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Roger Scruton reviews David Hurst's *On Westernism* in the January 23 issue of the TLS. While challenging Hurst's use of Richard Dawkins's concept of "meme," he concludes that it is an important book about the contours and imposition of the global ideology that Hurst calls Westernism. Here's Scruton's summary of Hurst's central thesis: "we find ourselves in a world where ideas that have no intrinsic rationality have gained ascendancy over what ought to be, and once were, self-evident truths. For example, feminism has all but obliterated the knowledge that sexual differences are deep-rooted and unalterable. Multiculturalism has obscured the truth that mass immigration without cultural assimilation destabilized the host societies. liberalism has corroded the distinctions between criticism and treason and between innocence and guilt. Egalitarianism has taught ut to treat the raucous culture of television as a harmless diversion, comparable to the high culture that it has all but silenced. Socialism has promoted the view that state schooling can be devoted to social engineering and still be a form of education."
As Scruton points out, the problem is not just that this collection of isms is widely (and sometimes contradictorily) believed. The problem is that they are enforced with all the intolerant zealotry of some narrow and bigoted religious faith. As he says, "a public critic of multiculturalism or feminism has little chance of promotion in the education industry, and witch-hunts and show-trials of those regarded as politically incorrect are now commonplace. . . . We are all familiar with the accusations of racism, sexism or homophobia against everyone who steps out of line, and the near impossiblity of obtaining a hearing (still less a fair trial) once such a charge has been laid. Moreover, such accusations seem to target the same broad class or people: those who exemplify or defend traditional forms of social order, and the once settled customs of our civilization."
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, February 16, 2004 at 10:02 AM
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