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 2 of 19)
16. Rock on Dave!
Hey isn't this guy just dead - why the musings of a now dead guy?
It's so nice that DD still doesn't have a thought in his head that didn't come from someone else.
Shit this is hard to type when your drunk...
Thanks Bush... you've ruined my life.
TJ at 3:19PM on Aug 5th 2008
17. Troy, you actually think that Dinesh D'Souza's are substantiated or are more than the silly faith based nonsense that they are? That's rich.
Peter at 3:25PM on Aug 5th 2008
18. I think that we all need to reflect on this again..
""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?"
I think that Solzhenitsyn was prophesying you, D'Souza!
not-pboyfloyd at 3:29PM on Aug 5th 2008
19. "Shit this is hard to type when your drunk..."-TJ
Enjoy!
Drink some prickly pear juice if you have it, I hear that it helps with hang-overs!
not-pboyfloyd at 3:31PM on Aug 5th 2008
20. Yes, a lap dance is what Dinesh needs as well as a good cult deprogrammer.
Peter at 3:32PM on Aug 5th 2008
21.
On the lack of courage in facing a totalitarian enemy. The people who lack courage in facing a totalitarian enemy are the people ruled by totalitarian governments.
On what happened to the rule of law. You'd have to ask the president about this. Starting wars with no real reason, had to make some up. When those were questioned by the press, he made some different reasons up. And then, he makes up new laws which are illegal according to the Constitution.
On the rights of criminals. For a guy who was wrongly locked up, I really have no idea why he would question this. A conviction of guilt doesn't mean guilt. Our justice system is so broken it's not funny - Steal hundreds of millions, and cost the taxpayers billions - it's not a crime. carrying a bag of weed can get you a year in jail. When you've figured crime out, absolutely, we can discuss that.
On the abuse of freedom. Anything can be abused. Whether or not you do it is up to you. One could say that the current crisis the country faces is exactly that. They were free to give loans to people who had no way of paying them back. Why did they? They are free to send jobs to the lowest bidder, and they do. What stopped them before?
On the freedom of the press. As much as I hate it, it has to stand. If you want to tell weak idiots that I'm destroying the world, I can't stop you. People who are too stupid or lazy to put two and two together - hate speech and simpletons who act on it, for example, are better served watching "American Idol" anyway.
On the atrophy of the spiritual life. No Calvin's here. Spiritual life is owned by the individual. Mine is nature and art. Forcing spirituality is another form of totalitarianism. Hard for somebody growing up in a totalitarian state to distinguish.
ex-christian at 3:42PM on Aug 5th 2008
22. Excellent DD Excellent. You have just summed up the whole Bush/Republican Party philosophy of the last eight years. BRAVO!
Larry at 3:43PM on Aug 5th 2008
23. I think that we all need to reflect on this again..
""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?"
I think that Solzhenitsyn was prophesying you, D'Souza!
not-pboyfloyd at 3:29PM on Aug 5th 2008
==========
Diddy always has verification. Somebody else wrote a book. Or a book review. Whether or not they are accurate, that's another story. But his religious tunnel vision is supported by it, so it must be true.
ex-christian at 4:01PM on Aug 5th 2008
24. DD
Physician heal thyself.
fed up at 4:32PM on Aug 5th 2008
25. 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
Wow, I thought I had the most ridiculous post(even though I do actually believe in the spirit of what I said, that being free people are less likely to be terrorist, ect.) but this totally destroys mine. Congratulaions are in order.
tmo at 4:41PM on Aug 5th 2008
26. 'congratulations' is what I meant. (I'm still the worst speller! troy can't have that one!)
tmo at 4:43PM on Aug 5th 2008
27. "I love checking this blog each day to see if any relevant, rational response is offered to D'Souza's well-written articles." says Troy.(as usual)
Why don't you change your 'handle' to Tooty-fucking-snooty?
You know, since it's all just 'name-calling' anyways, ya 'pompouser-than-thou' prick!
not-pboyfloyd at 4:59PM on Aug 5th 2008
28. ATHEIST
Reply to: 12. I love checking this blog each day to see if any relevant, rational response is offered to D'Souza's well-written articles. Troy
_____________
Try again, Troy. Dinesh's article is NOT well-written.
He takes quotes out of context. He offers them to prove.... but as any intelligent person knows, you can always extract single sentences and use them to prove...
Well, let's take Christianity.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus goes into a synagogue in Capernaum. An unclean pneuma (Greek, translated as spirit, wind, or even poltergeist)
says, "We know who you are. You are Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God."
Did you get that?
Quotes from a supernatural "pneuma" that has taken possession of a human body.
Christianity is NONSENSE. Complete, utter, total nonsense.
It's a SALES PITCH for a cult that predicted the world would end before 120 AD, with the resurrection of all the dead and a Day of Judgment.
That's why Dinesh is NOT an intelligent person. He's a PITCH MAN for one of the most evil forms of stupidity... an End of the World cult that refuses to disappear after they miss their deadline.
William Hays at 5:01PM on Aug 5th 2008
29. William well said in posting 28. Nice.
Where did they make their end of the world prediction? I mean where was that written if it was?
I'll make a prediction that if it comes true will prove me a super natural being: "Dinesh D'Souza will continue writing stupid blog posts." Bow down and worship your new god! If you won't I'll punish you to an eternity of blog posts by Dinesh D'Souza, enough of them to empty heaven out and fill up hell!
Peter at 5:31PM on Aug 5th 2008
30. It figures that Peter agrees with William Hays....
Shannie at 5:39PM on Aug 5th 2008