The Fruit is Still Rotten

In a certain sense, I think that the focus on increased non-White immigration is an example of the Dissident Right putting the cart before the horse. This is especially true of the European Right. What I mean by this is that while immigration is certainly a grave problem, it is ultimately not the root of the West’s issues, but rather its fruit. The existential challenge the West faces is a loss of faith in its identity and history, this primarily started in the wake of the Great War and has grown rapidly since the end of World War II. By losing its sense of self-worth, the greatness of its own civilization, and, importantly, the loss of its historic Christian faith, the West created a situation where many of its own people are indifferent or even supportive of the death of the West. To be White is considered to be an oppressor, and since no one wants to be the bad guy, it is deemed justifiable that Europe should die.

Immigration certainly is a problem. However, even without immigration, the West would still be in dire straits. To a large degree, the West, especially Europe, is in a crisis not so much because of foreign immigration, but because a large section of its native population no longer cares if their civilization continues. This never could have happened to the Europe of 1913, they had too much faith and sophistication in their own civilization and the civilizing-mission of the West; instead, this happened to the Europe of 2021 because they no longer have faith and self-confidence. 

This is why I tend to hold so-called Far Right politicians like Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders at arm’s length. Don’t get me wrong, I still think that they would be far better alternatives than what France or the Netherlands has now, but there is a reason why I’m suspicious of them, instead of being an avid fan of Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Andrzej Duda of Poland. The problem with Le Pen and Wilders is that they are, ultimately, defending secular Europe and not Christian Europe. Neither hold Christianity in much regard, they see it largely as a benign practice slowly dying out. Le Pen, for example, supports the legalization of abortion, and this “Far Right” politician agrees with that old Clinton slogan of “safe, legal, and rare.” She supports same-sex marriage, too. Wilders is cut from much of the same cloth.

The biggest difference between them, and the rest of secular Europe, is regarding the inherent conflict with Islam and Europe. With Islam, they are honest that a secular society cannot have a large population of Muslims, as seen in the complete inability for any Muslim majority nation to sustain secularism for very long. Turkey managed to do it, but it had to be backed by a military willing to overthrow any government becoming too Islamic (and now even that is over). Le Pen’s France is the France of Voltaire, not the France of St. Louis IX. Do both her and Wilders deserve credit for actually taking secularism seriously and realizing that Islam poses a mortal threat to the nations of Europe? Sure, no Western nation can survive being governed by those that hate them, or manage a growing and hostile foreign segment of the population, but neither of the two have the antidote to the West’s problems.

Even if immigration can be considered the rotten fruit, rather than the root of the problem, I still think it poses a particularly dangerous threat to the West. Mass non-European immigration assures that the West never can recover – or, at the very least, makes recovery much more difficult. Without immigration, Europe would still be in a deep spiritual crisis, no doubt. But, that crisis would eventually end, a new generation would rise up and cast off the baggage of the World Wars with renewed faith in their own civilization. Remember, the World Wars were not the first time Europeans largely lost faith in themselves, the Black Death was another example. After the Black Death, Europe did not invite millions of non-Europeans, and that gave them a quicker path to recovery. Spiritual problems are real, and in many ways more dangerous than physical problems, but they can also be turned around more quickly. Without immigration, a single generation of Europeans, with faith in their own homeland, could turn things around. But, mass immigration has drastically changed things, thanks to absurdly low native European birthrates and higher Muslim birthrates, the survival of Europe’s historic core is now in far greater danger.

None of this means that Europe should be given up or surrender – Spain spent 700 years under Islam before redemption finally came, but this does mean that recovery is more difficult. What could have been recovery in a single generation – is now going to take several generations (even in the best-case scenario). Since the Fall of Rome, European civilization has been on a fairly consistent cycle of decline and rebirth, usually about every 700-800 years. The Fall of Rome was one such case, and the Black Death was another. This does mean recovery is possible. But, the difference between the old European life cycles and the present day is horrible leadership, one that has set out to make Europe much less European.

Again, the crisis is spiritual and this must be solved. There is a reason I support Orbán and Duda far more than Le Pen or Wilders, the former grasps the larger issue and are fighting for the Christian Europe of over a millennia, whereas the latter are merely advocates for a secular Europe. But, that crisis has produced a particular rotten fruit that make the spiritual challenge far harder to solve. At the end of the day, the spiritual predicament of the West and the demographic catastrophe go hand in hand, and cannot be easily segregated.

Harmonica