It is curious to me that I must define the very essence of civilization as sacrifice and dominion. In the Podcasts we started with I mentioned that I am, fundamentally, a libertarian at heart. What I want from 'Government' is decent roads and a strong, if mostly useless, military.
Nothing more.
I don't want government to provide me healthcare. I don't want government to provide me food or shelter.
I want it out of my fucking way.
But you see: Civilization and Government are not synonymous. Government is little more than an organization we 'contract' to provide certain services we cannot reasonably do for ourselves, at least not effectively. But because one of those services is the inherent monopolization of force, it tends to grow fat and greedy, Hobbes' Leviathan, devouring all that is set before it.
Contra: Civilization is the behavior of men towards one another that emphasizes the success of the group over the individual, cooperation over competition, and above all else, peace and order over violence and chaos.
I may want to refine that definition a bit more, but it will do for now.
Curiously, one does not need civilization to have Government. Would we call Papa Doc Duvalier's Tonton Macoute based government 'civilized'? In truth, would we label Haiti as civilized at all in living memory? It has been relatively quiet from time to time, I will grant you, but the last time it came close to civilization was when the French kept it bound in chains of slavery.... hardly a state of affairs to look back at with piquant nostalgia.
That is a gloss of Haitian history. They have striven mightily and failed time and time again, but no doubt there were moments where they grasped the golden apple, only to have it slip from their grasp.
I can hear criticisms now, protests and cries of 'raciss', because it happens that Haiti is populated by Persons of Color, as if it were my fault that european whites seem so preternaturally good at civilization that very few good examples of barbarism exist. I'll ignore those, but let me imagine for the moment some of the other protests.
Bob Marley. I mean; Obviously Haiti is civilized since they make just great music, right?
I hope no one would actually think the two are related in any way, but I suppose someone might impulsively reach to defend something they like from a perceived slight. Art and Civilization are not co-dependent. No doubt there are those who find 'savage' music much better than the rarefied heights of 'civilized' music, that thinks the fevered pounding of drums and deeply emotional wailings are far more evocative than the precisely ordered and mannerly music of Johann Sebastian Bach. That, however, is merely a matter of taste. The point remains that art is not indicative of civilization.
A better argument might be to discuss the bloodshed of the Nazis and other white european nations in the last century. Why not? Surely that is barbarism instead of civilization, yes?
A dangerous thrust that leaves the attacker exposed, for I imagine most critics of my point of view are modern leftists, progressives and socialists. Shall I point out that a good portion of my perspective is that progressive socialists are so busy importing and recreating Barbarism in place of civilization that referencing previous progressive, socialist governments as a refutation of my point that europeans are preternaturally good at civilization is... making my case?
Yes, virginia: The nazi's were socialist progressives, not republican conservative types.
But then too: Can we make the case that National Socialism, for all its murderousness and evil, was in fact a perverse expression of Civilization gone wrong than Barbarism?
Could we not also express that the very evils perpetrated by the Nazi's were Governmental programs rather than social mob justice? In short, Government (the organ that grows fat and greedy on its own power) is not Civilization. We could. We have.
Still, I won't, I shan't dwell on it. Make your case, imaginary reader, and I will respond to that, rather than attempting to make it for you, then knocking down my straw man.
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