“….Instead of acknowledging the strengths and benefits of a heritage dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, the Left rails against a culture it denigrates as eurocentric, misogynist, imperialistic, racist and rapaciously self-serving. Is it any wonder common cause has been made with Islam?
What makes Western culture unique and is it worthwhile defending? Given events, both foreign and domestic, the question is a vital one as the answer will determine whether countries like Australia survive and prosper — or whether, as we currently know them, they cease to exist.
One only has to study history or be aware of current events around the world to appreciate that cultures rise and fall and that Western culture, in particular, is under attack by enemies both foreign and domestic. The violence and terror associated with Islamic fundamentalism and illustrated by attacks in London, Paris, Nice, New York, Boston, Melbourne and Sydney represent an external threat that strikes at the heart of our way of life. Indiscriminate and random acts where innocents are killed and maimed, in addition to creating an atmosphere of intimidation and fear, lead to governments introducing security laws that are in danger of compromising the freedoms and rights so often taken for granted.
As well as the enemy without, Western culture is also facing the enemy within. Instead of acknowledging the strengths and benefits of Western culture dating back to ancient Greece and Rome the cultural-left condemns the West as Eurocentric, misogynist, imperialistic and self-serving. Beginning in the late 1960s and early ’70s, students on American campuses began to chant “Hey-hey, Ho-ho Western Civ has got to go”.
More recently, the Melbourne based academic John Carroll writes, “(the Left’s) carping negativity continues to thrive. Using neo-Marxist categories of exploitation and oppression to find ‘victims’ of their own country’s mendacity, as a device to whip it – so Australia becomes racist, cruel to refugees, misogynist, homophobic and increasingly riven by inequality. The tropes endure, with Islam the current exploited and oppressed repository of virtue.”
And the school curriculum is also being subverted by the cultural-left. As noted by the National Curriculum Review that I co-chaired, whether history, civics, art, literature or music, the contribution made by Western culture is ignored in favour of indoctrinating students with the politically correct trinity of indigenous, Asian and environmental cross-curriculum priorities.
What the American Declaration of Independence describes as the right to enjoy “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has not happened by accident and is unique to Western culture. Liberty, equality, freedom of speech, the right to vote, the concept of being innocent until proven guilty, the right to a fair trial, to own property and to make a profit can only be understood and valued in the context of Western culture. Beginning with the ancient Greeks’ concept of demos and evolving over hundreds of years and including Magna Carta, the Westminster form of government, common law and the Enlightenment, those lucky enough to live in Western cultures enjoy a legacy of unparalleled freedoms….” The West’s Foes, Foreign & Domestic