American Civilization

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by Xerxes, Feb 23, 2007.

  1. Xerxes asdfghjkl Valued Senior Member

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    American "Civilization"
    by Baron Julius Evola



    The recently deceased John Dewey was applauded by the American press as the most representative figure of
    American civilization. This is quite right. His theories are entirely representative of the vision of man and
    life which is the premise of Americanism and its «democracy».

    The essence of such theories is this: that everyone can become what he wants to, within the limits of the
    technological means at his disposal. Equally, a person is not what he is from his true nature and there is no
    real difference between people, only differences in qualifications. According to this theory anyone can be anyone
    he wants to be if he knows how to train himself.

    This is obviously the case with the «self-made man»; in a society which has lost all sense of tradition the
    notion of personal aggrandizement will extend into every aspect of human existence, reinforcing the egalitarian
    doctrine of pure democracy. If the basis of such ideas is accepted, then all natural diversity has to be
    abandoned. Each person can presume to possess the potential of everyone else and the terms «superior» and
    «inferior» lose their meaning; every notion of distance and respect loses meaning; all life-styles are open to
    all. To all organic conceptions of life Americans oppose a mechanistic conception. In a society which has
    «started from scratch», everything has the characteristic of being fabricated. In American society appearances
    are masks not faces. At the same time, proponents of the American way of life are hostile to personality.

    The Americans' «open-mindedness», which is sometimes cited in their favor, is the other side of their interior
    formlessness. The same goes for their «individualism». Individualism and personality are not the same: the one
    belongs to the formless world of quantity, the other to the world of quality and hierarchy. The Americans are the
    living refutation of the Cartesian axiom, «I think, therefore I am»: Americans do not think, yet they are. The
    American «mind», puerile and primitive, lacks characteristic form and is therefore open to every kind of
    standardization.

    In a superior civilization, as, for example, that of the Indo-Aryans, the being who is without a characteristic
    form or caste (in the original meaning of the word), not even that of servant or shudra, would emerge as a
    pariah. In this respect America is a society of pariahs. There is a role for pariahs. It is to be subjected to
    beings whose form and internal laws are precisely defined. Instead the modern pariahs seek to become dominant
    themselves and to exercise their dominion over all the world.

    There is a popular notion about the United States that it is a «young nation» with a «great future before it».
    Apparent American defects are then described as the «faults of youth» or 'growing pains». It is not difficult to
    see that the myth of «progress» plays a large part in this judgment. According to the idea that everything new is
    good, America has a privileged role to play among civilized nations. In the First World War the United States
    intervened in the role of «the civilized world» par excellence. The «most evolved» nation had not only a right
    but a duty to interfere in the destinies of other peoples.

    The structure of history is, however, cyclical not evolutionary. It is far from being the case that the most
    recent civilizations are necessarily «superior». They may be, in fact, senile and decadent. There is a necessary
    correspondence between the most advanced stages of a historical cycle and the most primitive. America is the
    final stage of modern Europe. Guenon called the United States «the far West», in the novel sense that the United
    States represents the reductio ad absurdum of the negative and the most senile aspects of Western civilization.
    What in Europe exist in diluted form are magnified and concentrated in the United States whereby they are
    revealed as the symptoms of disintegration and cultural and human regression. The American mentality can only be
    interpreted as an example of regression, which shows itself in the mental atrophy towards all higher interests
    and incomprehension of higher sensibility. The American mind has limited horizons, one conscribed to everything
    which is immediate and simplistic, with the inevitable consequence that everything is made banal, basic and
    leveled down until it is deprived of all spiritual life. Life itself in American terms is entirely mechanistic.
    The sense of «I» in America belongs entirely to the physical level of existence. The typical American neither has
    spiritual dilemmas nor complications: he is a «natural» joiner and conformist.

    The primitive American mind can only superficially be compared to a young mind. The American mind is a feature of
    the regressive society to which I have already referred.



