THE HOLLOW WEST

The fundamental crisis facing the West today is that in the face of religious extremism from Islamist radicals the best that the secular elites can call for is a 'reformation of the Koran' and 'an adoption of civilised values', which means in truth the destruction of the former and embracing nothingness; the nihilism of secularism.

Pointing to the reformation of Christianity as undertaken during the 16th Century is disingenuous and a false flag. The reformation was a return to biblical values from the syncretised and false belief systems introduced into Christianity over centuries, whereas the proposed 'reformation' of the Koran would be to turn away from its medieval values to something new, not a reformation but a reinterpretation and something that most Koran believing Muslims would not even consider never mind attempt:

The religion is the problem; the scripture is the problem. We should do nothing to give it an ounce of credibility. Sharia law lovers, fundamentalist Imams, jihadis, terrorists and the Johnny-come-lately ISIS are mere symptoms. [P Smith, Quadrant, 5.5.17]

The rights of man, as these have come to be understood throughout the course of the history of European nations, will be of little help in bringing Muslims to see their moral practices reasonably from a certain distance; as we now understand them, human rights imply the pure and simple disappearance of Islam as a form of common life. Muslims are too attached to their moral practices and to their religion to give into the temptation to become ‘modern individuals’ by disappearing as Muslims. [Pierre Manent, Beyond Radical Secularism, (South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2016), p. 81]

The West has shifted away from transcendent values for so long that the intellectuals of the 'new order' have nothing to offer except narcissistic nihilism and the 'fruits' of such a belief (or rather a non-belief) system are on evidence in the daily news cycle. Would the religious fanatics that serve their bloodthirsty master see pornography, decadence, narcissism, consumerism and egregious waste as tempting....I think not, and neither do I.

The difference is that I do not take up arms and violence to try and make the secular despots change their ways, but the fact remains secularism, existentialism, post-modernism and all of the empty 'isms' that populate the philosophical realm of the 21st century have very little to offer as an alternative.

Unfortunately the only logical result to such a dilemma can be conflict.