Most
people are familiar with the saying: “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” Well,
there is no reason why the saying cannot be paraphrased to say the following:
If it needs no defense, don't defend it.
It's
important to have a saying such as that in circulation to remind people like
Paul Krause that a well-established culture is not a Humpty Dumpty that can
fall and break, never to be repaired or come back stronger than ever. In fact,
a fully developed culture that comes under attack will not disappear no matter
how much it is suppressed initially.
Examples
abound about cultures in Africa and Asia that were put down but are rising
again while gathering more strength than ever before. And because a
civilization is ten times more robust than a culture –– being constructed in
the form of a mosaic with several closely related cultures –– it can almost
never be suppressed by attacks, but will acquire more strength with each blow.
It
is evident that Paul Krause thinks differently, which is why he was prompted to
express fear for Western Civilization. He did so in an article he wrote under
the title: “Who Will Defend Western Civilization?” published on June 21, 2020
in the online magazine, The American Thinker.
Krause
began his discussion with this assertion: “The West is a dying civilization.
That much is evident.” After decrying the apathy of those who should rise to
defend Western Civilization but are not, he started telling who, he believes
are attacking Western Civilization, and why they are doing it. Surprisingly,
Krause does not blame the anticipated death of Western Civilization on outside
forces, though he briefly mentions: The Franks who stopped an Islamic invasion
of Europe, and the Catholics who fought the Turks at Lepanto.
Instead,
Paul Krause blames: “the nihilistic and iconoclastic Multicultural Left” of
America and Europe for the slow death of Western Civilization. But what is it
exactly that the Left is doing that's killing Western Civilization, according
to Paul Krause? What the Left is doing, is propound a narrative that is
anti-racism and anti-imperialism, he says. As a result, they are destroying the
symbols that were put up to honor the individuals who participated in a racist
or imperialist act that might have contributed to the glory of Western
Civilization, he adds.
And
that's when you feel like you've been slapped in the face. You grew up
believing that you adhere to a system of virtues defined by the three words,
“liberté, égalité, fraternité,” which in time, were tweaked to sound like,
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but someone says it was all an
illusion, and you didn't even know it. In reality, Paul Krause seems to suggest
that you grew up believing in racism and in the right of imperialists to
dominate others. That, in his view, is what makes up, “the West's heroic
nobility,” being the glue that keeps Western Civilization together.
You
reject what you consider to be Krause's distorted view of Western Civilization,
and you look into his article for clues as to what may have confused him. You
notice two sentences that are incredibly pretentious. They are: “The riots are
not about George Floyd” and “Multiculturalism is not about multiculturalism.”
This being his belief, he must be ascribing to the “rioters” and the proponents
of multi multiculturalism, hidden motives so dark they cannot be discussed,
which is why he is not revealing them. Too bad.
Instead
of doing that, Paul Krause has lamented that the conservatives of America are
not conserving the victories (if there exist any) of the last 20 years. He went
on to express dread for when we'll soon pass Mount Rushmore and utter the words
to be found at the end of Percy Shelley's poem Ozymandias.
Bear
in mind that Ozymandias is the name that the ancient Greeks gave to the
Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses the Second who, to this day is disliked by some people
for having been a ruthless warrior.
Percy
Shelley wrote the poem, having visited Egypt and seen one of the wrecked
statues of Ramses. Apparently, he did not see the one that stood in glory and
full magnificence in the square that bears his name near the Cairo train
station, “Bab al-Hadid.” Instead, what he saw is what he described as follows:
“Two
vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand
in the desert … Near them on the sand,
Half
sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And
wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command...”
To
Paul Krause, this was enough to remind him and remind everyone that empires are
ephemeral. So, he asked the question: “Who will defend Western Civilization?”
Well, I have an answer that should reassure him. It is this: Egypt being the
cradle of Western Civilization, the Egyptians will defend it if and when
defense will be needed. But that's not the case at this time.
Come
to think of it, defending Civilization is what the Egyptians have been doing
for thousands of years when necessary. I know this because I am of Egyptian
origin, and during all of my adult life, I have been fighting skirmishes
against the forces of darkness that were heaped upon me. I am pushing back to
defend and preserve the only Civilization I came to know and appreciate.
Trust me, Paul, the forces of darkness are no match to our strength and determination. We're going to be okay.