Imagine the scene at Harvard in the spring of 1978 when Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave his now-famous address. Solzhenitsyn had already won the Nobel Prize for The Gulag Archipelago and other great works exposing the murderous nature of atheist Communism. But at Harvard Solzhenitsyn touched on a topic much closer to home.
Even though he was second to none in his denunciation of totalitarian socialism, Solzhenitsyn said, "should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively." The whole address is worth reading, but here are some highlights.
On the lack of courage in facing a totalitarian enemy: "The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country...and of course in the United Nations....Such a decline is especially notable among ruling groups and the intellectual elite....They get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists."
On how materialism makes a nation soft: "Every citizen has been granted the desired freedom and material goods in such quantity and of such quality as to guarantee in theory the pursuit of happiness...So why and for what should one risk one's precious life in defense of common values and particularly in such nebulous cases when the security of one's nation must be defended in a distant country?"
On what has happened to the rule of law: "People in the West has acquired considerable skill in using, interpreting and manipulating law....If one is right from a legal point of view, nothing more is required, nobody might mention that one could still not be entirely right and urge a willingness to show restraint or sacrifice. Everybody operates at the extreme limits of those legal frames....A society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed, but a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either."
On the rights of criminals: "Legal frames especially in the United States are broad enough to encourage not only individual freedom but also certain individual crimes. The culprit can go unpunished or obtain undeserved leniency with the support of legions of public defenders. When a government starts an earnest fight against terrorism, public opinion immediately accuses it of violating the terrorists' civil rights. There are many such cases."
On the abuses of freedom: "Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Soceity appears to have litle defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror...Such a tilt of freedom in the directionof evil has come about gradually but it was evidently born out of a humanistic concept according to which there is no evil inherent to human nature."
On freedom of the press: "The press, too, enjoys the widest freedom. But what use does it make of this freedom? The press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? How many hasty, immature, superficial and misleading judgments are expressed every day, confusing readers, and without any verification? Thus we see terrorists made into heroes, or secret matters pertaining to the national defense publicly revealed, or shameful intrusion into the privacy of people under the false slogan: everyone has the right to know everything."
On the atrophy of the spiritual life: "Mere freedom does not in the least solve all the problems of human life and it even adds some new ones....We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life."
Thirty years ago, the very chattering classes mentioned in Solzhenitsyn's address ridiculed the man as a reactionary and a crank. The literary critic Susan Sontag describes Manhattan cocktail parties at which the cultural left would laugh at Solzhenitsyn. No one--certainly not liberals and libertarians--wanted to hear what the New York Times called Solzhenitsyn's "hectoring jeremiads."
But today when you go to Asia you hear everywhere the slogan, "Modernization, yes; Westernization, no." Throughout the Muslim world there is a reaction--exploited of course by the Islamic radicals--against what is perceived as the shamelessness and decadence of Western values and culture. Even in the West there is deep ambivalence about what has happened to cherished notions of liberty, the rule of law, freedom of the press, and the pursuit of happiness.
We don't have to agree with Solzhenitsyn on everything to say that, far from being a reactionary, here was a man who was ahead of his time in diagnosing some of the serious ailments of the modern era. Not only was he right about the Gulag; in many respects this forlorn Russian hermit was also right about us.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 19)
1. I guess this means that Gonesh wants modernization but destruction of Westernization? What kind of goofy one world satanism is that?
Gonesh is your perfect example of an extreme event horizon left winger with symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Maybe he wants to start a commune and be your guru and get a fried out Kombi?
Clif Kuplen at 12:38PM on Aug 5th 2008
2. "One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? How many hasty, immature, superficial and misleading judgments are expressed every day, confusing readers, and without any verification?"
Excellent words - please keep them in mind for the future.
Skeptic at 1:02PM on Aug 5th 2008
3. The more D'Strawman vomits, the more frightened he appears.
And guess what...it's not working...the right wing Xtian types ARE LOSING MORE POWER EVERY DAY. Hallelujah!
Put that in your crack pipe and smoke it, DD boy.
brandon at 1:03PM on Aug 5th 2008
4. It should go without saying that Solzhenitsyn's comments could just as easily indict corporate raiders, right-wing isolationists, Presidents who manufacture wars, religious demagogues who exploit human pain for profit, and so on, as the "liberals and libertarians" Dinesh so obviously fears.
Dave at 1:06PM on Aug 5th 2008
5.
DoubleD, I am surprised that you pulled the religious crank Solzhenitsyn out of the hat to lend credence to your recurring assertions. I hope you will one day talk about Milosz.
JefFlyingV at 1:10PM on Aug 5th 2008
6. Westernization YES! Send those religion crazed medival bastards some porno and some beer. Give them some materialism Damn it and give it to them right now. If they were lazy and satisfied they wouldn't attack us.
The answer is not to become a Christian version of them as Dinesh seems to repeatedly suggest. what would that bring anyway? We would still be worshiping the wrong God and no matter how backwards we became they would still hate us even if we had made oursselves just as miserable as they are.
You really want to stop fanatical assholes from blowing us up? Give them some sex, drugs, and rock and roll, maybe even a little gambling. Show them how to have some fun. Send them pot by the ton(ever seen a stoner get violent?) Give them something that makes giving up their life seem like a really dumb idea. There is a reason totalitarian societies hate these things.
Don't be such a pussy! If they hate us for our freedom wouldn't exercising that freedom be the best way to to show them the middle finger?
