Higher Values" exploited to Justify Convenient Inaction.
While growing-up in the happy realm of the Soviet Unions outer empire" one was harangued with the assertion that western decadence" guarantees final victory". That trait was attributed to capitalism which was condemned to death by its internal contradictions" confirmed by Marxist science". We kids regarded the claim as one of their" lies. The proof of living a lie was a good marching song. It alleged There is no richer and more beautiful land than this one / All people feel that they are free".
Survival despite the regime was followed by a wished-for life in the depraved West". It took decades of a second life in America to reach an admission. They" were wrong in everything yet in one matter they had a partial truth that held some water.
Yes there is decadence in our realm. Even if the National Socialists and the Communists have pretended that even if their teaching crashed when logic and not loaded guns was the yardstick. We all have a problem with decadence.
What is meant here by decadence"? It is a conglomerate of attitudes and patterns of behavior. Not believing in your countrys cause because it is my country" is one of these. This is no plea for fact defying belief which demands unthinking consent as in right or wrong it is my country". Ones country even assuming that its people can determine its course can be wrong. This comes about in singular cases because policies rested on faulty information or an erroneous evaluation of options.
Another symptom is the over-appreciation of enemies. The decadent praises his antagonist to justify retreats motivated by convenience. The misjudgment as in we have seen the future and it works" rises with the foes claim to destroy its great Satan". In this the 1:1 acceptance of transparent pretentions becomes a trait. Take a recent matter. A great sportsman makes a pilgrimage to the tyrant of a criminal system. This tells that contrary to the racists decadence is not a condition determined by genes. Rather it is something that flows from a dislocation of values and from the expulsion of reason.
The case depicts personal decadence. However its acceptance reflects the contextual condition. The reception of the pilgrimage of a celebrated ball-artist to adulate a psychiatric case that hijacked a country is a proof of general decadence. As we face a repeat performance" the kowtow tells of ignorance amplified by stupidity. So not the action but its reception moves the needle on the gage.
The followers of strange ideas the adherents of improbable theories the fans of the absurd are likely to be ill equipped intellectually to render sound judgments. We get decadence when such people receive more than a hearing but are also extended acceptance for their loud persistency. When idiocy is accepted by the sane because everybody has a right to his opinion then we have decadence.
The decadent can embrace the political criminals of their time. They always find a split hair upon which to suspend doubts that excuse the perpetrator. They shot down an airliner? But why was it crossing the path of that innocent missile"?
In this a fantasy is lived out. The decadent; they are as cowardly as they are fools convinced of their immunity wish to run from the challenging present into the safety of a projection. In that utopia all can pose as moral without bearing obligations. In this retreat from reality regardless of the proudly worn moral labels the decadent are not tolerant but only permissive. Thus they are submissive if evil is assertive and powerful: it is safer to kick a miniature poodle than a Great Dane. The flexible understanding" behind this comportment that glorifies caving in flies on a hope: good behavior will mellow the evil so that will go away".
This crisis management by retreat is completed to the tune of a chest thumping that can encounter a hurdle. In the case of Europe it is America. It happens when her homegrown depraved who practice self-humiliation are not in charge. Americas role in protecting an alliance that underperforms in the service of its own security is an object of a moralizing. US allies love to complain about being junior partners. Yet secretly most of that five hundred million love that condition. Converting a bemoaned dependency into equivalence is due to size and economic power not a question of inability but of lacking will. Oddly dependence brings advantages; it caters to the wish to remain neutral in ones own defense.
If you follow complaints about inequality and discrimination you know a gene located near the one of envy. Dependency excuses failures it removes the need to act and lets the carper condemn others. The savored dependence brings automatic excuses. At the same time the whine creates good will among the perpetrators. At any rate one can claim innocence" in case the defense causes damage to the torts insulted source. Meanwhile inaction is justified while the naggers self-assigned victim status creates a moral pedestal at the price of doing nothing.
China Russia to name only two are assertive as they pick fruit accessed through swinging their club. Is the ailment of instinctive retreat a byproduct of the democratic order? No Britain in 1940 and Israel today are hardly reacting to threats to their existence by apologizing as they back away.
The management of the MH17 airliners case tells a frightening tale that is scarier than the original banditry. After some hesitation that sends a signal of irresolution we are stammering about punitive actions. Reducing the worth of these is that the same sources have signaled that retaliation must be cognizant of common interests such as energy dependency. A real commitment would be a statement that if we must we are willing to eat grass". Whatever the hesitantly imposed sanctions might be it is likely that they will try to avoid hardship.
It seems that deep inside we" do not want incontrovertible proof that blames the Kremlin. As long as a shadow of a doubt" can be maintained measures that imply traces of blood sweat and tears" will be diluted. Welcome are the separatists" actions that delay that objective" international investigation" by physically threatening the experts. The tampered evidence will end in a survey that is due to shaky facts" meaningless. The purpose: the international community can duck responsibility and benefit from face-saving doubts.
In the Ukraine and elsewhere what we do not want to discover is the confirmation of what we all know. Ultimately there will be gratitude for Putins statesmanlike call for an open inquest". Appreciation will be given to his principle that the country on whose territory an atrocity occurs is responsible for it. Never mind that it is not Kiev but Moscow through proxies that is in control of the ground from which the missile was fired and where the plane crashed. In time we will be told to lean back feeling justified by the confirmation of our aloofness moral quality. Resting on excuses we will to improve the climate" push again that reset" button. As we do so we will wait for the next act of thuggery whose challenge will be to find an excuse to overlook it.