Opinion: By their fruits ye shall know them

"You will know them by their fruits." Matthew, 7:16 RSV

It is fair to judge anything by the effects it produces. Given this, it seems wise to reflect on the reformist ideas that have transformed Western Civilization since the end of World War II.

Precisely how good for human beings are utopian materialism, doctrinaire feminism, secular humanism, and post-modernist deconstructivism? If they were food additives, would these ideals be considered healthful or poisonous?

Things were different in the Western World before these ideals became prevalent. We in the West were like most of the rest of the world when it came to chauvinism. "Our tribe" was best, and others less so to the degree that they differed from "us."

Racism was normal, sexism a fact of life, and poverty was expected. Homosexuals were damned as deviants and those who broke taboos were ostracized.

Mainstream society adhered to faith and tradition while bohemian avant-gardes thrived in certain city neighborhoods. Shocking levels of water and air pollution were seen as inevitable byproduct of the industries that employed most of us.

Corporal punishment was the norm, the handicapped were largely invisible, and the insane were restricted to asylums. We were less well-educated, less widely travelled, and less sophisticated in our tastes and entertainments.

Our cultural norms were those of the Judeo-Christian Western tradition, particularly those of England and Northwestern Europe. English was the only language of government, and immigrants were expected to adapt fully into our melting-pot American mainstream.

Narcotics were outlawed, while alcohol and tobacco were readily available. Modesty in dress and decorum were expected, and violators of these standards were shamed.

The U.S. Federal Government was remarkable uninvolved with the details of our daily life, despite Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's best efforts. People freely spoke their minds with a blunt fearlessness which violates every modern standard of political correctness.

All of this, the bad and the good, has been rejected in favor of a new post-Western, post-Christian, post-Patriarchal, post-Capitalist, post-Modern social order. About 50 years ago most colleges, media, unions, multinational corporations, international banks, and churches transformed themselves from being defenders of the Western tradition into its most ardent critics.

I am grateful to America's Liberals and Progressives to the extent that they once moved us towards what Martin Luther King hoped would be a colorblind meritocracy. I applaud efforts to decriminalize homosexuality and allow a greater scope for permissible individual choice in the manner in which we live our lives. I am glad that women are free to pursue destinies outside of the family, if they are so inclined. I appreciate cleaner air and water, as well as the opportunity to explore human cultures beyond the West. A healthy Republic needs social reformers to criticize things we otherwise might uncritically abide!

However, in doing so Leftists have created a contemporary culture that is toxic to human life. Instead of building a colorblind meritocracy, today's Left enthusiastically practices their own form of bigotry. They seem intent on accomplishing nothing less than a cultural genocide that will erase the Judeo-Christian West from living memory.

Are we happier with antidepressants instead of religion? Are we more secure without law and order, and if they have their way without the guns to protect ourselves? Are we better off with the decriminalization of narcotics and the abandonment of modesty and morality? Are children happier in the new normal of broken homes? Are they better off in schools where discipline has become social-and-emotional learning and where education has become propaganda? Are we better off in a society where males refuse to be protectors and providers, and where females refuse to be feminine?

For anyone but the zealot, is their utopia anything other than a living hell?

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In Maine and then Idaho, Ralph K. Ginorio has taught the history of Western Civilization to high school students for nearly a quarter century. He is an “out-of-the-closet” Conservative educator with experience in special education, public schools and charter schools, grades 6-12. He has lived in Coeur d’Alene since 2014. Email: rginorio@cdapress.com