    American Morality

    The much-vaunted sex appeal of American women is drawn from films, reviews and pin-ups, and is in large print
    fictitious. A recent medical survey in the United States showed that 75 per cent of young American women are
    without strong sexual feeling and instead of satisfying their libido they seek pleasure narcissistically in
    exhibitionism, vanity and the cult of fitness and health in a sterile sense. American girls have «no hang-ups
    about sex»; they are «easy going» for the man who sees the whole sexual process as something in isolation thereby
    making it uninteresting and matter-of-fact, which, at such a level, it is meant to be. Thus, after she has been
    taken to the cinema or a dance, it is something like American good manners for the girl to let herself be kissed
    -- this doesn't mean anything. American women are characteristically frigid and materialistic. The man who «has
    his way» with an American girl is under a material obligation to her. The woman has granted a material favor. In
    cases of divorce American law overwhelmingly favors the woman. American women will divorce readily enough when
    they see a better bargain. It is frequently the case in America that a woman will be married to one man but
    already «engaged» to a future husband, the man she plans to marry after a profitable divorce.



    «Our» American Media

    Americanization in Europe is widespread and evident. In Italy it is a phenomenon which is rapidly developing in
    these post-war years and is considered by most people, if not enthusiastically, at least as something natural.
    Some time ago I wrote that of the two great dangers confronting Europe - Americanism and Communism - the first is
    the more insidious. Communism cannot be a danger other than in the brutal and catastrophic form of a direct
    seizure of power by communists. On the other hand Americanization gains ground by a process of gradual
    infiltration, effecting modifications of mentalities and customs which seem inoffensive in themselves but which
    end in a fundamental perversion and degradation against which it is impossible to fight other than within oneself.

    It is precisely with respect to such internal opposition that most Italians seem weak. Forgetting their own
    cultural inheritance they readily turn to the United States as something akin to the parent guide of the world.
    Whoever wants to be modern has to measure himself according to the American standard. It is pitiable to witness a
    European country so debase itself. Veneration for America has nothing to do with a cultured interest in the way
    other people live. On the contrary, servility towards the United States leads one to think that there is no other
    way of life worth considering on the same level as the American one.

    Our radio service is Americanized. Without any criterion of superior and inferior it just follows the fashionable
    themes of the moment and markets what is considered «acceptable» — acceptable, that is, to the most Americanized
    section of the public, which is to say the most degenerate. The rest of us are dragged along in its wake. Even
    the style of presentation on radio has become Americanized. «Who, after listening to an American radio program,
    can suppress a shudder when he considers that the only way of escaping communism is by becoming Americanized?»
    Those are not the words of an outsider but of an American sociologist, James Burnham, professor at the University
    of Princeton. Such a judgment from an American should make Italian radio programmers blush for shame.

    The consequence of the «do your own thing» democracy is the intoxication of the greater part of the population
    which is not capable of discriminating for itself, which, when not guided by a power and an ideal, all too easily
    loses sense of its own identity.



    The Industrial Order in America

    In his classic study of capitalism Werner Sombart summarized the late capitalist phase in the adage Fiat producto,
    pareat homo. In its extreme form capitalism is a system in which a man's value is estimated solely in terms of
    the production of merchandise and the invention of the means of production. Socialist doctrines grew out of a
    reaction to the lack of human consideration in this system.


    A new phase has begun in the United States where there has been an upsurge of interest in so-called labor
    relations. In appearance it would seem to signify an improvement: in reality this is a deleterious phenomenon.
    The entrepreneurs and employers have come to realize the importance of the «human factor» in a productive economy,
    and that it is a mistake to ignore the individual involved in industry: his motives, his feelings, his working
    day life. Thus, a whole school of study of human relations in industry has grown up, based on behaviorism.
    Studies like Human Relations in Industry by B. Gardner and G. Moore have supplied a minute analysis of the
    behavior of employees and their motivations with the precise aim of defining the best means to obviate all
    factors that can hinder the maximization of production. Some studies certainly don't come from the shop floor but
    from the management, abetted by specialists from various colleges. The sociological investigations go as far as
    analyzing the employee's social ambience. This kind of study has a practical purpose: the maintenance of the
    psychological contentment of the employee is as important as the physical. In cases in which a worker is tied to
    a monotonous job which doesn't demand a great deal of concentration, the studies will draw attention to the
    «danger» that his mind may tend to wander in a way that may eventually reflect badly on his attitude towards the
    job.


    The private lives of employees are not forgotten — hence the increase in so-called personnel counseling.
    Specialists are called in to dispel anxiety, psychological disturbances and non-adaptation «complexes», even to
    the point of giving advice in relation to the most personal matters. A frankly psycho-analytic technique and one
    much used is to make the subject «talk freely» and put the results obtainable by this «catharsis» into relief.


