Ghost of a flea: The weight of their armour

November 19, 2008

The weight of their armour

It was 230 years ago that Edward Gibbon published the first volume of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Niall Ferguson expands on the theme of contemporary decline in "Empire Falls", an article that is a good deal more optimistic than I am on the subject. Though I expect the shade of Oswald Spengler would call me a downer too.

It is only when the extent of Western dominance in 1900 is appreciated that the true narrative arc of the 20th century reveals itself. This was not “the triumph of the West,” but rather the crisis of the European empires, the ultimate result of which was the revival of the East—beginning in Japan—and the relative decline of the West.

This has not been a decline in the sense that Spengler envisaged: a kind of corrosive metropolitan ennui. Rather, it has been an unexpected but inexorable military decline. It has been a scarcely perceptible economic decline. It has been a subtle but unmistakable cultural decline. Above all, it has been a creeping demographic decline. In short, it has been a decline in precisely the sense that Gibbon understood the decline of Rome’s empire.

Correct. And RTWT. Though I believe Ferguson is hasty to reject metropolitan ennui. The public assertion of commonplace truths - commonplace aspirations - held by my grandparents would be enough to land me in front of a "human rights" tribunal these days. Like so many in the anti-Palin class, Ferguson chooses to signal pornography and NASCAR as signs of cultural decline. He would have done better to point to and Oprah and NPR. Read between the lines of Plutarch's lives and you will find Mark Antony enjoying the same pornography and NASCAR enjoyed by his men; these are, after all, the pursuits of men.

It is the comprehensive feminization of the West that if left unchecked is sure to get us all raped, killed or converted. The usual suspects object to this sort of statement of the blindingly obvious but in the end I believe it may be our women who save us from ourselves. At some point, they are going to demand we start acting like men. The only question is whether our role models will be drawn from the best of our history and traditions or from the very worst. The latter option will be tempting to many; nobody sane wants to face another jihad in fifty years and a hundred and again fifty years after that. Let alone one armed with whatever new weapons - or office architecture and transportation - we have contrived and they have subsequently stolen and turned against us.

Related evidence to the contrary: The end of our world is nigh. And the link is to Australia. Australia for the love of God.

Related evidence for the prosecution: Strange New Respect for Hillary Clinton (via Hot Air).

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 19, 2008 08:57 AM

Comments

Terrific read. I think Ferguson stretches to ridiculous lengths in one or two comparisons but the gist is unmistakable. The West is not the master of the world (economically, militarily, socially) to the extent that it was in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

Posted by: Chris Taylor at November 20, 2008 01:40 AM