It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

I talked recently about how, years ago, I turned off on the Republicans when I saw them fail to respond to vicious attacks from the Democrats. New Sisyphus counts the ways in which America itself has failed to respond to insults and threats. In both cases, the cause is the same. It is a loss of aliveness, which in turn stems from a loss of identity in a common culture, country, and morality. We are on the same path as the British, the path to non-existence, though we are not as far gone as they.

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Brandon F. writes:

The state of our culture and its non-response and non-cohesion in the face of insult reminds me of my high school days. During my sophomore year a predominantly black high school was closed and we absorbed them. I remember being terrified by the vicious, foul-mouthed mobs of blacks. I can recount many incidents of multiple blacks beating up a white kid while his friends watched in horror. It always happened like that. When a black and white got into a fight the black kids would back each other up while the whites stared dumbly.

Dimitri K. writes:

Regarding whites who are bullied by blacks, I can describe my childhood experience .

When I was a boy I lived in the industrial part of Moscow among Russian working class. Sometimes I was bullied, not by blacks, of course, but by whites. That is not too pleasant either. I was not a coward and was not afraid of pain, but was always restrained by the feeling that I was alone, while the bullies were many. When I grew up I realized that the bullies were not united, fought with each other, were not too healthy (because they smoked and drank), and yielded to the strong. The feeling that they were many and powerful was false. I now realise, moreover, that I produced that feeling for my own psychological reasons. What caused my fear was not real men, but my own reluctance to get involved in real life, which would require some challenge and risk. What I was really afraid of was violating my peace of mind and my confidence that the society was controlled by wise authorities and led in the right direction. I would call it social infantilism. I was afraid to realize that the world required my action.

James S. writes:

Your commenter that remembers white kids who “stared dumbly” reminded me immediately of a beating done by a black man against a white guy in which a group of four or five other white guys stared dumbly and watched as the guy, Joe Scarpino, was nearly beaten to death. It was caught on tape. You just have to see the video.

Watch the white guys.

I can watch this video and experience exactly the fear I feel whenever I spend time alone in a city. This sort of thing wouldn’t happen in a place where everyone knows your name.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 19, 2007 11:04 PM | Send