Posted on 08/25/2024 5:31:23 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
Here's the main point of the video (excerpt):
Douglas Murray:Here's the full formatted transcript:It seems to me, as you well know, that Western Civilization is based on the legacy of Athens and Jerusalem. Athens is under great assault always, but it's not actually under existential assault at the moment. What is being attempted by Israel's enemies is the philosophical and cultural equivalent of burning all the libraries of Alexandria. This is one of the underpinnings of Western Civilization, utterly, utterly at risk—not in a sort of metaphorical way where people might use it as a book subtitle, but in a real way.
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Western Civilization could not survive the destruction of the Jewish State because it would be, among many things, the cutting away of the whole tree that we're on. Western Civilization would die.
But if 15 million Jews were killed, that's the end of the story. That's it.Douglas Murray, as many of you probably know, has been an incredible supporter of Israel. In the following clip, he discusses how his support for Israel has resulted in backlash from the right, of all places. Conservatives are wondering why he cares so much. Additionally, he delves into broader aspects of the war and what it means for the entire Western world. Check this out and let me know what you think in the comments below.
People say, "Why are you so bothered about Israel?" I hear that, and I hear it from the right. The left doesn't care; they know I'm beyond saving. But on the right, I hear that, and I think they don't realize. They think it's some weird thing, like, "Why you? Why this small state? Why does it bother you?" I don't think they've even remotely reflected on what I'd regard as the deepest reasons to care.
It seems to me, as you well know, that Western Civilization is based on the legacy of Athens and Jerusalem. Athens is under great assault always, but it's not actually under existential assault at the moment. What is being attempted by Israel's enemies is the philosophical and cultural equivalent of burning all the libraries of Alexandria. This is one of the underpinnings of Western Civilization, utterly, utterly at risk—not in a sort of metaphorical way where people might use it as a book subtitle, but in a real way.
I mean, you know, I've sometimes thought about it this way. I haven't tried this out in public before. How many Jews are there in the world? About 15 million? Okay, this may come across really coarse, but let me put it this way: there are lots of conflicts in the world, and I've covered a lot of conflicts involving a lot of people. But it's conceivable that at some point, 15 million Christians could be killed. It would be a disaster, a tragedy.
It's conceivable that at some point in Burma or India, some 15 million Muslims could be killed. It would be a disaster; it would be a tragedy of unimaginable scale, of 20th-century scale. But if 15 million Jews were killed, that's the end of the story. That's it.
Now, what does that mean for the Jewish people? It's the end. The people who saw off everyone from Pharaoh to Hitler would disappear in the 21st century. Everyone else, in my view, wouldn't survive either. Western Civilization could not survive the destruction of the Jewish State because it would be, among many things, the cutting away of the whole tree that we're on. Western Civilization would die.
So I regard the existential threat against the Jewish people to not just be about the Jewish people. It matters deeply to me that it is about the Jewish people, but it also matters to me because it's about America. Could America survive if the Jewish people were no more on its watch, or if everybody was forcibly deported from the Holy Land? Come on, of course not. Could the isolationists survive the repercussions of that across the Middle East and elsewhere? Of course not.
So I find the blindness and the frivolity of it to be absolutely intolerable among the critics on the right. One of the things that's been so amazing about all of this is just the sense that the West has lost its moorings. I mean, I was more disturbed from a sort of Jewish perspective. As a Jew, tragedies happen to the Jews, terrorism happens to the Jews, slaughters happen to the Jews—this is sort of the story of Jewish history. But the idea that you have hundreds of thousands of Westerners who are marching in solidarity with the murderers—that was, on some level, more disturbing to me than the actual massacre itself. Certainly not in terms of the actual amount of human suffering and the horrifying evil and barbarity of it, but in terms of the threat to civilization as a whole.
It seems to me that one of the things that we're seeing in terms of this sort of right-wing backlash that's now happening in Europe is very much of a piece with that. It's very much Europe—and I'm hoping America—saying, "If we don't have any values for us to rely upon, then the people who are marching through the streets are going to end up running this place."
Douglass Murray is a great defender of Western civilization - he’s going to be on a speaking tour this fall in the states
He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Yes, antichrist (and there have been many) will almost destroy the nation - but that’s when the Lord returns to totally destroy her enemies!
Rooster:
What does Douglas Murray mean when he says that "Athens is under great assault always" (I presume he means the legacy of ancient Greek culture)?
ChatGPT:
By saying it is "under great assault always," Murray suggests that the principles and values derived from ancient Greek culture are constantly being challenged or threatened. This could refer to various modern movements or ideologies that critique or seek to overturn the foundations of Western thought, such as attacks on reason, free speech, or the very concept of objective truth. While these values are always being questioned or undermined in different ways, Murray contrasts this with the idea that they are not currently under an "existential assault"—meaning that while they face challenges, they are not in immediate danger of being completely eradicated. This contrasts with the situation in Israel, where he argues that the threats are more existential and could lead to the literal destruction of a culture and people, thereby erasing a crucial part of the Western heritage that Jerusalem represents. When Douglas Murray says that "Athens is under great assault always," he is indeed referring to the legacy of ancient Greek culture, particularly the intellectual and philosophical foundations laid by Athens, which are a significant part of Western Civilization. Athens symbolizes the ideals of reason, democracy, philosophy, and artistic expression, which have profoundly influenced Western thought.
bkmk
...the idea that you have hundreds of thousands of Westerners who are marching in solidarity with the murderers—that was, on some level, more disturbing to me than the actual massacre itself. Certainly not in terms of the actual amount of human suffering and the horrifying evil and barbarity of it, but in terms of the threat to civilization as a whole.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
He is so right.
BKMK
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