Fifth Generation

I just read a very interesting book by Lee Harris called,Civilization and Its Enemies; The Next Stage of History. This book is different from other America vs. Islam books in that is does not exactly say that American civilization is at its end. It doesn’t talk about babies or of the greatness of Anglo culture. It talks about civilization and what makes a civilization and what makes an enemy to civilization.

He takes you on a historical tour of different civilizations and theories of history. He lays before you the two major arguments of history theory, progressive and cyclical and how believing in one or the other affects your view of the world. The most famous progressive, for example, is Marx. In progressive theory, man is responsible for the end of history, not a God. When I think of cyclical, I think of the Bible. Many Christians (not all) see the world going through cycles of remembering God and forgetting God and only God can end history. (That simplifying it but I hope you see what I mean.)

Well, on our history of civilization tour we read about people before civilization. People who are known as savages. There are arguments for the savage world (Rousseau) and against it. In this society there is no individual but a system of groups like family and tribe. The enemy threatened your tribe. This is the simplest definition of the enemy. Then we read about the ancient great Asian empires, Assyrian, Median, and Persian. In the empires only one was free. The enemy was one who did not honor or sometimes even worship the king. We then read about the Spartans and how their civilization destroyed the tribe and the family and all were Spartans. (Welcome Spartans! We will fight in the shade, etc) Then we read about the Roman republic. Finally, we read about the Protestant societies and the development of the individual. Most of the quotes were from Hegel.

So, how does this history of civilization connect to our present one. Well, 9/11 was a huge turning point in Western Civilization. Those who wish to destroy our civilization made a huge statement that costs the lives of about 3000 innocent people and destroyed too symbols of capitalism. Are they trying to invade the USA? There is no indication that they are trying to do this. Rather they are trying to defeat the major enemy of their idealistic Islamism, Protestant Capitalism. Another idealistic movement that wants the end of the remnants of the Age of Reason are those who fight for the One World Order or present day Liberalism. Harris tells the history of this movement from its beginnings in the age of Romanticism. If you were an Islamicist Idealist and wanted to rule the world who would be your enemy and who would be your useful enemy? That explains Osama Bin Ladens recent pandering to liberals and the Iranian government’s friendships with Atheistic Socialist societies. (And is an argument AGAINST Dinesh D’ SOuza’s Book) The old Conservative movement is the enemy because they are the only ones who offer the world an idea that has worked. It is not perfect, but it works. So the enemy to the Protestant movement which is based on reason are the idealists who base their ideals on imagination and emotion like Mussolini and Hitler.

It is an interesting book that uses a lot of Hegel, Marx, Rousseau, and Plato. You might not agree with his argument at the end, and if you are a liberal you might throw the book across the room by the time you reach the last chapter, but either way you will feel more educated about history and civilization.