Dear Friends,
It seems to me, a wise culture adopts the best practices of its enemies, history and the world, while a foolish culture is cast in stone. History proves it. The Yamato and Ainu people are the ideal example. The Yamato adopted the best practices of the Ainu, while the Ainu, refused to adopt the better practices of the Yamato. That’s why Japan is dominated by the Yamato and not the Ainu today. Change is hard. We hate to alter the way we do things. Which is a challenge to implementing this philosophy. A way to get around adopting the best practices of others, is to destroy them, instead of competing with them. A strategy used by many expansionist ideologies. The Mongols showed this to be a failure. For a sustainable culture, with a growing standard of living, adopting the best practices of others is a must.
No one likes change. It forces a little death in us. The death of a practice. I’m sure when iron was introduced to mankind, people who cast bronze were aghast. Many certainly attacked the innovation… because it forced change. Nevertheless, those that adopted iron, surpassed those that didn’t. The things we do often have some significance outside the obvious. Which is another block to altering our practices. Then there’s the worry we’re kicking down Chesterton’s fence. What unforeseen consequences could there be for changing from our old practices to new ones? All these are strong motivations for a culture to cast itself in stone. One thing Western culture has had on its side, has been its willingness to adopt the best practices of others, and innovation as the default.
Some ideologies that see themselves as the epitome, can’t adopt innovation or the best practices of others. That would be an admission that they aren’t the epitome. So instead, they set themselves to proving their superiority, by smashing everything else. They used to be called barbarians, today they’re called terrorists and bureaucrats. Censoring, heartless, violent and exploiting any authority they have to forward their agenda. Barbarians in thought, action and intent, if not in name. The culture in power, no matter its virtue, must be removed, by whatever means, so their epitome can take over. The logic that if their ideas are so much better, they will win in the marketplace of ideas… occurs to them all too well. Ideologies that see themselves as the epitome, are the acme of the unwise.
The Mongol empire expanded faster than any before or since. It was larger than the Soviet Union at it’s peak and held all in check with a grip of iron. Yet it evaporated like dry ice in the Arizona sun. Because the ideology wasn’t natural, better or acculturated, it was imposed by force. The moment the force was removed, (because of a fight for the throne) the empire dissolved. This is the natural way that such ideologies die. They expand, killing millions, then collapse, taking with them societies, technology and whole populations. Generally starting as oligarchies, and oligarchy being an unstable form of government, produces radiation, breaking it down to tyranny. That despotism then becomes unbearable and the people rise up overthrowing it in a revolution and the cycle starts anew.
Slaughtering one’s opponents isn’t only foul, but self defeating, as Marius and Sulla, Pol Pot, Tamerlane, Hitler, the Sea People’s, the Assyrians, Alexander, etc… prove, and post modernists and Islamists are doing. They could win, as barbarians often have in the past, but their reign will be short and bloody. The collapse will take with it much of what we take for granted today. The other option, is to adopt the best practices of post modernism and Islamism, and apply them to post modernists and Islamists. Both post modernists and Islamists believe their ideology is the acme of philosophy, religion and humanity. Instead of us being cast in stone, being chipped at by them, become ductile and turn their best strategies against them. Intolerance, huge protests and vindictive prosecutions seem to work.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
