Men of the West

A few years ago, a wise friend pointed out to me the significance of this speech, especially in the context of the rest of the film, and in the context of what is happening to the Western world and various traditions. Many wonder if the Men of the West are failing, if they have fallen permanently into bickering and corruption and selfishness and cowardly alliances of convenience.

When he first made the connection, I acknowledged it.  But over the past few months and another few viewings, this speech has become more important to me. There are others. But this is a great one.

A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.

An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crushing down! But it is not this day!

THIS DAY WE FIGHT!

By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

The West is worth saving. Stand up, Men of the West.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

4 Responses to “Men of the West”

1. novaseeker says:

   October 11, 2009 at 1:42 pm

   The issue is: what does one mean by “the West”?

   Therein lies the rub. Feminists and their supporters certainly see the current scenario as being “the West” in its best respects.

   In many ways, the cultural war that is still raging in our society is based on a disagreement about what the real heritage of the West is, and what is, and is not, worth preserving. Men are as divided about this as anyone else, I think.
2. Jack Donovan says:

   October 11, 2009 at 1:54 pm

   Self-described feminists are generally crazy, lying women who would tie their cart to any philosophy or heritage if it moved a chess piece forward for them. Then they confuse themselves and march to support Islam, because their Marxist dialectic and “hate white European men” strategy has worked so well for them.

   What is the West?

   It can’t survive multiculturalism, as a matter of definition. For the multiculturalism to triumph, the Men of the West must fail and fade away into cultural relativism where white men’s achievements are regarded as less than or equal to any achievements by any other culture, no matter how simple and mundane. It is an erasure of Western identity and a collapse into nothingness.

   I’d say that the bulk of the Western tradition doesn’t support this, and that feminists have done everything in their power to defame the heroes of Western men and cast them as villains. Is a fifth column that despises the history of the West truly a part of it or legitimately an heir to its triumphs? Feminists are bratty teenagers who just want the car keys. They have no rightful heritage.

   That’s my short answer. I know feminist academics pay homage to various philosophers, but they use Western tradition to deconstruct it and advance a critical theory whose aim is to dismantle it. Any odes to the West’s patriarchal “legacy of oppression” by feminists are manipulative and intellectually dishonest.

   What would you identify as the Western tradition?
3. Jack Donovan says:

   October 11, 2009 at 2:44 pm

   There was an interesting discussion over at Takimag (In the Sniper’s Tower) about whether or not Christianity is fundamental to the Western tradition. In would say that it has a major place in its history, but given that the “West” as we know it began in the pagan Mediterranean (The West has always looked back to Greece and Rome).

   I think part of the major ideological breakdown that happened in the West has something to do with the conflict between science and religion, and the unsatisfactory reconciliations offered by Christians (and scientists) before the eyes of young people who grew up with the fruits of the scientific method all around them.

   As an advocate for traditional masculine values (including, recently – because of the demographic reality of what’s happening in Europe and America – a return to the primacy of the family in culture) I share a lot of common ground with Christians.
4. novaseeker says:

   October 12, 2009 at 8:50 pm

   Interesting stuff, Jack. I agree that the rub is between the Christian and Enlightenment heritages. They can be reconciled, and have been, but the articulation of that needs to be stronger than the soundbites in the media to the contrary.

   In any case, good thoughts. I may post something about this in the coming days, once my thoughts on it have percolated and settled a bit.