The Decline and Fall of Modern Civilization: 8 Simple Steps to Squandering It All

Algemeiner ^ | January 22, 2015 | Brandon Marlon

[SJackson]

The Destruction of Jerusalem (70 C.E.)

Neither are great civilizations built in a day, nor do they collapse all of a sudden. Deterioration is gradual, therefore noticeable. In the Land of Israel, the First Temple was destroyed due to idolatry. The Second Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred. In the 21st century, the subtler combination of irrationality with pusillanimity constitutes the fatal concoction. Our relationship to the obvious serves as an index through which the symptoms of decline are noted. Let all concerned for the commonwealth take caution, for here is how we sophisticated moderns lose civilization:

1. Cognitive Dissonance – A cerebral malfunction resulting in psychological blindness. We see something perfectly well but fail to recognize what it evidently is. A mental block prevents us from acknowledging the obvious.
2. Denial – The matter become clearer and reality loses its blur, yet we stubbornly refuse to admit what the matter signifies, instead suggesting that the proof must be partial and the evidence circumstantial or falsified. Conclusions drawn in this state fly in the face of facts. The blatantly obvious is rejected and disbelieved.
3. Delusive Ideology – Ideologues are prejudiced and their biases substitute for facts. Prejudicial lenses preclude deviant views from the ideologue’s mind. If the obvious does not align with an ideologue’s worldview, it is summarily discounted and dispensed with.
4. Aversion to Judgment – Decision-making becomes taboo. We are spoon-fed pap and gulp it down uncritically, abdicating the rudimentary responsibility to think. Judging is conflated with sentencing and regarded as a harsh action in and of itself. Abstaining from the matter altogether is thus considered to be the proper course. Neutrality and impartiality replace cerebration and discernment. Ideation is abruptly aborted and intellection rendered stillborn. Choosing becomes treason. We withdraw from the obvious for fear of being perceived as judgmental and severe in nature, thereby absolving ourselves of all charges in advance.
5. Political Correctness – The judicial ability is retained, yet we refuse to call a thing by its name so as not to cause offense. This is a form of self-censorship, and is falsely conflated with good taste. We account ourselves cultivated and munificent for refraining from forthrightness; those frank and outspoken are ostracized as boorish and unrefined. If there are beasts to behold, they go unnamed and untamed. Problems are swept under the rug of pretense. The obvious is subsumed and rebranded in more socially and politically palatable terminology.
6. Moral Equivalency – Issues are discernible and named, but they are equated in value despite precise and glaring disparities. Relativism is the order of the day. Good and evil, right and wrong, innocence and guilt – all these binaries are deliberately confused as antipodal extremes are brought into artificial congruence. Moral clarity is muddled and logical cogency diluted. All inherent preference is suspended out of a misguided attempt to achieve balance where there is none. The obvious is left in abeyance while the weighing scales are disingenuously leveled.
7. Identity Loss – When the fundamental values of a society are attenuated, its ontology and raisons d’être are called into question. The resulting identity deficit, the diminishing of identity integrity, inevitably eventuates in disintegration. Morals, ethics, values, virtues, and principles are sundered like marble columns and stone arches before our very eyes as the foundational premise of our civilization collapses. When we forget those things we stand for, we lose all motivation and capacity to preserve them. The obvious becomes untenable once we lose sight of who we are and what we cherish.
8. Surrender – Befuddled by existential ennui and essential malaise, we fall prey to a complacent acceptance of the status quo. What ramifies throughout the societal ranks is the absence of willpower to resist the onslaught of barbarism. Barbarians feed on weakness and cowardice, gain momentum, and propel themselves from the wild frontier toward then across civilization’s border, where they are met by weak-kneed, stooping figures, hollowed shells too gutted and spineless to withstand them. Those long ago resigned to their fate are invariably extinguished or else made servile to their vanquishers.

Civilization in Ruins.

History reveals that great civilizations decline and fall due to internal erosion, not external invasion. Intrinsic corruption and corrosion invite outsiders to raid, rape, pillage, and plunder. Conquest is thus merely the coup de grâce, a finishing stroke in the aftermath of prolonged dissolution. In most cases, conquerors appear more impressive than they deserve because the conquered first methodically, albeit unwittingly, lay the groundwork for them. Any species of predatory brutes can kick in a Maginot Line, and most do.

Gentle readers, glance again at the above list. Anything seem familiar?

