My Analysis of Contributing Factors to The West's Decline

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There are no free markets left, just oligarchs that we must pay our pittance. There are no freedoms left, just tax collectors and bounty hunters. There are no religions left, just profit motive.

Is it any wonder why people are killing themselves left and right?

If one wants to raise a family, they must have an extraordinary amount of money, which requires (for most people) a neglect of family for work. What is the point of creating a family if it is only a figment of your imagination taking place on the opposite side of town that you may get to see when you clock out and come home?

On top of this, the United States government has become a vehicle of economics. There is no soverign rulers, taking on their homeland's responsibilites for the blood of their kin. Only posturing people standing in place for the status quo.

Religion has died and meaning with it. Family has died and prosperity with it. Dignity has been replaced by economic necessity. The worst part of the current economic burden is the inescapability of it. One may think that they could just "get away from it all" by living in a remote and isolated cabin; they can't! Just wait until the tax men show up asking for a part of your earnings, a patronage for your property, and then have the nerve to tell you that they may take your own cabin because it isn't up to the beaureaucratic safety standards required of every building in America because the stairs are one inch too tall.

On top of this all, every economic transaction is closely watched to see who, what, when, where, and how much was spent so that the government may collect every single penny of "what it deserves." If life has been reduced to economics, we should expect to give up our dignity and pride.

One of the most amazing factoids about modern society is that many serfs and peasants worked LESS than we do today. For all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that we percieve those people did, we see ourselves as cosmopolitan elites living in luxury. We may have modern technology, but are we any happier for it?

Perhaps happiness and quality of life are unrealistic measures of success for a culture. Maybe simply having enough sustenance to carry on to another day, a place to sleep, and shelter are better means of judging a society.

However I reject this sentiment. What is a society without culture? Culture is clearly a necessary component of society. However it seems that culture is being flushed down the drain for an increase of quarterly earnings reports and growth.

This is unsustainable. Either Western Civilization will slowly die, or we will have to severely rearrange our value structures.

However, we must be careful here. We do not want to make things worse by descending into failed economics implementations that promise utopia. Many simply stop here and say that we should abolish capitalism in favor of populist economics. However, free markets have brought up living standards and survivability of the environment so much, that we would be crazy to end free markets. The problem here is the economic power concentrated so heavily at the top -- by means of government wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich. The government props up many "business" endeavours by providing bail outs, beneficiary laws and regulations, and by elimination of economic competition. This is not free market economics at all -- but rather oligarchism.

What we need is a return to social conservativism. We need to start conserving values and knowledge of the past. We need to bring back the church as the center for community, for family to be the central part of life, for communities to be more or less homogenious so that they may bond and cooperate, for ease of trade without regulation, and for small government. The list goes on, but I will stop here.

Do not listen to so called "progressives" that want to tear everthing great about your ancestors down. Your ancestors knew something about life that we have lost, and must rediscover.

Can we progress in a society in which the average worker can't afford to live? Can we progress in a state in which the average person is miserable? When economics becomes the dominant motive force upon politics, above ethics, humanity, and life -- we have descended into dystopia. There are no free markets left, just oligarchs that we must pay our pittance. There are no freedoms left, just tax collectors and bounty hunters. There are no religions left, just profit motive. Is it any wonder why people are killing themselves left and right? If one wants to raise a family, they must have an extraordinary amount of money, which requires (for most people) a neglect of family for work. What is the point of creating a family if it is only a figment of your imagination taking place on the opposite side of town that you may get to see when you clock out and come home? On top of this, the United States government has become a vehicle of economics. There is no soverign rulers, taking on their homeland's responsibilites for the blood of their kin. Only posturing people standing in place for the status quo. Religion has died and meaning with it. Family has died and prosperity with it. Dignity has been replaced by economic necessity. The worst part of the current economic burden is the inescapability of it. One may think that they could just "get away from it all" by living in a remote and isolated cabin; they can't! Just wait until the tax men show up asking for a part of your earnings, a patronage for your property, and then have the nerve to tell you that they may take your own cabin because it isn't up to the beaureaucratic safety standards required of every building in America because the stairs are one inch too tall. On top of this all, every economic transaction is closely watched to see who, what, when, where, and how much was spent so that the government may collect every single penny of "what it deserves." If life has been reduced to economics, we should expect to give up our dignity and pride. One of the most amazing factoids about modern society is that many serfs and peasants worked LESS than we do today. For all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that we percieve those people did, we see ourselves as cosmopolitan elites living in luxury. We may have modern technology, but are we any happier for it? Perhaps happiness and quality of life are unrealistic measures of success for a culture. Maybe simply having enough sustenance to carry on to another day, a place to sleep, and shelter are better means of judging a society. However I reject this sentiment. What is a society without culture? Culture is clearly a necessary component of society. However it seems that culture is being flushed down the drain for an increase of quarterly earnings reports and growth. This is unsustainable. Either Western Civilization will slowly die, or we will have to severely rearrange our value structures. However, we must be careful here. We do not want to make things worse by descending into failed economics implementations that promise utopia. Many simply stop here and say that we should abolish capitalism in favor of populist economics. However, free markets have brought up living standards and survivability of the environment so much, that we would be crazy to end free markets. The problem here is the economic power concentrated so heavily at the top -- by means of government wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich. The government props up many "business" endeavours by providing bail outs, beneficiary laws and regulations, and by elimination of economic competition. This is not free market economics at all -- but rather oligarchism. What we need is a return to social conservativism. We need to start conserving values and knowledge of the past. We need to bring back the church as the center for community, for family to be the central part of life, for communities to be more or less homogenious so that they may bond and cooperate, for ease of trade without regulation, and for small government. The list goes on, but I will stop here. Do not listen to so called "progressives" that want to tear everthing great about your ancestors down. Your ancestors knew something about life that we have lost, and must rediscover.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Systemic Sociocultural Collapse.

