For more than a century and a half, we inheritors of the Anglo frontier-conquering spirit have wanted desperately to believe that the West was a place apart. We nurture the myth because it makes us special. But Western exceptionalism has always come with an insidious and largely unacknowledged corollary: The belief that we are immune from the problems of the rest of the world. Historian Patricia Limerick underlined this in her book Legacy of Conquest, when she noted that the history of the West has largely been one of people running away from their problems, only to re-create them wherever they flee.
The environment stands squarely at the center of the myth. Indians are said to have lived in perfect harmony with it; cowboys tested themselves against the harsh and arid landscape; environmentalists have fought boldly to preserve it. There was a time when the West really was different, but we’ve become more like the world that we set ourselves apart from. We think of the West as rural communities in the midst of wide-open spaces, yet the region is the most urbanized part of the nation. We think of sprawl as a Western phenomenon, yet sprawl is much worse in the Southeast. We think of water as the limiting factor in the West, yet four-fifths of the region’s water is used to grow food and fiber — a valiant pursuit, until you consider that much of it is surplus crops, like cotton, and feed for cattle, like alfalfa. The West, in truth, is awash in usable water. It’s an engineered abundance, however, and it only encourages growth, which exacerbates the problems of air and water pollution, traffic jams, sprawl, crime — problems characteristic of anonymous metropolises everywhere on earth, not the so-called "frontier." And therein lies the West’s real paradox: These days, survival demands that we confront not the rigors of the landscape, but the consequences of our own societal metabolism. No place has proven that better than Los Angeles, which, in the 1980s and 1990s, disappeared under a cloud of smog and bullets. Rather than attempt to solve the problem, a wave of Californians sought refuge in the Western dream — a new start somewhere else. But a deteriorating environment erases the notion that refuge can be found anywhere. This is not a new idea. But we in the West would do well to consider it again. For global warming has finally rendered the myth of Western exceptionalism obsolete. If we continue to insist, even unconsciously, that our cherished exceptionalism confers immunity to — and blamelessness for — global warming, the myth could undo the place we love. That is why California’s taking the lead against global warming is such a hopeful sign. The great writer and historian Wallace Stegner once wistfully dreamed of Westerners laboring to create a society to match the scenery. Yet California may have done something that goes far beyond. The state may be ill able to afford it, yet it is — in defiance of the impulse that has driven the past century and a half of Western history — moving to solve a problem whose causes lie largely at home, but whose effects are truly planetary. On Monday, April 11, 2016 at 1:46:23 PM UTC-5, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/04/its_the_little_things_remembering_western_civilization.html > > > > April 11, 2016 > It's the Little Things: Remembering Western Civilization > > By Susan D. Harris <http://www.americanthinker.com/author/susan_d_harris/> > > Classical music is a pinnacle of Western civilization that always evokes > in me a feeling of prideful human achievement. Now, seeing Western > civilization seeming to scramble in disarray, I sometimes feel a bit > mournful when I listen to the great composers. As ISIS tries to drag us > into the dark days of bloody beheadings and jihad, and the globalists push > us toward a social justice that would have us all grubbing in the Ganges > equally, I struggle to hold onto the beautiful things that used to define > us. > > Mendelssohn is a classical composer who lifts me to another realm – a kind > of escapism resulting from the composer's passion and the symbiotic > relationship it forms with my cerebral ear. > > Recently, however, while listening to the Hebrides Overture > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcogD-hHEYs> (Fingal's Cave), I rejected > the mournful contemplation of our current cultural demise and mused instead > on those small, seemingly inconsequential moments that affected Western > advancement. > > Closing my eyes, I could see Vincent van Gogh's hand as it made circular > swirling motions while composing "The Starry Night." > > I could hear Ludwig van Beethoven working out the beginning strains of Für > Elise, defiantly creating though nearly deaf. > > I watched as Albert Einstein had the "happiest thought > <http://phys.org/news/2015-11-einstein-decades-longer-gravity.html>" of > his life while sitting in a patent office in Bern, Switzerland, pondering > how a falling person would feel weightless...and setting his mind to > unraveling the profound force of gravity. > > I could see Coney Island in 1904, as 90,000 > <http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/luna-park/history> visitors per day > filed into Luna Park, anxiously anticipating how the world would change > after seeing the "Electric Eden" illuminated by a million incandescent > light bulbs. > > In a blur of sunlight, I could see John Keats sitting under a plum tree in > the spring of 1819, hearing the song from the nightingale's nest above him, > moving him to set pen to paper. > > Over in Stratford-upon-Avon, I could see Thomas Jefferson and James > Madison, touring <https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/john-adams> > Shakespeare's home together and forming a bond that, though tested, would > last a lifetime and help forge a country. > > Farther back in time, the Roman emperor Constantine stands with mouth > agape as he sees a cross of