    None of this is concerned with the spiritual betterment of human beings or any real human problems, such as a
    European would understand them in this «age of economics». On the other side of the Iron Curtain man is treated
    as a beast of burden and his obedience is maintained by terror and famine. In the United States man is also seen
    as just a factor of labor and consumption, and no aspect of his interior life is neglected and every factor of
    his existence is drawn to the same end. In the «Land of the Free», through every medium, man is told he has
    reached a degree of happiness hitherto undreamed of. He forgets who he is, where he came from, and basks in the
    present.



    American «Democracy» in Industry

    There is a significant and growing discrepancy in the United States between the shibboleths of the prevailing
    political ideology and the effective economic structures of the nation. A large part of studies of the subject is
    played by the 'morphology of business». Studies corroborate the impression that American business is a long way
    from the type of organization which corresponds to the democratic ideal of U.S. propaganda. American businesses
    have a «pyramid» structure. They constitute at the top an articulate hierarchy. The big businesses are run in the
    same way as government ministries and are organized along similar lines. They have coordinating and controlling
    bodies which separate the business leaders from the mass of employees. Rather than becoming more flexible in a
    social sense the «managerial elite» (Burnham) is becoming more autocratic than ever — something not unrelated
    to American foreign policy.


    This is the end of yet another American illusion. America: the «land of opportunity», where every possibility is
    there for the person who can grasp it, a land where anyone can rise from rags to riches. At first there was the
    «open frontier» for all to ride out across. That closed and the new «open frontier» was the sky, the limitless
    potential of industry and commerce. As Gardner, Moore and many others have shown, this too is no longer limitless,
    and the opportunities are thinning out. Given the ever increasing specialization of labor in the productive
    process and the increasing emphasis on «qualifications», what used to seem obvious to Americans — that their
    children would «go further» than they would — is for many people no longer obvious at all. Thus it is that in the
    so-called political democracy of the United States, the force and the power in the land, that is to say the
    industry and the economy, are becoming ever more self-evidently undemocratic. The problem then is: should reality
    be made to fit ideology or vice-versa? Until recently the overwhelming demand has been for the former course of
    action; the cry goes out for a return to the «real America» of unfettered enterprise and the individual free of
    central government control. Nevertheless, there are also those who would prefer to limit democracy in order to
    adapt political theory to commercial reality. If the mask of American «democracy» were thereby removed, it would
    become clear to what extent «democracy» in America (and elsewhere) is only the instrument of an oligarchy which
    pursues a method of «indirect action», assuring the possibility of abuse and deception on a large scale of those
    many who accept a hierarchical system because they think it is justly such. This dilemma of «democracy» in the
    United States may one day give place to some interesting developments.

    (from Il Conciliatore, no. 10, 1971; translated from the German edition in Deutsche Stimme, no. 8, 1998)




    --Discuss
     
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  3. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    That's a myth.

    See 'postwar: a history of Europe since 1945' by Tony Judt.
     
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  5. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    American Civilization? As Gandhi would say: that would be a fantastic idea!!!
     
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  7. Lord Hillyer Banned Banned

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    American Barbarisation.
     
  8. The Devil Inside Banned Banned

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    i disagree.
    it takes me 4 minutes to walk to a mcdonalds, and im drinking coca cola as i type....
     
  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Yet another treatise that is now outdated because of the Paradigm Shift. Many of the evils Evola describes will wither away as the Industrial Era fades into the Information Age.

    The role of the corporation will be drastically reduced as huge concentrations of capital are no longer necessary to start a business or run it profitably. Much of what Evola complains about, from the inescapability of lowest-common-denominator radio programming to the regimentation and anonymity of office work, is already on the wane precisely because of the re-individualization of commerce.

    America's contribution to the evolution of civilization will probably be seen as a flurry of innovation during a time when technology made a flurry of innovation possible. Perhaps America is now collapsing but her last great contribution was to craft all of that technology into Paradigm Shift IV. (I. Agriculture, II. Cities, III. Industry, IV... well whatever you call this one.) This next Revolution With A Capital R is allowing the once-starving peasants of India and China and the once-downtrodden workers of Bohemia and Estonia to experience a taste of the liberty and optimism we once took for granted.