The reason we're seeing this so-called "economic burden" is because that's all that's left. Modern western/world culture started dying decades ago - with the loss of all loyalty to transcendental purpose and the abandonment of virtues as guiding principles, humans were reduced to hedonistically driven economic agents. There's even a name for them: Consumers.

In a consumer world, to live is to consume and to consume is to live; death is feared to an irrational degree, and even discomfort is soon abhorred. Only comfort and consumption matter. Buy products to make your life better. Buy more products to define yourself as a person. Buy products to be better than your peers. Buy this product to tell us how you feel about it. Soon, the only distinction that remains between people is what brands they purchase.

Seperated from the underclasses by the growing social divide, society's leadership turns against its own people - we get diversity and multiculturalism and open borders and outsourcing, all of it very carefully and cleverly designed to minimise the cost of labour while maximising the product range. The rich don't care - they retreat into their manors and castles and penthouse apartments and ignore the plebs outside their walls.

The culture thus self-replaced with a sham built in its former image. Where people used to aspire to meaningful things, now they aspire to own the products that associate themselves with those things through marketing campaigns. As marketing comes to be the society's guiding force, everything comes to be marketed. Bad ideas are marketed alongside good ones, because it's only the quality of the salesmanship that matters.

need to start conserving

I disagree. We tried putting culture in a museum; putting on a stern expression and telling everyone how important it was to preserve, and once a week a tour-group could come through and ogle it. We must stop trying to put up those rope-fences and telling the liberals to keep to the marked area. It hasn't worked. It's not going to work.

We must live our cultures, and our values, every day of our lives. We must make of ourselves each an example of what these things are, and we must resist the urge to compromise after minor comforts or conveniences. We cannot have the ways of our ancestors, because we do not live in the times of our ancestors, and so, to meet the challenges of the time, our cultures will have to face them head-on.

We must avoid the trap of seeing ourselves as "conserving" or "preserving" something, because we must be nothing less than the current vanguard of the combined knowledge and wisdom created by our peoples. Your culture isn't a historical relic. You are your culture.

Systemic Sociocultural Collapse. The reason we're seeing this so-called "economic burden" is because that's all that's left. Modern western/world culture started dying decades ago - with the loss of all loyalty to transcendental purpose and the abandonment of virtues as guiding principles, humans were reduced to hedonistically driven economic agents. There's even a name for them: Consumers. In a consumer world, to live is to consume and to consume is to live; death is feared to an irrational degree, and even discomfort is soon abhorred. Only comfort and consumption matter. Buy products to make your life better. Buy more products to define yourself as a person. Buy products to be better than your peers. Buy this product to tell us how you feel about it. Soon, the only distinction that remains between people is what brands they purchase. Seperated from the underclasses by the growing social divide, society's leadership turns against its own people - we get diversity and multiculturalism and open borders and outsourcing, all of it very carefully and cleverly designed to minimise the cost of labour while maximising the product range. The rich don't care - they retreat into their manors and castles and penthouse apartments and ignore the plebs outside their walls. The culture thus self-replaced with a sham built in its former image. Where people used to aspire to meaningful things, now they aspire to own the products that associate themselves with those things through marketing campaigns. As marketing comes to be the society's guiding force, everything comes to be marketed. Bad ideas are marketed alongside good ones, because it's only the quality of the salesmanship that matters. > need to start conserving I disagree. We tried putting culture in a museum; putting on a stern expression and telling everyone how important it was to preserve, and once a week a tour-group could come through and ogle it. We must stop trying to put up those rope-fences and telling the liberals to keep to the marked area. It hasn't worked. It's not going to work. We must live our cultures, and our values, every day of our lives. We must make of ourselves each an example of what these things are, and we must resist the urge to compromise after minor comforts or conveniences. We cannot have the ways of our ancestors, because we do not live in the times of our ancestors, and so, to meet the challenges of the time, our cultures will have to face them head-on. We must avoid the trap of seeing ourselves as "conserving" or "preserving" something, because we must be nothing less than the current vanguard of the combined knowledge and wisdom created by our peoples. Your culture isn't a historical relic. **You** are your culture.

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