Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization.
Each civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values
which created it.
--Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913-1994)
Then again, it often happens that violence is the result of the clash of values sucked into the vacuum of a collapsing culture. This may in fact be what we are witnessing in the vortex of Land of Cockaigne economic strategies, identity politics, narcissistic nostalgia, woolly visions of jihad, hip-hop culture, etc.
As the gasoline glow of the banlieues dims, the head of the French government has rounded up the usual suspect: discrimination. As a political move, he could not have fingered a safer perp. It flatters the rioters, reinforces the ideas of the left, and virtually assures that the only positive step that can be taken is increased bureaucracy. Theodore Dalrymple, who described the details of the mechanism of this French time bomb several years ago in 'Barbarians at the Gates of Paris' (required reading), comments on Chirac's wisdom.
No wonder, then, that President Chirac should have chosen
discrimination rather than the rigid French labour market as his
target. He has simultaneously proved that his heart is in the right
place, while avoiding a confrontation with the vested interests in the
continuation of the status quo.
Moreover, by choosing the wicked human heart rather than economic
rigidity as his target, M. Chirac has found new work for the
bureaucracy to do: to check that no discrimination is taking place. As
we know, this will provide bureaucrats with all sorts of important
tasks to perform (more of them, in fact, will have to be employed to
perform them), such as measuring the racial composition of the entrants
to the Louvre, and comparing it with the racial composition of the
population as a whole, including that of the tourists visiting Paris.
Vast vistas of work open up before the bureaucrats, for example in
devising schemes to attract more Malians into the Musee d'Orsay.
It is always much more fun and more gratifying to our sense of
self-importance to try to engineer other people's souls than to let
them get on with their lives and find their own level. President
Chirac's remarks could easily be the founding charter of yet another
layer of French bureaucracy.
Emphasis mine, but application of that particular sentiment is universal.
By the way, if any of the folks who used to visit Tanuki Ramble before I took my, er, sabbatical, thanks for being kind enough to check back. The time off did me good.
Compared to pre-lapse standards, posting will be much less and of a different tenor. I have taken to heart another of Davila's maxims: "Politics is the pastime of empty souls." It's far too easy, especially for distractable souls like me, to lose track of the principles we wish to defend in pursuing their defense. However, after lo, these many years, I think I'm finally coming to understand the number one rule of debate: the more exalted and abstract the values being fought over, the more likely it is that the participants are arguing for the sole purpose of kicking each other's metaphorical asses.
Among the fine blogs that I have kept up with is Laudator Temporis Acti. Its author, Michael Gilleland, a far more accomplished scholar than I could ever hope to be, shares his knowledge of (mainly, although not exclusively) classical literature and uncannily tasteful curmudgeonry. More than once, dipping into Gilleland's offerings has 'saved some part of a day I had rued'. If I am able to continue with Tanuki Ramble, I hope to be able to do something similar.
