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 6 of 19)
76. JefV'lucy was shown to be an orangutan jaw on a human skull.BTW,didyou know that Darwin's theory was based on the idea that the universe is static,and there had been an infinite amount of time for random mutations to develop?Einstein disproved that idea how many years ago?Honestly as I said in an earlier post,I am a scientist myself.I have studied physics and astronomy for a good number of years,And frankly,I don't see how anyone that has done any real study can fail to see the impossibility of the universe,and esp. life here,happening by random chance.It is science that convinced me there has to be an intelligence,a God behind it all.
Bill Triebel at 2:02AM on Aug 6th 2008
77.
Triebel what is the 'new and improved valid scientific model' that you are putting forth? Or is your theism the only 'tried and true model' for explanation?
JefFlyingV at 2:04AM on Aug 6th 2008
78.
When was Lucy shown to be an orangutan jaw? This would be great news if fact. It is hard for me to take you serious after your last post.
Darwin didn't have knowledge of present science, or are you placing your refutation of Darwin because he was not as far sighted as jesus in comperison?
JefFlyingV at 2:12AM on Aug 6th 2008
79. GHB 31, "Why is it that, if I died and went to heaven, that I could not be happy there knowing that so many souls are being tortured in hell".
No analogy is perfect but an example would be to think of people sent to Prison.
If someone committed a crime, say murder or rape, against a loved one, and that person is sent to prison, my guess is that you would on one hand feel sorry for the criminal that he/she has to go to prison but on the other hand you would have a sense of gladness that the wrong deed has been punished and justice has prevailed.(I was recently a juror on a murder case and saw the delight of the family whose daughter had been murdered, when the murderer was convicted - they were not a wicked family they were celebrating justice)
Your question assumes that Christians are happy that people are going to hell!!!!! You sound like someone who doesnt know much about christianity... so, a few points to help: God sent his only son Jesus he is isnt happy sending people to hell, secondly the reason Christians evangelise, often at much personal cost, is because they dont want people to go to hell.
kumar at 2:21AM on Aug 6th 2008
80.
Bill stick with the phony "evolution facts blog pages' and reading your bible. It is plainly obvious you ar only interested in following a mythology to give your life a meaning.
JefFlyingV at 2:26AM on Aug 6th 2008
81. Some of you might like this. It is family safe, well, not that Dinesh D'Souza's blog is family safe but it's more family safe than this blog! Enjoy
http://tinyurl.com/6c896h
Peter at 2:26AM on Aug 6th 2008
82. Actually this one has more impact impression.
http://tinyurl.com/655d3q
Peter at 2:29AM on Aug 6th 2008
83. soldier, as for accountability I suggest that you put yourself and your buddies and your chain of command all the way up to Cheney and Bush up on war crimes charges for all the killings that you and your ilk have done in recent past ~7 years (at least) since you guys went on the global crusade revenge kick.
As a killer, if you are really in the military, you need to be held accountable for your crimes against humanity. Evil and vile is right. It's people like you on both sides that we still have wars. Yet you use a form of spirituality to justify and insulate yourselves from criminal accountability. Shame on you.
Peter at 2:38AM on Aug 6th 2008
84. "All freedoms are privileges granted to those who accept the requisite responsibility." - naturalpuppy
That is what THEY want you to think so that they can have brain washed control over your life naturalpuppy.
The fact is that ultimately we are all free. Most of us seem to have just forgotten that fact which is due to the systems of control put in place by evil and vile organizations such as churches and Delusional States "education systems" that want to churn out "producers" for the rich and powerful to command to work or die. Grim but possibly an accurate assessment that hasn't changed in hundreds of years except that more people are independent than before. That's no saying much since the bulk (at least 50%) are asleep with the drug of faith based beliefs that have been brainwashed into them.
Freedom is inherent in all systems that exhibit non-determinism sentience or consciousness - limited only by the laws of nature and very narrowly constricted by their own faith based belief systems; the stronger the faith the deeper the delusional pit of rigidity.
Choose wisely as there are consequences to your actions. For every action there is a reaction does seem to apply - most of the time. The consequences may not come from another sentient being... but an effect of what you started with your choice and actions consistent with that choice.
For example, you "steal" something and others will not like it too much especially if it was valuable to them. There is no god to stop you no matter how much the faith believers want there to be. You and they can't alter the Nature of Objective Reality with your thoughts! Sure you can do stuff within Objective Reality, but altering the Nature of it, not ever going to happen, not by you, them or the mythical imaginary gods of yours. Sorry that's a fact of life. Get used to it as it's all we've got here in existence.
Choose wisely.
Peter at 2:50AM on Aug 6th 2008
85. If someone committed a crime, say murder or rape, against a loved one, and that person is sent to prison, my guess is that you would on one hand feel sorry for the criminal that he/she has to go to prison but on the other hand you would have a sense of gladness that the wrong deed has been punished and justice has prevailed.
Nice anology, except prison of course is not for eternity no matter what you did. Prisoners are given plenty of chances to repent, so if they say they are sorry before we fry them even the most vile of criminals is actually had their punishment shortened and are now in paradise( so why do christians favor the death penalty in this country? it kind of makes you soft on crime if you really believe in the whole after life thing.)
Then of course there is range of crimes that get you etenral damnation, a quick example:
Thinking your neighbors wife is hot.
Expressing it by saying 'god damn that chick is hot.'
Sentence for such a crime? constant endless punishment.
tmo at 2:57AM on Aug 6th 2008
86. Hey,I got them confused,the piltdown man was the orangutan jaw,Lucy turned out to be a previously undiscovered type of ape.And I'm not putting Darwin down,just making the point that his theory is outdated and thouroughly disproven.As for the rest of it,I'm just referring to the complexity and order of the universe,and what it has shown me.And hey,I have no use for religion myself,but I am spiritual.Look it up if you don't know the difference.Besides,like I was saying to the hot air bag back there,yes,I would rather be a slave to faith in something,and helpsomeone else out along the way because of that faith,than to be a slave to my own pride and arrogance,and drag others down through selfishness.
Bill Triebel at 3:00AM on Aug 6th 2008
87. Sent to hell for thought crimes by the so called benevolent god of the bible. He is the Chief Torturer Officer! The top dog of heaven and hell! And they think it's all cozy in heaven. Just do something to piss him off during all that eternity and you're off to hell like a banshee screeching a bad led zeppelin tune or incomprehensible and horrifying hip hop rap!
Peter at 3:03AM on Aug 6th 2008
88. Yes, there is some good hip hop by the way: Swollen Members have some half decent raps.
Peter at 3:05AM on Aug 6th 2008
89. And frankly,I don't see how anyone that has done any real study can fail to see the impossibility of the universe,and esp. life here,happening by random chance.It is science that convinced me there has to be an intelligence,a God behind it all.
Bill Triebel at 2:02AM on Aug 6th 2008
a seemingly reasonable point, go ahead and convert me by saying this in no way proves Christianity and if anyone held the bible to even half the standards you place on science it would have been dismissed as nonsense long ago.
Here's the crazy thing I've found about evolution and creation science, All sorts of people with all sorts of backrounds believe in evolution (including Dinesh), but only Christians (mostly the nutty reborn type) believe in ID.
tmo at 3:06AM on Aug 6th 2008
90. I would rather be a slave to faith in something,and helpsomeone else out along the way because of that faith,than to be a slave to my own pride and arrogance,and drag others down through selfishness.
Bill Triebel at 3:00AM on Aug 6th 2008
How about helping others because they need help instead of because as a slave you were ordered to do it? Why do you assume that not buying into a myth makes one selfish?
tmo at 3:12AM on Aug 6th 2008