Sunday, February 08, 2004
Evil and the Postmodernist by Peter Savodnik - Policy Review, No. 122
"Stalinist Russia is simply too repugnant, too evil, to be dealt with by those infected with the latest strain of Left Bank silliness. After all, this is a particular species of hell, or ideology, that most Westerners, and certainly most Americans, simply cannot grasp. We are so unburdened by history and so driven, or determined, by prevailing beliefs about individuality, natural rights, private property, liberty, and the like that we simply cannot comprehend on any meaningful emotional or visceral level what it means for human beings to surrender themselves to an idea. Not a way of life or a constitution or a government but an abstraction, like a floating construct or cathedral that is beautiful and just only in the eyes of a handful of theorists and ideologues — an abstraction so ridiculously, so completely, divorced from reality that the idea of giving one’s life to defend it could only be described as ludicrous and depraved. "
Russia was not a "third" world country before the communist revolution, not more than was Germany before the Nazi's. How could they become so barbarous? We better know the answer to that questions as we struggle for our own soul in the 21st century.
"Stalinist Russia is simply too repugnant, too evil, to be dealt with by those infected with the latest strain of Left Bank silliness. After all, this is a particular species of hell, or ideology, that most Westerners, and certainly most Americans, simply cannot grasp. We are so unburdened by history and so driven, or determined, by prevailing beliefs about individuality, natural rights, private property, liberty, and the like that we simply cannot comprehend on any meaningful emotional or visceral level what it means for human beings to surrender themselves to an idea. Not a way of life or a constitution or a government but an abstraction, like a floating construct or cathedral that is beautiful and just only in the eyes of a handful of theorists and ideologues — an abstraction so ridiculously, so completely, divorced from reality that the idea of giving one’s life to defend it could only be described as ludicrous and depraved. "
Russia was not a "third" world country before the communist revolution, not more than was Germany before the Nazi's. How could they become so barbarous? We better know the answer to that questions as we struggle for our own soul in the 21st century.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
