disagreement, and change all in the name of affecting change – often ill-defined change with little more than instant emotional gratification in return.