The Culture Wars

Hannes Wessels

On pain of being branded a ‘racist’ and a propagator of ‘hate-speech’, I have a problem dealing with the fact we have all been told in no uncertain terms that all cultures and behavioural norms are equal and the same. So, to suggest that what is loosely known as ‘Western or European civilisation’ with its underlying Christian ethos, is better than any other ‘civilisation’, is both preposterous and offensive and therefore, effectively banned from public debate. Following this line of thinking, we must therefore accept as beyond any doubt, that the Australian Aboriginal culture, African culture, and the cultures of the Islamic countries, to name but a few of the variants, are no better or worse than ours.

This question was raised recently in a spirited discussion that ensued between Indian-born, writer and political-commentator, Dinesh D’Souza, and former US presidential contender, Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jackson, echoing the thoughts of many fellow African-Americans, lamented the destructive dominance of European culture in the United States: sentiments that have been effectively expressed by extremely wealthy African-American football players refusing to stand for the National Anthem. They do so on the grounds that they are offended by a song that reminds them of the country’s historic links to Europe, racism,  and many of the events that unfolded following the arrival on the continent of the first colonists. Challenged by D’Souza to provide a recent example of how he had been a victim of racism, Jackson demurred. He went on to explain that racism in America was no longer overt but covert and mostly invisible so he was unable to prove what he alleged was true. Nevertheless, he insisted it was the dominant white culture that was at the root of the problem and therefore the nation would only be able to progress when African-culture was in the ascendancy and when it became more influential in the daily affairs of America.

Being an immigrant from the Asian sub-continent, D’Souza pronounced himself comfortable in challenging Jackson’s position. He expressed the view that his interlocutor was poorly placed to judge and criticize the cultural norms of his homeland because he was fortunate to have been born and bred an American, while he, D’Souza, was an immigrant from India with personal experience of his own and competing cultures. Based on these empirical observations, he was in absolutely no doubt that to aver all cultures were equal was bunk and he rejected the hypothesis unreservedly. To buttress his argument, he suggested that the culture of the country was arguably the most successful one in the modern world and the reason it needed secure borders; in order to protect and nurture that very success. To fail in this endeavour, D’Souza suggested would be disastrous, because ‘half of the world’ would flood onto American soil. While he did not ask it, this begs the question as to how many people would rush to enjoy the good life in the Congo, with the Aboriginals in the Australian Outback, or in Pakistan? Nor did he ask if the footballers who refuse to stand for the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ would have fared better if their forefathers had never left west-Africa and they had been blessed with the richness of life in Sierra Leone or Liberia.

Fortunately for America, Donald Trump, for all his alleged sins, a committed and fervent patriot who celebrates his history, nationality and respects his flag, has recognised what D’Souza says as true and is trying to govern accordingly. Regrettably, this appears not to be the case in the UK and western Europe. There, children are being brainwashed into believing their history is soaked in the blood of innocents and their relative prosperity is richly undeserved because it was achieved through exploitation and innate unfairness bred of a misguided sense of racial superiority.  The politicians and the media routinely peddle the same narrative, cowing most of the white populace into contrite submission while they allow alien cultures to subsume them and I fear, ultimately destroy them.

I feel I am well placed to have this dystopian view of that part of the world based on my personal experiences and indeed disappointments, after living all my life in Africa. Fundamental to the conflict of ideas that escalated after WWII was the core issue of competing norms and cultures.

When the continent was colonised, the proponents of the exercise and those that sallied forth to action it, were motivated by pride in their history and the superiority of their systems of government based on their basic beliefs and their religion. Post WWII, the racially motivated tragedies perpetrated by the Nazis and the subsequent, rapid rise of liberally inspired socialist rule in Europe and the UK, these fundamental tenets were suddenly considered to be abhorrent and rapidly rejected leading to the hurried abandonment of their African territories.

When this process was resisted in southern Africa, leading to conflict, the political leaderships of the time repeatedly pleaded with a hostile world to understand that Western culture was, in their view, undoubtedly preferable to the competing indigenous one and had to be protected if chaos and destruction was to be avoided. Their pleas were rejected, the local culture has prevailed and we here all know the result. Unfortunately, our cousins, in our former homelands, refuse to learn from this.