Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

Catholics, Muslims similarly oppose cultural liberalism

Although unthinkable from a historical perspective, it is likely that both Catholics and Muslims will become more politically active in Western countries and find common ground.

Inclusivity activists in the West, crusading against all forms of social exclusion or distinction everywhere, have gained more and more influence over government and academia. They are likely to collide, increasingly harshly, with all those who hold tradition dear.

It is only a matter of time before a renewed attempt to destroy the Roman Catholic Church begins to manifest in Western countries, this time facilitated by inclusivity-focused politics. The proponents will also implicitly demand Islam be destroyed, too, although they may try to defeat the Catholics first and dupe Muslims into helping them attack this first target.

Pope senses the problem

Pope Francis has made a number of denunciations to assert a firmer stance by the Roman Catholic Church against forces that may next seek to destroy its foundation. Calls for inclusivity at the expense of doctrine have been explicitly rejected by the Church. LGBT activists' calls have gone unheard. The Pope even reached out to explicitly condemn the EU for trying to diminish Christmas for the sake of inclusive language, showing the Church's frustration with cultural liberal campaigners and their influence.

The Pope has rejected "cancel culture", perhaps in recognition that the vindictiveness of modern-day cultural liberal reformers who topple statues is likely to result in some assault on the Church in the near future. Branding it as "one-track thinking", he stated, "any historical situation must be interpreted in accordance with a hermeneutics of that particular time." With the sleeping giant of the Roman Catholic Church arising to confront cultural liberalism, we may see an ever firmer stance being taken in many communities against it, as formerly quiet people emerge to defend their traditions.

Abrahamic religions to face massive pressure

Many ideas are central and non-negotiable in the three Arbahamic faiths. Catholics hold that men and women are distinct creations, and that there is no changing from one to another. Muslims hold a similar view at present.

There is no way to square Western cultural liberal views about inclusion with Catholic Christianity or Islam, yet Western campaigners and culture warriors have shown they will tolerate nothing encumbering their goal of inclusivity, including cultural and traditional barriers. The goal to rewrite the meaning of man and woman in the interests of inclusivity everywhere will probably mandate an attack on other languages and cultures beyond the West, because what is really intended is to change a concept itself.

Ultimately there will be attempts to rewrite Catholic and Islamic doctrine for the sake of inclusivity, causing a fundamental corruption. This will be unacceptable to both, prompting them to try to build an unmoving wall of social conservatism among voters in democratic countries to block all such change.

Huge social conservative backlash is inevitable

Muslims, while often apolitical or simply supporting the left, as is the case with the UK's Labour Party, are likely to seek out their own social conservative platforms within Western countries as soon as this controversy begins to take real shape. They are likely to find common ground with Christians, if the latter can set aside the absurdity of their islamophobia.

In countries such as the UK, Muslims may concentrate in a few alternative platforms such as the Workers Party of Britain, which espouses social conservatism alongside a number of typically left-wing positions. They will likely abandon all support for the Labour Party in time, especially if it continues to be driven by the likes of Sir Keir Starmer, who is deaf, dumb and blind to all the concerns of Muslims in the UK.

The gaffes of Labour in its failure to maintain Muslims votes were apparent when Starmer suggested a preference for India over the rights of the people of Kashmir, prompting condemnation by Muslims and frantic backpedalling by him. Muslims are unlikely to forget such betrayals or overlook the possible threat of dubious cultural liberalism to Islamic doctrine and life.

The result of all this is that a significant base is forming, not perhaps for George Galloway's idea of a socialism-infused migrant-friendly party but for a more staunch social conservative party with religious principles embedded in its core ideology. If managed properly, such a platform could not only secure the votes of all Muslims in Britain but even secure enough traditionalist Christian votes to become one of the largest parties in the UK. Of course, this is all speculative, and any number of new political forces and agendas could prevent such ties from ever forming.

What of Jews?

Of course, Judaism should be mentioned, too, although I am less informed to comment on this religion. With it being a much smaller religion with less command over any voter base, it will most likely be spared most of the turbulence caused by cultural liberalism, except in Israel itself, where orthodox Jews will face pressure from Israeli liberals.

Because ultra-orthodox Jews have a much higher birth rate, cultural liberal agendas in Israel could be doomed to fail and be reversed simply due to a large number of the population being against such ideas in the future.

