Characteristics of Civilized People

The Autonomist ^ | 05/18/07 | Reginald Firehammer

[Hank Kerchief]

PHILOSOPHY PING

(If you want on or off this list please freepmail me.)

Hank

[snowrip]

A timely piece, given that the US senate will be voting to grant amnesty to the largest bunch of undisciplined, degenerate criminals on Earth.

Mexicans are the only group of immigrants in American history to remain balkanized years after their arrival... and wherever they settle in large numbers they bring all the markers of an uncivilized society with them; violence, crime, drugs, gangs, illiteracy, and civil unrest are the hallmarks of the barrios which have sprung up across our nation.

Although some other countries would never admit it, America has built upon the ideals of Western civilization to create our own culture. Ours is a history and a spirit of sacrifice and of self-determination. It is a tradition of independence, of self-reliance, of hard work, of courage and of responsibility. We are a civilization built on principles; most importantly, we are a legacy of freedom and a society of laws. THIS IS OUR CULTURE, and it is as unique and as deserving of respect as any other. To become an American means to stand up in unwavering support and in reverence of these essential things, to belong to something that is larger and more powerful than any individual, and to accept this culture as your own. It means not a surrender of your heritage, but an integration of your way of life into that which is American.

[Mr. Jeeves]

The Fifties offered a culture that worked - but it was a very stifling, limiting culture, and required citizens with character forged in the Depression and WWII to pull it off. There is little point in being nostalgic for those days. They are never coming back. The biggest negative change since then is the condition of our inner cities, and blame for that rests squarely on the shoulders of Great Society liberalism.

Americans need to focus on developing our new and hard-won strengths rather than decrying the things we think we lack or have lost. Trying to translate Fifties nostaglia into a political platform is ultimately self-defeating.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

If this description sounds like today's society and culture it is because the spirit of the fifties is now lost forever. We are again in an age where nothing is revered and the utmost contempt is poured on anyone who holds anything sacred. It is why it is almost impossible for anyone today to understand the spirit of the 50s.

Wise words, very wise.

[Lurker]

Courtesy is not conforming to social convention and not a limit to free speech.

Courtesty, or good manners if you will, is what makes it possible for large numbers of us to live in close proximity to each other without killing each other.

L

[newcthem]

“The Fifties offered a culture that worked - but it was a very stifling, limiting culture,”

Funny, but growing up in this time, I did not find it stifling, or limiting. Quite the contrary, we found we had unlimited opportunities for play and work, and a bright future. Quite a contrast to the attitudes prevalent in today’s culture.

[ClaireSolt]

The culture of the 50’s was probably largely a result of the immigration quotas bill of 1954 and the cohesion of the war effort. People worked together.

[oblomov]

A Dark Future Seen at Twilight

[kalee]

ping

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

...... provides a picture that perfectly traces the rapid cultural and social decline in civilization after the end of the 1900s through the end of the 30s, the rapid return to civilized values through the forties, the highest level of civilization in this century through the fifties, and the final decline in that civilization through the 60s to the lowest period in the history of this country from the end of the 60's to today.

His data seems to undermine his own assertion "we can't go back".

The greatest generation and their parents after being hammered by the "Great Depression" and WWII, experienced a renewal in the 40s and 50s.

The 20s and early 30s were a time of lawlessness and relative depravity.

The PC and nanny laws of today are much more stifling and oppressive than anything I experienced growing up in the 50s.

[RightWhale]

Polite has the same root as politics and police.

[jpl]

I'll point out the obvious, which is that American society in the '50s probably seemed less than fully civilized if you happened to be black.

But it would be really nice if we could somehow go back and recapture the good aspects of society that we had back then, while at same time keeping the progress that we made in basic civil rights.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

I'll point out the obvious, which is that American society in the '50s probably seemed less than fully civilized if you happened to be black.

Both Black and White culture was more civilised in the 50s than today. The statistics on crime and broken families will bear that out.

Segregation does not imply a lack of manners and civil behavior.

[Dianna]

Segregation does not imply a lack of manners and civil behavior.

I don't think it matters much that black people may have nicely told they wouldn't be served in restaurants.

And likely a black person who attempted to go where he knew he would not be served was probably looked upon as uncivil himself. How dare he make us refuse him service instead of just staying away!

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Segregation does not imply a lack of manners and civil behavior.

The most mannerly and civilized society during our history was the antebellum south. And its civility has been carried over to this day. Superior manners and civility are a hallmark of the people of the south to this day.

"Jim Crow" notwithstanding.

And spare me the redneck jokes.

[Dinsdale]

You base that on a 'fake but accurate' film you saw once?

Do you understand the difference between fiction and fact?

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

You base that on a 'fake but accurate' film you saw once?

The genteel civility of the antebellum south is a historical fact. And the movie "Gone With the Wind" is a good representation of that fact.

I also experienced their mannerly ways first hand when I moved to Alabama from California in the 60s and married into a genteel middle class southern family.

Much more civilized than anything I had experienced growing up in southern california.

[Dinsdale]

I've traveled the world, the south isn't any politer then average, and I'm white.

Granted S. Cal is a bad area.

[litehaus]

“The Fifties offered a culture that worked - but it was a very stifling, limiting culture,”Funny, but growing up in this time, I did not find it stifling, or limiting. Quite the contrary, we found we had unlimited opportunities for play and work, and a bright future. Quite a contrast to the attitudes prevalent in today’s culture.

With parents/grandparents who "got off the boat" at Ellis Island, I agree with ALL you said in that remark.