Monday, September 18, 2017

The Abolition of Britain by Peter Hitchens


 



I have no voice.  The change in weather always does this to me.  I get a cold in my head, it sinks to my chest...up and down and on the way it takes my voice away.  Luckily you can't hear me. I sound like a fog horn.  A fog horn with laryngitis.  I'm just croaking my days away.


 You, however, can listen to the smooth and luxuriant sounds of Jean Sibelius' Symphony Number Five.  It will be a much more aesthetically pleasing experience.




The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess DianaThe Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana by Peter Hitchens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Peter Hitchens is in a sense is a prophet. Not the type that predicts the future, but the sort that clearly looks at the world and sees what is right and what is wrong.

In his book, The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana, he traces how the culture in the UK changed dramatically from a people owning a proud nationalist identity and Christian morals, even if they weren't particularly religious, to what we have today: people who are ashamed to possess anything other than a "global" identity and accepting any sort of social more or amoral code whatever.

He explains how this happened. Mostly through ideologues who made good use of the new medium of Television to change how people think about themselves and others. They did this through sitcoms that provided a "normal" that in the fifties and sixties was not normal and in fact different than most people's lives. However, as people lost contact with their community and spent their free time in front of the TV they developed a sense of community with the characters on the shows they were watching.

Lifestyles that had historically been considered perverse or deviant were now normalized. People can only be shocked once. Then it is accepted. Which means the shows' producers have to come up with even more shocking subject matter, which is then normalized and so on. I would point out certain televisions shows that are popular today as examples of how far we have sunk, but people I know personally watch those shows and far be it from me to offend anyone.

I especially like his observation that TV doesn't really show how people live, because if it did, it would show people sitting around for hours watching television.

He describes how legislation ostensibly designed to help the downtrodden has proliferated the downtrodden population.

Making divorce no fault, even if someone is at fault and forcing the man to financially support the woman, even if it was her fault and allowing her custody of the children regardless of the reason has simply multiplied divorces, and increased the number of women and children living off the state in poverty.

The other tool used by ideologues is education. Discipline and strong lines of right and wrong were dismissed, as was classical training. The rich plethora of classical literature that should rightly be the pride of Britain has been moved aside in favor of popular literature.

This came home to me one day when I met a young woman who had moved back home after teaching literature in various European countries for several years. I asked her if she was eager to begin this fall.

She said that she did not look forward to teaching the required reading list because it was all about college entrance.

"Oh," I said. "That must be limiting. What do you have to teach?"

"Greek and European literature from the last two thousand years. It's all Western culture. It doesn't represent other parts of the world."

"What country's literature would you like to teach?"

"I like Japanese."

I personally like classical Japanese literature so I asked, "Have you read 'Tale of Genji'? Or 'Shirobamba'?

She had never heard of either the oldest novel in the world or the classic story of a young boy's life in pre WWI Japan.

"What do you want to teach then?"

She then listed a number of current best sellers by popular Japanese writers.

"The problem is," she said, "is that the parents at school are hung up over language and sex. I didn't have that objection when I taught in London."

Ah.

All that to say, Hitchens acutely diagnoses England and frankly, the western world's cause of cultural deterioration.

His best point is to expose the "imaginary" Puritan. This is the mythological person that is "shocked and appalled" over the "morally reprehensible" lifestyles of anything non conforming to Victorian cultural norms.

This person, as Hitchens points out, doesn't exist. But the media needs him and her to exist to feel as if what they are doing is "cutting edge" and "revolutionary". After all, you can't be a rebel unless you are rebelling against something. That something disappeared fifty years ago.

Today's ideologues have mastered the art of shaming to perfection. No one is going to publicly admit they think that certain modes of living is wrong or, dare I say, immoral. All sorts of "deplorable" names will be attached to you.


The final thing I admire about Hitchens' book, or at least Hitchens himself is that, as opposed to most authors who only include blurbs of glowing recommendations on the flyleafs, Hitchens includes people's remarks that obviously don't agree with him. Here are a few:

"Hitchens can do what he does best: provoke."

"Some passages are almost laughable in their old fogeyness while others are just plain offensive."

And my favorite:

"He stands like a latter-day King Canute, trying to turn back a tide of progress."

I have over simplified all that Hitchens has to say. He says much more. Such as how such a development took place in the first place without any kind of fight back from Traditionalists. The reason being that tradition is not a good reason for preserving anything, only immutable design and purpose of life that has always existed since the dawn of time stands the test. You cannot have a moral code without admitting that Someone created that code in the first place. And if this is true, society will flourish under that code and it will destruct if it deviates from it.

His writing style is fluid and I personally consider this a perspicacious declaration of where society is and how it got there, even if he was only talking of Britain.



View all my reviews


 

18 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

Hi Sharon.

This book sounds like it really digs into the culture wars! I have been thinking about these issues a lot lately. For the most part, I think that the liberalization of society has been more beneficial then it has been harmful. The benefits have been enormous. However, there are downsides and excesses. Some of these negative aspects have created great harm. It is vital to the health of our civilization that folks push against and try to counter these negative aspects. The abandonment of Classical Literature as well as the moral relativism that you allude to are examples of these downsides. Thus, while I suspect that I would disagree with Hitchens on a lot of things, I think that I would agree with him on some things. I also want conservatives like him to provide a counterbalance in society. I would like to read this book.