light in the heavens, changing the course of > Christendom. > > Johannes Gutenberg is slapping his hand on an old wooden table in a "by > golly, I'm gonna do it" moment, deciding to use his mechanical moveable > type creation to print the Bible. > > There was Michelangelo in 1512, sighing with exhausted arms, as he made > has last brushstrokes for "The Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel. > > Farther on in my journey I saw Martin Luther looking for a nail to hammer > his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. > > Alas, the music did not last any longer than to accommodate those few > thoughts. > > The music stops, and I am back in a harsh reality. I see anarchy on the > roads, crime in our streets, drugged and drunken masses. I see > foul-mouthed, vulgar young adults who have no larger concept of where they > came from or where they're going. Indeed, they mistakenly think Western > civilization, America in particular, is waiting breathlessly to embrace > their falsely fresh concepts of failed utopias. They believe that > everything that came before them was a terrible mistake; it's up to them to > expose and destroy the hypocrisy of Democrat ideals, capitalism, and > Judeo-Christian morality. > > It makes one wonder how so many people can be so easily misguided. It's > like riding 50 miles on a horse and then being persuaded to shoot him > because it's better to walk. > > As far back as 1997, an experimental audience was asked to listen to a > musical > piece > <http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/11/science/undiscovered-bach-no-a-computer-wrote-it.html?pagewanted=all> > > and concluded that it was written by J.S. Bach when in reality it had been > composed by a computer. A computer program called EMI (Experiments in > Musical Technology) had the "ability to scan pieces by famous composers, > automatically distill some of their essence and then churn out imitations > of the work." Today, artificial neural networks (imitating how the brain > works) and algorithms can generate their own music – creating new > compositions or predicting the outcome of an existing one based on minimal > input. That's right: you no longer need Beethoven to create the Ode to > Joy <http://web.mit.edu/felixsun/www/neural-music.html>. > > Along the same lines, you don't need van Gogh or Rembrandt anymore, > either. ING, Microsoft, and several other businesses recently debuted a > new Rembrandt painting > <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3527420/Computer-paints-new-Rembrandt-analysing-hundreds-portraits-recreates-brush-strokes-using-3D-printer.html> > > created by an A.I. (artificial intelligence) while recreating brush strokes > using a 3D printer. > > Will neural networks and algorithms be able to analyze Einstein's theories > and progress to a new discovery that he himself could have made had his > mortal coil not disintegrated at 75? Will A.I. be able to create a new > Shakespeare sonnet that the bard himself would be proud of? > > It is Western civilization that has advanced the world and continues to do > so – so why are we disintegrating culturally? Can we not advance our > spirit, our souls? Could it be that the indomitable human spirit that has > been the cornerstone of Western civilization has rendered itself obsolete > due to its own advances? > > If so, the teeming masses must be cared for as wards of the state as they > willingly give up original thought and creativity. As they do so, it > becomes easier for them to dismiss cultural achievements of the past, as > well as the impetus for those achievements. Once artificial intelligence > takes over our smartphones > <https://www.technologyreview.com/s/539056/artificial-intelligence-that-makes-your-smartphone-smarter/>, > > will our creativity and comprehension continue to fall as we ourselves > become robots, simple vessels for thumb-punched data in/data out? > > Will we not beg the government to care for us as we lose the ability to > think independently? Could that be the goal? > > One has to wonder, being so advanced, why we can't load America's founding > documents into an artificial neural network and project the outcome and > evolution of their ideals. By the same token, could we not load data from > Socialist, Communist, or Fascist countries and predict the outcome for > similar emerging states? > > Better yet, maybe some artificial intelligence could tell us why > predominantly Muslim countries and areas governed by sharia law are > perpetually truculent, misogynistic, dangerous hell-holes. > > If we're so damned smart that we can outwit Beethoven and Rembrandt, why > can't we convince our increasingly dumbed down, brainwashed populace that > we need to preserve Western civilization and not embrace and accept > cultures that not only refuse to assimilate, but are intent on destroying > us? > > We've battled our way through the world wars, but nothing can compare > <http://popten.net/2010/05/top-ten-most-evil-dictators-of-all-time-in-order-of-kill-count/> > > to thousands of years of man's inhumanity to man and the ongoing parade of > suffering and slaughter in the East. > > Why then, when we've reached our greatest peak of academic, technological, > scientific, and economic prosperity, must we commit suicide to honor a > globalist > agenda > <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/world/middleeast/united-nations-ban-ki-moon-syria-refugees.html?_r=0> > > and be forced to absorb cultures that have done nothing but salivate for > the death of the West? > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNTlvMTNjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NjAzOTE0MDY-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlY3Y0Y28yBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ2MDM5MTQwNg--> > > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use > <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
