I just couldn't leave it there since the posts of today, line up so superbly.
In the earlier blog post entitled, "Tragedy and Hope" Quigley's opening paragraphs, deal with the patterns that occur in the rise and fall of civilisations.
James Delingpole is right (about everything, according to his imagination). Quigley writes: Our civilisation is characterised by "A crisis of organisation", and is being, "racked by internal struggles of a social and constitutional character, weakened by loss of faith in its older ideologies and by the challenge of newer ideas".
However, Quigley remarks that rather than disappearing completely, western civilisation has managed to successfully re-invent itself.
It is how we will re-invent that I fear. Or I would if I was a fearful type, which I'm not.
Showing posts with label civilisation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civilisation. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Delingpole's Despair
I posted this snippet of an article up on FB last week and apart from a comment from Bill, it has been largely ignored so I thought I would post it here to be ignored as well.
The author is James Delingpole. James is well known for his Telegraph Blog in which he openly shares his views on climate change.
Here is his impassioned, frustrated, and despairing piece:
"I'll tell you what I fear. I think we have now reached that stage of last-days-of-the-Roman-Empire intellectual and moral depravity where almost no one in our dominant corporate/political/financier/lawyer class believes it's worthwhile or even possible to do the right thing any more. Some of them may be vaguely aware that, yes, the only way the world is ever going to recover from the economic mess we're in is through a radical agenda of cost-cutting, contraction of the state, sound money, and lower taxes. But they've made up their minds that none of this is a vote winner in our heavily socialised Western economies and that therefore the only hope is simply to grab what you can while you still can – and forget any fancy, idealistic notions you may have had about making the world a better place."
The reason I have returned to this article is because it has been resonating with me so strongly over the last few weeks. Every time I read a commentary or news item reporting on the dreadful state of affairs we find ourselves in, I mentally refer back to the piece. Not only that, but James' thesis can be expanded further, although sadly, the conclusion is still pretty miserable.
Time for some more pictures of kittens.
The author is James Delingpole. James is well known for his Telegraph Blog in which he openly shares his views on climate change.
Here is his impassioned, frustrated, and despairing piece:
"I'll tell you what I fear. I think we have now reached that stage of last-days-of-the-Roman-Empire intellectual and moral depravity where almost no one in our dominant corporate/political/financier/lawyer class believes it's worthwhile or even possible to do the right thing any more. Some of them may be vaguely aware that, yes, the only way the world is ever going to recover from the economic mess we're in is through a radical agenda of cost-cutting, contraction of the state, sound money, and lower taxes. But they've made up their minds that none of this is a vote winner in our heavily socialised Western economies and that therefore the only hope is simply to grab what you can while you still can – and forget any fancy, idealistic notions you may have had about making the world a better place."
The reason I have returned to this article is because it has been resonating with me so strongly over the last few weeks. Every time I read a commentary or news item reporting on the dreadful state of affairs we find ourselves in, I mentally refer back to the piece. Not only that, but James' thesis can be expanded further, although sadly, the conclusion is still pretty miserable.
Time for some more pictures of kittens.
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