The Deconstruction of Western Civilisation, By James Reed

The destruction of Western civilisation is proceeding according to the globalist plans, and no doubt is exceeding their expectations. This is not just a physical destruction, say by mass immigration and Camp of the Saints diversity and multiculturalism policies, leading to the Great White Displacement and Replacement, and by climate change alarmist policies, undermining industrialism and agriculture, but also by an attack upon the intellectual foundations of the West. No stone of destruction has been left unturned by the Left.

Thus, now coming from the Left in the universities, was first the idea that the West was a racist regime that exploited the otherwise pure and noble coloured folk of the Third World, through colonisation. But that neo-Marxist push has been replaced by the new thing, that the West does not exist as such, but is a social construction, an idea beloved by the postmodernists. An example of this, discussed below, is the book by Josephine Quinn, professor of ancient history at Oxford University, How the World Made the West. The thesis is a more intellectual development of the Afro-centric buff that was put out some years back, that everything you think that comprises the West, such as scientific rationality, technological development, the Enlightenment, was found in other, better cultures, but the West does not exist anyway. Go figure. And, just lay down and die, as the Third World migrants wash in.

There is no point trying to refute this material, because it is all a political battle now. What has to be done is to cut off the source that is producing this material, and that is the universities. Few people would bother to create this stuff if they had to work a day job shovelling coal, then go home to an oil light to bang out their critiques of Western civilisation, while eating cold baked beans. Or live in a tent city as many Aussies are now doing as a result of the accommodation crisis produced by the evil universities. That must be the future for the universities and Leftist academics; nay, all public academics, let us not discriminated here. Enough money has been wasted allowing the intellectuals to dig our graves. A world-wide movement is now needed to end the universities and academic production. Worthwhile productive research is best done in institutions supported by private enterprise, and which makes a productive profit, rather than tips horse manure on the culture that sustains it, funded by long-suffering taxpayers.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/06/how_the_west_was_lost_at_oxford_university.html

"Once upon a time, we were told that the peoples of the Western world — which includes countries like Australia and New Zealand, although located in the Eastern Hemisphere — are heirs and trustees of Western civilization, imbalances and excesses included. Often referred to simply as "the West," Western civilization is a broad concept used to understand the cultural, social, political, and economic norms, traditions, values, and institutions that originated in or are associated with Europe. It has its roots in Ancient Greece and Rome as well as in Christianity, humanism, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. It values rationalism, democracy, and individual freedoms and rights.

Later on, Marxist and otherwise far-left historians argued that the history of the West is marked by exploitation and conflict among different social classes, from feudal lords and serfs in the Middle Ages to capitalists and workers in the modern era. Marxists, in particular, introduced the concept of cultural hegemony, formulated by Antonio Gramsci to describe ideological domination of the bourgeoisie over the proletariat. In other words, according to this type of approach, the dominant cultural norms and values of Western civilization serve to maintain the power of the ruling class.

As of now, the left-wing narrative is that Western civilization is an illusion. Postmodern and deconstructionist historians have claimed that the West is a late invention of the 18th-century philosopher. Skeptical of the grand narratives that have historically been used to describe Western civilization, such as progress, enlightenment, etc., they argue that these narratives often oversimplify complex histories and marginalize alternative perspectives.

It is in this context that the new book How the World Made the West, written by Josephine Quinn, professor of ancient history at Oxford University, needs to be read. It's aimed to bring to fulfillment the goal and the dream of legions of leftists the world over and from time immemorial. Quinn's purpose is not to trash what generations of schoolchildren and college students have been taught to take pride in as Western values and achievements. Rather, she wants to demolish the underlying concept of what she calls "civilizational thinking," which suggests that there is no such thing as "Western civilization." By the way, as she puts it, this "civilizational thinking" provided the cultural rationale for western European supremacy during the 19th century, enabling colonial expansion and racial hierarchies.

Quinn points out that Western civilization would not exist without its Islamic, African, Indian, and Chinese influences, and that so-called Western values — freedom, rationality, justice and tolerance — are not only or originally Western. Rather, "the West itself is in large part a product of long-standing links with a much larger network of societies."

Nobody has ever thought that ancient cultures existed in hermetical separation. The trouble with Quinn is that if there are no monolithic "civilizations," she seems to deny even that there are (at least) distinct cultures. This is, quite frankly, the same as thinking a square has five sides, a challenge to common sense and to the most evidence-based certainties.

In short, Quinn's radicalism — or a (perhaps unconscious) desire to please the "woke" and "cancel culture" people — is her Achilles heel. It is inevitable, at this point, to recall G.K. Chesterton's prophetic words:

Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed. It is a reasonable position to deny the stones in the street; it will be a religious dogma to assert them. It is a rational thesis that we are all in a dream; it will be a mystical sanity to say that we are all awake. Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer.

What is perhaps most surprising about the book is its warm welcome from critics in the United Kingdom, where How the World Made the West was published by Bloomsbury on February 29, 2024. This unequivocally means that the capitulation of the British cultural establishment to "woke" culture — and other elite obsessions — is complete. Take a look at these reviews to get an idea: "The history of the West is not quite what you learned in school" (The Economist), "How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn review — rethinking 'civilisation'" (The Guardian), "The myth of 'the West'" (New Statesman), "How the World Made the West — a scuttling of civilisational myths" (Financial Times).

The latter has a good question (after generous praise):

At the end of this supremely professional history, I was left with the question of who is it for? Approaching the 50th anniversary of Edward Said's seminal Orientalism, our undergraduates certainly don't lack for cultural relativism or calls for decolonisation. In the UK, Generation Z already has precious little appetite for defending "western civilisation", with a recent YouGov poll showing 38 per cent of under-40s say they would refuse to serve in the armed forces in the event of a new world war, and 30 per cent say they would not serve even if Britain was facing imminent invasion."