Moral vacuum at the heart of western civilization

Summary:

"All the great civilizations of the past were based on pillars of values and morality of sorts, albeit often wrongheaded and misguided values. In place of such pillars, the west has a black hole of lies, hypocrisy and ever-baser human instincts, which threatens to implode western civilization."

At a speech in San Francisco on February 28, Bill Clinton outlined his vision for American foreign policy during the remaining two years of his presidency. "The promise of our future," Clinton declared, "lies in the world. Therefore we must work hard with the world, to defeat the dangers we face together and to build this hopeful moment together, in a generation of peace, prosperity and freedom." He went on to list five challenges to the US in the next century: building a `more peaceful 21st century'; bringing Russia and China into the international order, both political and economic; protecting against weapons proliferation, terrorism, drugs and climate change; creating a mutually beneficial world trading and financial system; and, as `a top goal', maintaining `freedom'. American presidents are performers first and foremost, but the magic Clinton was trying to weave would have fooled only the most one-eyed of observers. The US's real role in the world, as a greedy and dictatorial bully whose main tool is force, is blatant. In the last year alone, the US has bombed Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. It also has threats hanging over Libya (unless it hands over those accused of the Lockerbie bombing), Serbia (the fact notwithstanding that Milosevic genuinely deservesbombing) and North Korea. It has troops stationed in over 100 countries around the world for one reason or another.

And, like any strong-arm dictator, the US's acolytes also enjoy a favoured position. Israel has permanent protection both in its general policies - in Palestine and Lebanon, for example - and for individual atrocities such as its killings of three unarmed Kurds outside its Berlin embassy last month. Others also benefit in return for individual favours; Turkey, for example, has recently been rewarded for its assistance against Iraq and its alliance with Israel by being given a free hand against the Kurds in Turkey and northern Iraq, and by US assistance in its illegal kidnapping of Abdullah Ocalan from Nairobi. Indeed, so blatant are the US's abuses of power becoming that France, Germany and Japan, among others, are beginning to try to rein it in. At one level, this American behaviour is a sign of failure. For 100 years the US has tried - with the help of other western powers - to take control of the world by winning hearts and minds to its myths of `democracy' and `freedom', and by building `international institutions' to do its dirty work. The fact that it now has to try to bomb people into submission, Muslims in particular, shows that this strategy has failed. But it also reflects a deeper `character flaw' in western civilization itself: a propensity to violence which is seen at every level of American society, from the routine killings committed by criminals and police alike, to the choreographed fights of wrestling and afternoon `talk' shows; from the brute strength of American football to the gratuitous blood-lust of Hollywood films such as like `8 Millimetre', which features a pornographic movie in which a girl is killed, and is showing to packed cinemas across America.

The shameless glorification of Monica Lewinsky (who recently attracted thousands to a book signing session at Harrods, the shop of royalty in London), and Clinton's own lack of genuine remorse for his misdeeds, also reflect a moral vacuum at the heart of western society. All the great civilizations of the past were based on pillars of values and morality of sorts, albeit often wrongheaded and misguided values. In place of such pillars, the west has a black hole of lies, hypocrisy and ever-baser human instincts, which threatens to implode western civilization. Muslims have seen the damage which internal stagnation can do to a civilization, despite external strength on the world political stage. Islam survives to rise again because Muslim individuals never lost their faith in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, their commitment to a divinely-ordained moral code, and an inalienable sense of right and wrong. When the west's fortunes change, and it is sucked down by its own greed and arrogance, westerners will have no such commitment to hold on to. Muslims don't need to destroy the west; it is doing that very well itself. Our task is simply to protect ourselves and our societies from its influence as best we can, advise such western individuals as are prepared to listen, and prepare an alternative path for humanity when that time comes.