Mark Steyn: O come, all ye faithless

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 12/17/05 | Mark Steyn

[bondserv]

Ping for comments!

[goldstategop]

Yep. Its the liberals and their secular base that keeps shrinking. No wonder they live in dread of a theocracy. It could turn out to be America's obly salvation in the forthcoming battle with Islam. They should welcome America's being the last redoubt of Judeo-Christian values. If they're missing anything, as Mark Steyn could recapture it in a pithy made to order phrase, the secular Left is pretty much the wave of the past and what you hear are its dying screams. The future belongs to the righteous.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[HOTTIEBOY]

ping

[goldstategop]

The Nineteenth Century could be the Age Of Man because it was assumed that without religion handcuffing people Man would finally achieve true greatness. After the secular horrors of the past century, we know better. Its the Beautiful People that are sadly out of touch with the currents of the day.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Steel Wolf]

Wrong. I think he is confusing fear of what will happen with simple compassion for fellow man. I have no fear of what might or might not happen after I am gone, but that does not influence how I act why I am here. General compassion for my fellow man makes you live after death in the legacy you leave behind.

Few people are motivated out of compassion alone. The belief that our actions are observed and judged by a higher power is a binding force for advanced cultures. That higher power can be the Almighty, or it can be the State, but the vast majority of people instinctively require that their lives be set in context by a higher authority than themselves.

Certainly, some individuals don't require that. You may be one of them. But what works for you will not work for any society if tried on a large scale. Altruistic athiesm is an individual choice, but one that thrives only under the shadow of a moral culture, and in good times.

Fairweather philosophies don't stand the test of time. Say what you will about monotheism, but it creates societies that last. Athiest peoples without an iron fisted state do not remain unassimilated for long.

[fanfan]

Ping!

[hosepipe]

Ping

[Lesforlife]

Just sent to my favorite Athiest with the title:

Steyn's Christmas Brilliance

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Nice work. Are you trying to give DFU a run for his money?

[XJarhead]

And as for my excreta and the hard-working nematode, who gets the better end of that deal?.

Only Steyn can pull off something like that line. Hilarious!

[goldstategop]

In the 19th Century and for much of the early 20th Century, the best minds worked hard to make Communism come true because it was assumed that Utopia was waiting around the corner. It never arrived. That's why today, Marxism is of historical interest only. We found out the hard way that building a paradise on earth is easier said than done.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Mercat]

best on the subject that I've read.

[metesky]

Bumpity bump

[goldstategop]

Russia is a dying society as well as contemporary Europe. In varying degrees, they've been destroyed by too much kindness and there's nothing more to live for and to pass on to the future.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[shezza]

...the so-called rationalist ought to be capable of a rational assessment of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of different societies. If he is, he’ll find it hard to conclude other than that the most secular societies have the worst prospects. Rationalism is killing poor childless Europe. But instead of rethinking the irrationalism of rationalism, the rationalists are the ones clinging to blind faith, ever more hysterically.

No one can turn a phrase quite like Steyn. Excellent, as usual.

[SoothingDave]

When does this man sleep? Does anyone come close to his output? Franklin? Twain?

Stephen King and his pseudonyms.

SD

[PLOM...NOT!]

Please ping me too!

[SoothingDave]

Wrong. I think he is confusing fear of what will happen with simple compassion for fellow man. I have no fear of what might or might not happen after I am gone, but that does not influence how I act why I am here. General compassion for my fellow man makes you live after death in the legacy you leave behind. SD

[SoothingDave]

Wrong. I think he is confusing fear of what will happen with simple compassion for fellow man. I have no fear of what might or might not happen after I am gone, but that does not influence how I act why I am here. General compassion for my fellow man makes you live after death in the legacy you leave behind.

Good for you, but that doesn't make Steyn wrong.

SD

[Aquinasfan]

The Krauts are so slumped in despond that they’re running some Teutonic feelgood marketing campaign in which old people are posed against pastoral vistas, fetching gays mooch around the Holocaust memorial, Katarina Witt stands in front of some photogenic moppets, etc., and they all point their fingers at the camera and shout ‘Du bist Deutschland!’ — ‘You are Germany!’

Crapola like this is absolutely fascinating.