I also lose my voice a lot. I hope that you feel better soon.

Take care and have a great week!

Stephen said...

I wonder if any other civilization has effectively committed suicide the way ours has -- first through the world wars, and now through a century of willful abandonment. I suppose many have cultures have rotten and fallen away, but it's bizarre to live through and be conscious of it.

Cleo said...

This book sounds interesting and I'll put it on my list. Another British writer you might enjoy is Theodore Dalrymple. I have his In Praise of Prejudice waiting to be read and his other books I've heard are excellent as well.

Mudpuddle said...

perceptive analysis, Sharon... sorry you're sick: blame it on the students... i've been leafing thru Gibbon, which i read many years ago, and am once again blown away by his understanding and skill at communicating the same... he says a lot of the things Hitchens says, only about the Romans: distraction and wars and too much poverty are fatal to a normal society... i just think it's in the basic nature of humanity to be distracted en masse to the point of dissimulation; it's just the mechanisms are different: gladiators and and the arena for the Romans and television for us... probably tribal instincts have something to do with it, who knows... not i, for sure...
love the Sibelius: i played it a lot with the symphony... the violin concerto is a winner, also, imo...

RTD said...

Hmmm. The empty-headed young fan of contemporary Japanese literature will, I hope, find a different career; she should not be teaching!

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Brian. Thanks for the well wishes. You make some very good points that I wish we could discuss on a deeper lever. Not to debate, but because I genuinely want to know what you believe are improvements and why or what the negative things are etc.

We certainly both agree with the travesty that is happening in education where pop culture is replacing timeless classics. I'm not against something just because it is current or trendy even, but it should not be replacing priceless works that are an education unto themselves.

I hope you get the chance to read it. You probably will not agree with everything, it is from a Christian viewpoint, although he really doesn't bring that out...I just happen to know his background...I did not agree with everything he said and I do think he glossed over some things about the past where we really have improved. But it is a good source of food for thought and unusual.

Take care! I'm croaking a little better today and after a long nap I may just be able to write and practice! :)

Sharon Wilfong said...

It's interesting you say that about willful abandonment, Stephen. I was just reading Romans 1:18-28 where Paul describes people who trade the truth of God for a lie. In fact he says that since they did not see fit to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them up to a debased mind.

We need to study culture. How did a great civilization like ancient Rome peter out to just a few hundred people living in ruins by the 7th century AD.

Could that be America one day?

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Cleopatra. Thanks for letting me know about Dalyrymple. I'm looking him up now.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Mudpuddle! I have not read Gibbon but I love reading about ancient Rome. I see a lot of parallels as well, especially with the violence in some movies and video games. How far away are we from the arena?

I write while listening to Sibelius. His symphonies are perfect for that! I must listen to the violin concerto now.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi RT. The empty-headed young fan thought I was the dolt and became quite cold to me when she realized we had different interests in reading.

And she wasn't that young. She is forty.

Hope you're doing well. Are you still blogging? I couldn't find your blog.

RTD said...

Still kicking, Sharon.
https://informalinquiries.blogspot.com/

Sharon Wilfong said...

Yay! Glad to hear it.

Ruth @ with freedom and books said...

Just butting in...this week, I read somewhere, which escapes me, that the Roman civilization fell to pieces as it grew and became inclusive, covering too many cultures and languages, and there were too many differences to keep the people in unity. I guess that is someone's insight, but could there be some truth to it?

Nonetheless, Romans 1:18-28 is alive and well today in America.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Ruth. That's an interesting point. From what I read I think the slave class eventually outweighed the Roman citizen class and the Barbarians from northern Europe gradually overwhelmed them, but that does not mean that what you said wasn't a factor.

Stephen said...

I'm tempted to say that no multicultural state has survived for very long (Persia, Rome), but then again few monocultural states last very long, either. I think China merits consideration, as one civilization that has survived many states, sometimes (and now!) as an empire controlling other people. Unlike the US and the post-west, China is encouraging, forcing, etc. its minorities to be Chinese. That may be bad form on the individual level, but

My understanding of Rome is that expansion and slavery undermined the socioeconomic structure of the old republic: the soldier-landowner system was destroyed in favor of larger plantations, foreigners in the ranks, and displaced mobs coverging on Rome and going for one dictator after another. Ultimately the Germans had more energy than the Romans, at least in the west, but they were tangling with a Rome that was already old and tired.

Sharon Wilfong said...

I also think that when Caesar made himself dictator for life he began the demise of Rome. I know that the city lasted for a few centuries after that but definitely they were past their golden era. Plus the rise of Christianity which grew so populous that Constantine, pragmatic that he was, chose to legalize the religion since he saw potential in their productivity and in military defense.

China, although it has stayed amazingly unified, have they not sacrificed much tradition? And they, too, have a Christian population that is significantly growing. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next hundred years the center of Christianity will be in Asia and Africa because that is where it is spreading.

Perhaps it is our civilization that is now at the dawn of its waning.

Anonymous said...

I'm just catching up on posts and hope you're feeling much better this week, Sharon!

Sharon Wilfong said...

I am feeling much better, Marcia. Thanks for asking!