Posted on 08/17/2006 3:25:50 PM PDT by Renfield
He does indeed nail it. Great post.
bump for later read
This is right on - its unspoken implication is that our only hope at defeating the Islamic Jihadists is to infect them with our malaise, materialism, and lack of courage, hopefully before they can kill millions. Anyone who comes up with the best way to do that will the hero of the Millineum.
I still have my original copy of the Washington Post (Sunday section) pages of this speech when it was first given. He nailed it well. The West has forgotten God.
Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror. It is considered to be part of freedom and theoretically counter-balanced by the young people's right not to look or not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil.
If it were only just the liberals he was talking about, I wouldn't worry so much. But I want to save this one for the numerous threads here on FreeRepublic when the libertarians come out like cockroaches to defend their favorite perversions.
Ping for later...
Can't agree with your glowing assessment of Solzhenitzyn. He never actually understood individual freedom. I'm sure he would be totally aghast at Free Republic.
That sounds so....French.
To defend oneself, one must also be ready to die; there is little such readiness in a society raised in the cult of material well-being. Nothing is left, then, but concessions, attempts to gain time and betrayal.
Of course, almost 30 years later, these pronouncements all seem less than prescient. The implacable Soviet and the degenerate West. Things didn't quite work out that way.
Really loved the Gulag Archipelago, though. And The Cancer Ward.
BUMP!
Solzhenitsyn's ideal form of govt was a religious dictatorship.
And then we elected Reagan...
bump
ping for later
He is amazing. A great read.
"Can't agree with your glowing assessment of Solzhenitzyn. He never actually understood individual freedom. I'm sure he would be totally aghast at Free Republic."
On the contrary, Solzhenitsyn understood very well that individual freedom, untempered by any moral standards, does not lead to an optimum society, or to a civilization which can endure. Just because the Soviet Union is gone does not mean the West is in the clear, as some fools like GHW Bush thought. Today's Russia, China, and Islam are threats every bit as deadly as the old Soviet Union. Atheistic hedonism is not going to keep the West alive.
Unlike many FR posters, Solzhenitsyn knew the difference between conservatism and liberaltarianism.
For later
http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2006/08/usual-suspects.html
Over the past two days, the Belmont Club has had two awesome threads. First, Wretchard posted this speech above and the comments poured in. His take was that the West had lost the Truth and was now aimless and growing powerless against people of will.
Then, he posted the link above today using the movie, "The Usual Suspects," as his commentary.
They are 2 astounding posts and manage to weave the comments of Solzhenitsyn with the war raging between civilizations. Astounding stuff. I invite all to ponder their implications in the War on Terror.
Sandy, read "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch." That is amazing too.
F
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