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No, now is not the time to abolish the monarchy

#AbolishTheMonarchy was apparently trending on Twitter for a while on 30 October, at a time when the Queen had been ordered to rest for what we can assume are health reasons. The news had sparked the sense that her health might be failing (perhaps she even has Covid-19).

Some believed this was the appropriate moment to produce unfair commentary, obviously wishing her ill and thoughtless towards the feelings of others on the matter. Rather than go over specific tweets and exaggerate their importance, let us look seriously at the problems at hand.

The royal family has taken significant hits to its reputation recently. The worst was the sexual abuse scandal of Prince Andrew, of whom the Queen is reported to still be very protective.

Meghan Markle fans attack

Reports of the disfavour and even possible racism towards Meghan Markle caused the hypocritical admirers of that particular aristocrat to act as if they oppose monarchy. Their concern was not the result of principled opposition to monarchy, but distress that the one they happen to worship won’t be going on the pedestal. We should remember that, absent the admiration of many towards the British royal family, Markle means very little to most people anyway.

In fact, I am sure I remember some fawners indicating their hopes that Markle could be the future Queen, during some other gossip years ago. The significance or seriousness of such remarks is doubtful, but perhaps they demonstrate the absurdity of those who would like a fight with the existing monarchy just because their preferred foolish idol didn't get enough positive press.

The use of a useless monarch

The UK monarchy is one of the oldest in the world, and many see a value in preserving traditions. Even when absurd, traditions can provide feelings of stability. In politics, much power flows from the perception of power and much stability is dependent on the perception of stability. Stability saves lives and keeps many out of poverty. It prevents uncertainty, and it even prevents future terrors we could not have predicted.

A Britain without the monarchy would be a less stable one, perhaps even comparable with Germany after the removal of its monarchy in the wake of the First World War. It was certainly a mistake to remove the German monarch in the manner that this happened (and as dictated by America) since many Germans still believed in authoritarian figures and were ready to follow an alternative figure as soon as one emerged.

The monarchy and the perception of stability that comes from it significantly undermines the prospects of fascists and radicals in the UK, causing conservatives to tone down their rhetoric. If this were removed abruptly and without thought to the feelings of the people, much of the obedience and admiration that is directed to the monarchy would continue to exist but might be focused on supporting another nationalistic hero figure. We have no idea who that might be, or whether that person would be amenable to parliamentary democracy like the current monarch is.

Pulling at the threads of civilisation and removing pillars of stability and predictability, even when they are merely built of people’s beliefs, has almost always been followed by regret among people who did it. Revolutions, vast constitutional changes and upheavals produce uncertainty and violence and cannot be justified, unless it can be proven that the status quo is already fatally intolerable and must end. Across the world, people settle for unsatisfactory coalitions of power and ineffective states because these are better than the alternative of a vacuum.

The British monarchy is not murdering a population or posing an existential threat to people, so there is no need for urgency to remove it at present. Monarchies often do eventually pose that kind of threat to the citizens when the monarch is truly considered sovereign in place of the people. When such conditions arise, they must be removed by the people and tenuous republics must be attempted instead. This is no guarantee that the alternative governments would be any more legitimate or caring, though.

Britain’s monarch is the head of state of a number of other Commonwealth countries, some of which may rely on perceptions about her for their internal stability. She is also a spiritual figure, being the head of the Church of England. Her removal would challenge the existence of a state religion in the UK and interfere with the faith of many, with yet more unknown consequences.

We should not look for things that appear to be useless from our privileged perspectives, and remove them out of our boredom. It has to first be necessary and urgent to do so. Something needs to be not just apparently useless but a demonstrable threat to the people, to justify removal.

A reactionary power

Proponents of change should accept that Britain is an exceptionally reactionary country. While other populations even in Europe have eagerly taken to the streets in fervour to support revolutionaries, Britons tend not to. In fact, British people should be expected to react to such figures with quiet mockery and attempt to go on with their lives as before. It is for this reason that no major new ideology, including Jacobinism and socialism, has ever been adopted by the British state in all the centuries it was confronted with them. Britain may be unique among the entire international community in that it seemingly continued, on and on, with the same flag and the same system as before, while ideologies emerged and perished. That is unlikely to change even in the current century.

The Queen is doing no harm and her health is important to many, including in other Commonwealth countries. May she recover soon.

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