Friends,
I chose that headline specifically as an eye-opener….
As an uncle of mine used to say delightfully about the late Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), when the senator said something which outraged the liberal establishment in Washington DC and in Raleigh NC, “he done done it again!”
I caught myself saying the same thing—with the same delight as my late uncle—when I read the hysterical reporting of The Washington Post and The Hill on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest remarks to the International Valdai Forum, held in Sochi, on October 21, 2021. Not that Putin had said anything new, not that his speech in Sochi was much different from speeches he had given for the past decade in which he harshly criticized the US and Western Europe for their de facto rejection of their Christian moral and ethical traditions, and embrace of what Putin calls “a new secularist paganism.”
But here he was once again, standing his ground, now on the attack, and this time taking aim squarely at the American and Western shibboleths regarding the now-fashionable memes of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” transgenderism, and “gender fluidity,” all of which he scornfully rejects. And at the same time staunchly defending the traditional family, championing distinct male and female roles in society, and affirming Russia’s historic Christian heritage (while rejecting outright Bolshevism and the horrible damage it inflicted not just on Russia but the rest of the world).
Reading WaPo and CNN blurbs you can just see the uncontrollably incensed and livid pundits and writers at those august organs of the authoritarian managerial administrative state who have over the years arrogated to themselves the sole right to determine our destiny and dictate how we live and what we think: “That man in the Kremlin doesn’t bow down to our globalist secularism!” they repeat. “He refuses our liberal democracy! He is outside the ‘family of civilized nations.’ He must be stopped…where is John McCain when we need him?”
Ha! When challenged, the Devil squeals.
How the (neo) pagans—our elites in America and Western Europe—rage! And how satisfying it is to see ole’ Vlad, along with Viktor Orban in Hungary, almost alone among the leaders of nations in the world turning their faces away steadfastly from the fetid, maggot-infected beliefs which now dominate and generally control us!
Over the years I have been making the point that both the American “conservative neoconservative” establishment and the Left share essentially the same perspective on post-Communist Russia. They consider its rejection of “liberal humanist” and “secular democratic” values (including same sex marriage and transgenderism) to be an unpardonable sin, a violation of lese-majeste’ against the New World Order. Whether such notable Neoconservative pundits as the late (and unlamented) Charles Krauthammer at Fox News and the frenetic scribbler Jamie Kirchick, or the entire editorial board at The New York Times, the Left and what my friend Dr. Paul Gottfried has called “Con Inc” share the same loathing for our historic Christian heritage and beliefs.
Yes, the Brian Kilmeades, Ben Shapiros and Jonah Goldbergs might insist that they are just advancing the values and ideas of the great 18th century Enlightenment about freedom and equality. Indeed, that’s the problem, for those ideas have matured into an ideological whirlwind that threatens twenty centuries of Christian belief and culture.
Let me quote a few lines from Putin’s most recent defiance of the globalists. See what you think, whether you think he is a “dangerous Nazi, bigot, and racist” or just maybe a defender of beliefs our country once held sacred:
“We look in amazement at the processes underway in the countries which have been traditionally looked at as the standard-bearers of progress. Of course, the social and cultural shocks that are taking place in the United States and Western Europe are none of our business; we are keeping out of this. Some people in the West believe that an aggressive elimination of entire pages from their own history, ‘reverse discrimination’ against the majority in the interests of a minority, and the demand to give up the traditional notions of mother, father, family and even gender, they believe that all of these are the mileposts on the path towards social renewal.
“Listen, I would like to point out once again that they have a right to do this, we are keeping out of this. But we would like to ask them to keep out of our business as well. We have a different viewpoint, at least the overwhelming majority of Russian society – it would be more correct to put it this way – has a different opinion on this matter. We believe that we must rely on our own spiritual values, our historical tradition and the culture of our multiethnic nation.
“The advocates of so-called ‘social progress’ believe they are introducing humanity to some kind of a new and better consciousness…. The only thing that I want to say now is that their prescriptions are not new at all. It may come as a surprise to some people, but Russia has been there already. After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks, relying on the dogmas of Marx and Engels, also said that they would change existing ways and customs and not just political and economic ones, but the very notion of human morality and the foundations of a healthy society. The destruction of age-old values, religion and relations between people, up to and including the total rejection of family (we had that, too), encouragement to inform on loved ones – all this was proclaimed progress and, by the way, was widely supported around the world back then and was quite fashionable, same as today. By the way, the Bolsheviks were absolutely intolerant of opinions other than theirs.
“This, I believe, should call to mind some of what we are witnessing now. Looking at what is happening in a number of Western countries, we are amazed to see the domestic practices, which we, fortunately, have left, I hope, in the distant past. The fight for equality and against discrimination has turned into aggressive dogmatism bordering on absurdity, when the works of the great authors of the past – such as Shakespeare – are no longer taught at schools or universities, because their ideas are believed to be backward. The classics are declared backward and ignorant of the importance of gender or race. In Hollywood memos are distributed about proper storytelling and how many characters of what colour or gender should be in a movie. This is even worse than the agitprop department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
“Countering acts of racism is a necessary and noble cause, but the new ‘cancel culture’ has turned it into ‘reverse discrimination’ that is, reverse racism… [….]
“In a number of Western countries, the debate over men’s and women’s rights has turned into a perfect phantasmagoria. Look, beware of going where the Bolsheviks once planned to go – not only communising chickens, but also communising women. One more step and you will be there.
“Zealots of these new approaches even go so far as to want to abolish these concepts altogether. Anyone who dares mention that men and women actually exist, which is a biological fact, risk being ostracised. ‘Parent number one’ and ‘parent number two,’ ‘birthing parent’ instead of ‘mother,’ and ‘human milk’ replacing ‘breastmilk’ because it might upset the people who are unsure about their own gender. I repeat, this is nothing new; in the 1920s, the so-called Soviet Kulturtraegers also invented some newspeak believing they were creating a new consciousness and changing values that way. And, as I have already said, they made such a mess it still makes one shudder at times.
“Not to mention some truly monstrous things when children are taught from an early age that a boy can easily become a girl and vice versa. That is, the teachers actually impose on them a choice we all supposedly have. They do so while shutting the parents out of the process and forcing the child to make decisions that can upend their entire life. They do not even bother to consult with child psychologists – is a child at this age even capable of making a decision of this kind? Calling a spade a spade, this verges on a crime against humanity, and it is being done in the name and under the banner of progress.
“Well, if someone likes this, let them do it. I have already mentioned that, in shaping our approaches, we will be guided by a healthy and strong conservatism.”
Can anyone imagine a major American politician making such comments, much less a president making them?
There is much more that I could cite, Putin’s eloquent speeches from 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and later, all very consistently making the same points. But not only that, there have been substantial and concrete legislative pro-family and pro-Christian actions taken by the Russian Duma (parliament), just as in Hungary, which are a veritable “sign of contradiction” to the globalists in Brussels, in Whitehall, and in New York and Washington.
Both Putin and Viktor Orban remind us of who we have been, our inheritance, our Christian traditions and belief, and just maybe who we could become once again if we keep the faith and attack our enemies with strategic intelligence and a passion like a Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Both the Left and the “kept” conservative pseudo-opposition to it, either frontally or implicitly oppose and attack our heritage…two heads of the same coin. They both must be rejected.
So, if Donald Trump doesn’t run for president in 2024, since essential American citizenship is being abolished by Biden, I’m voting for Vladimir Putin. I’d like to see how the Cossacks handle the BLM and Antifa terrorists!
http://boydcatheyreviewofbooks.blogspot.com/2021/10/october-23-2021-my-corner-by-boyd.html