    If it is their turn to take the controls and lead civilization into its next phase, so be it. We did pretty well when it was our turn. We grappled with the bogeymen of the Industrial Era, they will have to deal with the bogeypersons of the Information Age.

    As for Evola... I have little respect for a man who thought of himself as a scholar, yet had not the slightest understanding of the changes that were already happening and were evident when he died thirty years ago. He wrote well and persuasively, but he was mired in the past. I don't know when he penned this particular diatribe, but men like Naisbitt and Toffler were already seeing the future during his lifetime. All he saw was a static present, and anyone who understands history knows that is an illusion.

    He sounds like my father (who was of more or less the same generation) with more education but no improvement in perception.
     
  10. Prince_James Plutarch (Mickey's Dog) Registered Senior Member

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    America has one major flaw:

    Egalatarianism.

    As this article rightfully points out, it produces an amorphous mass, demanding of all destruction of excellence.
     
  11. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    Rather superficial things.
     
  12. Lord Hillyer Banned Banned

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  13. The Devil Inside Banned Banned

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    but notable nonetheless.

    i could make a list, if you like.

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  14. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    No need. Read the book I referred to. Ever wondered why someone could move from holland to finland and fit in, but move from holland to the US and you arrive at an alien culture. Someone from portugal has not much trouble going to finland, but once again the same is not valid for going to the US.

    That's because there is no Americanization of European culture other than superficial things. Politically, socially, culturally, Europe is very much European. Even the McDonalds in Europe are different than in the US.
     
  15. Prince_James Plutarch (Mickey's Dog) Registered Senior Member

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    Spuriousmonkey:

    I think you overstate your case.

    The degree of difference I've found in Europeans and Americans is rather small. The main such are in such things as preference for government intrusion and the type of sport to obsess over.

    But then again, which part of America v. which part of Europe are we speaking of? America is large enough to sustain distinct flavours which will compliment or contrast with certain European locales.
     
  16. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    You would be considered to be a extreme right christian terrorist in Europe. That's how minor the differences are.

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  17. The Devil Inside Banned Banned

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    he is correct, james.

    liberal in america is conservative in europe.
    liberal in europe is "communist" in america.
     
  18. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    I just like the way the world complains about the "Americanization" thing as if they have no choice in the matter. Like they're some kind of retarded kid that can't even make a cultural decision for itself.

    Tough shit I say. If you're "americanized" it's your own doing. So STFU.
     
  19. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Like Iran?

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  20. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    If you say so. Sure.
     
  21. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I think you picked two countries that are very cosmopolitan. There's hardly anyone on this planet who would not feel comfortable in Holland and I suspect the same is true of Finland if they arrived when it wasn't freezing. Both countries have been at the crossroads of European culture clash and have assimilated them all. Try going from Ireland to Serbia or from Sicily to Norway.

    A Dutchman might feel out of place in one of our rural communities, but then so do I. He would be right at home in any of our big cities.
    You have to accept the influence of geography on that. Countries are much bigger over here. In Europe you can't drive for twelve hours without having to speak another language. Until recently, many Americans outside the Southwest lived their whole lives without meeting a significant number of foreigners. We can travel a thousand miles for a vacation in a locale that is astoundingly different from the one we live in, and still be in America. We had to develop a culture in relative isolation.

    Nonetheless our culture is an amalgam of foreign influences. Our national food is pizza. Our beer is made in breweries bearing the names of their German founders. Our national sports are offshoots of cricket and rugby football. We made the Beatles and the Rolling Stones rich. Soka Gakkai Buddhists and Black Muslims have become American phenomena and there's a Maharishi University in Iowa.

    Ironically, today many Americans are in a panic over the influx of Latin American culture in our country. In the Midwest there's considerable trepidation over the growth of the Muslim Arab community.
    There is arguably more Europeanization in America. Even the lowly "hamburger" served at McDonalds really is descended from a style of chopped beef invented in Hamburg.
     
  22. Prince_James Plutarch (Mickey's Dog) Registered Senior Member

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    Spuriousmonkey:

    I'm an Atheist Pantheist Pagan Romanticist. I hardly classify as Christian, save in the remote sense that I've spoken before in regards to cultural Catholicism from growing up in a warmed-over Catholic enviroment.

    I would be probably part of the new wave of right-wing parties, specifically with the anti-Islamic immigrant stances they advocate.
     
  23. Roman Banned Banned

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    ???
     

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