Get a lap dance tonight Dinesh, do it for America. If you don't the terrorist win.
tmo at 1:14PM on Aug 5th 2008
7. As someone with liberal values, some of this man's words still ring true with me. I think there is something to be said about the difference between modernization and westernization. America's cultural values are sadly askew these days. When celebrity genitalia and fashion are bigger news than the deaths of tens of Iraqi's something is wrong.
Jesse at 1:18PM on Aug 5th 2008
8. filed under Breaking News?
America's Most Gangsta at 1:21PM on Aug 5th 2008
9. When celebrity genitalia and fashion are bigger news than the deaths of tens of Iraqi's something is wrong.
xxxx
That's not westernizaton, that's trivialization, like politics based on babymama fist jabs.
I doubt the West has any corner on stupid.
Clif Kuplen at 1:28PM on Aug 5th 2008
10. Who cares what this man thinks? He didnt grow up here. He grew up in a Totalitarian regime. He spent time in the Gulag, you would think he would respect the fact that our legal system gives suspects a chance that Soviet citizens never got.
CaptainCack at 1:45PM on Aug 5th 2008
11. On the rights of criminals: "Legal frames especially in the United States are broad enough to encourage not only individual freedom but also certain individual crimes. The culprit can go unpunished or obtain undeserved leniency with the support of legions of public defenders. When a government starts an earnest fight against terrorism, public opinion immediately accuses it of violating the terrorists' civil rights. There are many such cases." - Dinesh D'Souza quoting Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Bush and Cheney and those who follow their orders are the criminals yet they will likely go unpunished. The Delusion of the State does not give them immunity from their crimes.
By it's very definition a "fight against terrorism" itself is terrorism against those that it fights - WHICH is often the very reason that they fight however they can! Once you get that you are creating your own enemies Dinesh D'Souza you'll have a new perspective, this can lead people to stop the killing - on both sides.
"A society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed, but a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either." - Dinesh D'Souza quoting Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Unfortunately Dinesh D'Souza the reality is that there is no objective scale. We are the only higher power. Yet how we treat others does reflect upon ourselves.
By invading and killing others over there we put ourselves and our next generations at risk from generations of hatred that we create by killing people over there to satisfy a need for revenge (as Bush's rally on top of the rubble pile of the WTC clearly was) or oil profits or power or whatever.
Nothing gives us the right to kill other people. That's something you won't learn from your bible with authorizes genocide even though it orders you to not kill. Just because you want there to be an objective "law giver" (aka god) won't make it so fantasy boy Dinesh.
Freedom is inherent within objective reality, it is not granted by any Delusion of State Power. All that those who pretend to be the Delusional State Powers do is take away freedom when they constrict people and kill people.
Your spiritual life is ALWAYS what you make of it. No amount of complaining about it by you or Alexander Solzhenitsyn change that: "Mere freedom does not in the least solve all the problems of human life and it even adds some new ones....We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life." What a bunch of horse manure. If Solzhenitsyn's writing is really like that then it's likely to be just more mostly nonsense puke.
Unfortunately Dinesh D'Souza you place your spiritual success upon an imaginary immaterial non-existent mythical super being aka invisible friend in the sky. By placing your spiritually upon the dictates of an outside force (imaginary or real) you put yourself into spiritual slavery. True human spirituality is always within oneself without any need for an external force or being to make you whole. You are a complete and whole human being unless you convince yourself otherwise with, for example, faith based beliefs in mythical gods who have spiritual authority over you. You're a slave to faith Dinesh. Unlock your chains of bondage from mythical gods Dinesh. Seek natural spiritual freedom in the real world where there are no super natural beings. Come and join reality Dinesh.
"We don't have to agree with Solzhenitsyn on everything to say that, far from being a reactionary, here was a man who was ahead of his time in diagnosing some of the serious ailments of the modern era. Not only was he right about the Gulag; in many respects this forlorn Russian hermit was also right about us." - Dinesh D'Souza
Not having read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's works I can't say if he was right about the gulag (not that reading his works would enable me to judge as I wasn't at their gulag)... However, it's clear that he's off base about "us", as are you Dinesh D'Souza. I reject your analysis on various topics presented in your blog postings as it has little if nothing to do with objective reality and how people actually live their lives.
You might impress someone who is faith stricken with faith based beliefs, but you don't impress rational objective thinkers grounded in Nature Dinesh D'Souza.
Peter at 2:34PM on Aug 5th 2008
12. Facts well analyzed and well stated, Solzhenitsyn. Relevant points well framed, D'Souza. Well done all around!
I love checking this blog each day to see if any relevant, rational response is offered to D'Souza's well-written articles. Much to my disappointment, I rarely find such a comment. On the contrary, name-calling and unsubstantiated opinions abound.
Troy at 2:44PM on Aug 5th 2008
13. 20 years ago, when I was in Asia, they wanted to be like us. What changed that? The last seven years is the answer to that question.
ex-christian at 3:07PM on Aug 5th 2008
14. All Purpose
Multi Function
Combat Wombat
T.Brough at 3:12PM on Aug 5th 2008
15. I first became aware of Solzhenitsyn in 1974 when Time/Life published his "One Day in the Life...". I've read much of his stuff since then. He never realized that Rock and Roll had as much to do with the destruction of the soviet system he hated as the arms race did.
naturalpuppy at 3:17PM on Aug 5th 2008