Mark Steyn: It's breeding obvious, mate

The Australian ^ | August 18, 2006 | Mark Steyn

[mo]

....the West is weak

Two massive wars killed all the decent males/breeding stock...what's left can't even reproduce. To make up for lack of adequate testosterone, a nanny-state was formed which then taxed so hard that it further discouraged the investment in children and families...just MHO

[kaktuskid]

A very sad commentary. Japan is a nation that once had a proud people with a strong warrior tradition. How far the mighty have fallen.

Yes the modern image of Japan is Pokemon and giggling school girls with cell phones

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Great post!

[steve-b]

And, speaking of business, even the heirs of those Big Businessmen C D Kemp wrote about feel obliged to join the ranks of the civilizational self-loathers. I notice that in its commercials the oil company BP – that's to say, British Petroleum – now says that BP stands for "Beyond Petroleum": the ads are all about how it's developing environmentally-friendly ways to conserve energy; in other words, it’s ashamed of the business it's in.

What an idiotic statement. The author claims to be a friend of Western values, and yet he sneers at one of its most fundamental traits (technological progress) of Western Civilization.

[Antoninus]

As a father of four beautiful kids, I sometimes wonder what kind of world they're going to live in when they become adults. I guess I should start inuring the boys to military life now, eh?

[Temple Owl]

God bless you! Keep those conservatives coming. LOL

[firebrand]

Sure. See John, Chapter 16. The whole chapter, but especially the last five words. We need to get serious about this. Having more babies, or trying to stop our ideological enemies from having so many, so they won't outnumber us, does not seem to me to be an enlightened approach.

[RKV]

The Commies have done their worst to harm us. We must reverse the "Gramscian damage" done to our society. Here's my list of to counter Gramsci's "virus."

Truth and beauty exist.

All Western (and especially American) claims to moral superiority over Communism/Fascism/Islam are valid, because of the overwhelming evidence world history.

There are objective standards by which we may judge one culture to be better than another. Anyone who claims that such standards don't exist is an evil oppressor.

The poverty of the Third World is often the sad, but deserved result of the moral and intellectual backwardness of their cultures.

Crime is the fault of the criminal.

Poor criminals are entitled to a fair trial and just punishment. Resisting criminal predation is virtuous.

The poor are sometimes victims, and sometimes they are not.

Victims are victims, and criminals are criminals, not victims. Criminals are not virtuous just because something bad happened to them.

For a virtuous person, violence and war are sometimes justified, and even sometimes required.

It is always better to defend oneself. 'Oppressed’ people have no special virtues that others do not have as a matter of natural right.

When confronted with terror, the only moral course for a Westerner is to destroy our enemies root and branch. Terrorists are incapable of becoming tolerant, and will only lie to get you to let your guard down if you give them the opportunity.

[Antoninus]

Thank you Vatican II.

Vatican II was a symptom, not a cause. The real damage done to the Catholic Church was inflicted by those who took advantage of the changes to make CHANGES.

[RKV]

As Col. Cooper said, you should teach them to "Ride, shoot straight and tell the truth." For my part, both my kids are excellent marksmen, and will soon be starting training in unarmed combat. Sounds harsh. Well, that's the way the world is.

[NeoCaveman]

He's dead on about BP's self flagellating commercials.

That's one of the reasons I drive past the BP station. If they are ashamed of their #1 prodcut, then I'm not buying it from them either.

[steve-b]

After all, what's easier for the governing class? Weaning a pampered population off the good life and re-teaching them the lost biological impulse or giving the Sony Corporation a license to become the Cloney Corporation?

The fallacy into which the author stumbles is that only the former involves any "governing class" (which by definition means a bunch of people who say to the other people "Obey -- or else"). The latter simply requires that the Western values of freedom and technological progress be followed (and for that reason is to be preferred, and would be endorsed by the author if he were intellecutally honest in hand-wringing about the possible decay of Western Civilization).

[Antoninus]

I am so glad that I didn't buy into all that "population bomb" Paul Ehrlich crap from the '60's and '70's and popped out 9 babies while all my liberal relatives looked on in horror.

Have I ever told you that you are one of my all-time favorite FReepers?

[steve-b]

He's dead on about BP's self flagellating commercials.

Nonsense. One might as well sneer at a buggy-whip maker who decides to learn to become a mechanic on the grounds that he is "ashamed" of his heritage.

[fourmation599]

What you are saying is not a war of ideas, but a war of two different belief systems. Believers of Islam will never buy into The Bible. Also, you're right, It's not about population. Population decline is just another symptom of the liberal self-loathing that has been spewed-out on the west for the last forty plus years.

[NeoCaveman]

I bet no buggy maker would have advertised how terrible buggy whips are for the environment.

We didn't have PC back then.

[steve-b]

I am so glad that I didn't buy into all that "population bomb" Paul Ehrlich crap from the '60's and '70's

Yes, and you shouldn't buy the opposite form of crap (as represented by the article), either.

Someone who understands ecology (the actual science, not the political buzzword) will appreciate the fact that populations are governed by natural feedback loops, and that mindless extrapolation of this sort is equivalent to expecting a fever patient to spontaneously combust a few days after he becomes ill or to freeze to death a few days after he begins to recover.

[RKV]

I do think that it is realistic to speak in terms of carrying capacity when evaluating how populations interact with their environment. Agreed that linear extrapolation in a non-linear system is foolish.

[Paul Ross]

Bump!

As usual...spot on Mark!

[steve-b]

Yep. I take this "OMIGOD! POPULATION EXPLOSION!!" followed by "OMIGOD!! POPULATION CRASH!!!" about as seriously as I take the "OMIGOD!!! ICE AGE COMING!!!!" followed by "OMIGOD!!!! GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!" yelpings.

(As I recall, the two imminent catastrophes traded places at about the same time. It seems that fashion, rather than fact, is the governing factor in doom-crying.)