[grania]

I just read AFTER ROME by Morgan Llywelyn. She does a real good job describing the state of dependence and inability to function as a civilization when ancient Rome abandoned their British territories. It is a real good read to fill that gap in British history and how it took over a thousand years for recovery.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I have seen this outlined several ways but they all reach the same conclusion we are on this cycle and near its end unless we turn it around. Freegards
LEX

[ryan71]

So, we’ve turned away from GOD.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Good post. Thank you.

[BobL]

Thankfully we have Trump.

[libertylover]

I have seen this outlined several ways but they all reach the same conclusion we are on this cycle and near its end unless we turn it around.

In other words, Make America Great Again. Though I support Cruz, it's a great slogan.

[YouGoTexasGirl]

Yes....and may the revivals begin!!!

I’m so ready to hear the Gospel preached on corners again, see tents with too many people gathered to hear and see actual joy, hope, love and peace that is ours, ONLY through living as Jesus showed us....Follow Me!!

11 Chronicles 7:14 works cause God said it does...

Enjoy an extra day of blessings this year!

[Varda]

I studied societal destruction under the foremost expert in that field and this list is pretty good. I’ll just add one thing about how societies get to this point. It’s about women. Women are the transmitters of culture (the ideas that ones society are based on) When women abandon child rearing culture suffers or collapses. The British had it right, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I had been for Cruz until Trump jumped in back and June. Then I thought a Trump/Cruz ticket would smash the GOP e and the rest of it...but these last few weeks it appears that since Cruz has joined up with Beck he’s gone off the rails. A Trump/Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III ticket would be the cat’s meow!
Freegards
LEX
btw...I still believe America’s real problem is solved spiritually and not politically but politically is how the nation has been set up a nation run by Godly people was the founders dream.

[Starboard]

The destruction of our culture and morality continues apace.

[Starboard]

A very good and insightful post. Thank you.

[SaraJohnson]

btw...I still believe America’s real problem is solved spiritually and not politically but politically is how the nation has been set up a nation run by Godly people was the founders dream.

---

American Christians have been on a bender of sin and sin acceptance/celebration for quite a while now. They could save this culture if they returned to God.

We currently have a Pres. who hates Christians and lets that be known on a regular basis. The Uniparty is the same way. If we could have a President who would lift up Christians, talk about persecution and protect the civil rights and dignity of Christians in the public square, it might help for a revival.

[SaraJohnson]

This is a good article. Thank you for posting it.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Yes! Eggs-zactly. Michael Brown had a piece in Townhall yesterday where he talked about how many Christians are giving up because we are living in the “end times” and he points out where would the Church be today if the early followers of Jesus stopped preaching and believing in the promises or if John Wesley, or Jonathan Edwards stopped preaching. If Wilberforce and Newton had not worked for the abolition of slavery in England and on and on through history. Amen.
Do we live in “end times” you bet. But end times have been going on for the 2000 years since Pentecost.
Freegards
LEX

[rmichaelj]

Notice the caption below the fall of Jerusalem. The author notes political correctness as a problem, but the caption (possibly not written by the author) notes C.E. instead of the politically incorrect A.D.

[Ancesthntr]

“A Trump/Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III ticket would be the cat’s meow!”

With Newt Gingrich as his Chief of Staff

John Bolton as Secretary of State

Christie as A.G. - he will prosecute Hillary. I don’t like Christie for much else, but he is a rabid dog as a prosecutor.

I have, unfortunately, become very disillusioned with Cruz. It seems that Cruz was Establishment all along, and that came out when he said that Rubio would make a better President than Trump. Very, VERY disappointing!

[Fitzy_888]

Women, Beauty, Voting and Tyranny!
http://youtu.be/0MejkH61o_U

[i_robot73]

“I have seen this outlined several ways but they all reach the same conclusion we are on this cycle and near its end unless we turn it around”

Using ___ as an example...Unfortunately, I don’t recall any great civilizations to fill in that blank.

It’s that the crux? A civ. so ‘GREAT’, that it cannot (maybe even WILL not) turn 180, even when faced with its own extinction.

Do we not have that today, here? Oh, they/we all talk (and know) ‘govt is too big’, and we somehow expect the perpetrators (govt) correct itself?

[Jacquerie]

There are at least a couple of civilizations that ran aground on the shoals of tyranny and successfully extricated themselves.

The early Romans booted the Decemviri.

Late 17th century Englishmen didn't stand for tyranny in the form of the late Stuart kings. The Glorious Revolution established the preeminence of parliament and dispelled the Divine Right of Kings.

In both cases, the remedy involved violent uprisings of the people.

We are fortunate to have Article V of the Constitution. We can avoid violence in the reassertion of free government.