Thank you for your understanding. I have had a busy week. Since I think we agree on most things, this may be my last comment in this post (but not in your blog).
«Regardless, my criticism was aimed chiefly at them – the big fish (writers, artists, and bloggers); especially the ones who rabidly encourage the rest of us take bold action while they seem unwilling to do so themselves»
Yes, I agree with you about that. If you are not willing to take actions, you cannot encourage the rest to take actions. Needless to say, I have never told somebody to take actions against his own interests. But I know bloggers that do that.
The independentist leader of Catalonia (in Spain) ran away from Spain secretly to escape the Spanish law. He moved to Brussels. From Brussels, he constantly encourages the Catalan people to resist Spanish authorities and start the rebellion while he lives a luxurious and serene life. This is Catalonia’s Bolivar.
«I appreciate what you said about time. I use my real name because I feel I have to. Perhaps these bigger bloggers who hide behind pseudonyms are simply waiting for their time, or more correctly, the right time.»
Some of them are waiting their time, as I do. Read this post until the end https://bonald.wordpress.com/2018/12/15/performative-conservatism-and-honesty-with-oneself/
(Bonald is a traditionalist Christian that works in the University)
«You keep referring to the tragic circumstances in the West, and I often wonder how much of this has been caused by people refusing to face necessary danger, by being unwilling to take a necessary and needed risk.»
I agree with you. I think a big part of the tragic circumstances in the West has been caused by people unwilling to take a necessary and needed risk.
Our entire discussion hinges on the expression «necessary and needed». We are not at the beginning of the battle. The battle was lost longtime ago. It was lost when our forefathers accepted that the Christian religion stopped being the official religion of the West. They accepted the «neutrality of the State in matters of religion». Of course, this neutrality is impossible because the law implies a vision of the good and the evil (a religion). So, in reality, our forefathers accepted that the Enlightenment religion (freedom, equality, human rights) becoming the official religion of the West instead of the Christian religion. All the rest is only logical consequence. The Enlightenment religion went from top to bottom, from the laws to the schools to the media to the population. It took some centuries but it was unavoidable.
The people who are aware (like you and me) are the last stand of the West. Not even the people who declared themselves Christians fight for the West. They are polluted with the Enlightnment religion and, at best, they are blind (at worst, they are anti-Christian). So the question is how should we then live? (with a nod to Francis Schaeffer). We are few and far between and we have no power at all. We are screwed.
This question implies other question: «Even if we are in dire straits, can this battle be won?». As a Christian, I think that the war will be won and Christianity will win. But the West is not Christianity. The West is not the war but only a battle. The West is only a culture and cultures go and come (ancient Rome, ancient Egypt) while God and the soul are immortal. It is good, virtuous and noble to fight for one’s culture and, even more, if it is a culture founded on Christianity (I don’t talk about the current West but about the historic West).
I repeat: «Even if we are in dire straits, can this battle for the West be won? Can we recover and win the battle?». For me, the answer is a big «NO». The West is completely lost. It was completely lost way before we were born. Our ancestors sold us. They sold our birthright to the devils for a bowl of lentil stew. No risk we could take can reverse that. Maybe it’s different in Hungary but in West Europe, North America and South America, the battle was lost.
My love for the old West (for the cathedrals, the music, the litterature, the thought, the popular life, the piety, the folklore, the people of the past) is so big that I would be willing to sacrifice myself and my family IF THIS MADE A DIFFERENCE. I don’t say that my sacrifice should reverse the tide. Only it should make a difference: for example, buy us 20 years of delay. But this is not so. My sacrifice would not achieve anything. On the contrary, my exposing will go against the West.
So, in my opinion, my risk will not be «a necessary and needed risk» but a counterproductive risk.
But this does not answer the most important question: «how should we then live?» You give some clues.
«There are, indeed, times when it is best to stay hidden. But there come times when a person, a Christian especially, must expose himself or herself to necessary danger, times when staying hidden is no longer an option. Necessary danger must be faced. Necessa