The Ex-Muslim and atheist, Salmon Rushdie, wrote something
that reflects our self- hating culture:
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Consider the following headline: “Mississippi:
Atheist faces execution for insulting Jesus on Facebook”.
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The alert reader will immediately recognize this
as a piece of fake news. Which it is. I made it up myself.
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But it’s based on a real headline. The recent
headline reads as follows: “Nigeria: Atheist faces execution under sharia for
insulting Muhammad on Facebook.”
Rushdie reasons:
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Now, if it was true, the first headline would
elicit universal outrage. It would be front-page news in all the major Western
newspapers, and the lead story on the evening news. CNN, NBC, and the BBC would
spin the story as a typical example of Christian bigotry. https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/western-media-downplay-ignore-islams-violent-reactions-to-blasphemy?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=fb348b8640-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_763&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-fb348b8640-401443397
Why does this entirely unbalanced and hypocritical reporting
characterize mainstream media? Let’s back up a bit. Hated of one’s own culture
now seems to be an entrenched and “politically correct” part of the Western
worldview – “The West is the worst!” Evidence for this abounds, along with the
invention of a proliferating assortment of micro-aggressions, all focused on
Western misdeeds. For example, a recent ad for tacos had “culturally
appropriated” Mexican dress with sombreros and Mexican accents. However, if
this ad had been the work of Western non-Mexicans, the ad-makers would have
been charged with “cultural mis-appropriation.” But this ad came out of Japan,
where it experienced no backlash whatsoever.
Western elites seem to hate the West. This was noted by the
former Pope Benedict XVI:
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“This…illustrates a peculiar western self-hatred
that is nothing short of pathological. It is commendable that the West is
trying to be more open, to be more understanding of the values of outsiders,
but it has lost all capacity for self-love. All that it sees in its own history
is the despicable and the destructive; it is no longer able to perceive what is
great and pure…Multiculturalism, which is so constantly and passionately
promoted, can sometimes amount to an abandonment and denial, a flight from
one’s own heritage.” (Quoted by Jean Bethke Elshtain, First Things, March, 2009, 36)
Using the rationale of “inclusion” and “diversity,” Western
scholars have so consistently deconstructed the West, that it is rare to find
anyone teaching at a Western university who praises the West. As a result,
their students have often committed themselves to radically changing their
culture by importing non-Western cultural elements. Sometimes, they accept or
even endorse violent change, having been convinced that our “evil” culture
deserves to be swept away.
Why this dangerous
“flight from one’s own heritage?” Some have identified the fatal flaw as
our need to feel superior, morally worthier than others. If there had been
invading armies at our doorstep, it would be natural to believe that we were
the righteous party, and this would have served to unite the country against
the common threat. However, where there is no awareness of a common threat,
especially when affluence reins, it has been observed that society begins to
turn against itself and to identify those parties that are morally inferior.
I just learned of a new term that embraces this phenomenon –
“oikophobia,” the hatred of one’s own home or society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOyD69-ghd0&t=674s&fbclid=IwAR3rZxsjb8CuX8vgp74FJp6RxtK6b5pNjEIu9Vf4jYkHWsvluTf78-jqZiU
This video makes the point that “oikophobia” (the love of
foreign cultures instead of one’s own) are also forms of “virtue-signaling,”
the demonstration that our virtue exceeds that of our fellow-countrymen.
Swedish scholar Benedict Beckold argues that oikophobia is predictable
and foretells the death of a society, as its internal squabbles undermine any
unified effort to address its problems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hslPNjqcXMk:
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[Oikophobia] reveal[s] a civilization that has
stopped believing in itself, that hates itself, and that is therefore unwilling
to defend the values of individual freedom, democracy, and scientific and
scholarly skepticism that have been handed down to us since antiquity. We are
all familiar with this phenomenon, and every single day brings news stories in
which oikophobia is involved. To mention just a couple among literally
thousands of clearly oikophobic incidents of recent times: this past July the
San Francisco School Board voted to remove a mural of George Washington from
one of its public schools because of its purported racism; the group leader of
American volunteer teachers in Africa some years ago informed the volunteers
that residing in a foreign culture had taught her that the United States
deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks because of U.S. foreign policy...Actions
and statements of this kind have become perfectly commonplace by now, and we
all know about them, but most people cannot explain why things are this way.
How can it have come to such cultural self-hatred? The answer lies in an
oft-repeated historical process that takes a society from naïve and
self-promoting beginnings to self-contempt and decline.
According to Beckold, oikophobia is a predictable outcome
once a society becomes affluent and comfortable:
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So oikophobia is a natural outgrowth of the way
cultures, and certainly Western cultures, develop. It occurred in ancient
Greece, in Rome, in the French and British empires, and now in the United
States. https://quillette.com/2019/10/07/oikophobia-our-western-self-hatred/
Is this process of self-aggrandizement
and decay inevitable? Almost! It seems that we have been designed with a
quest for self-mastery. Just look at the zeal of children as they begin to walk
and acquire new skills! However, our conscience begins to kick-in and we become
aware of our selfishness and self-centeredness, instead of other-centeredness.
However, in our quest to fulfill ourselves, we ignore and suppress our feelings
of guilt and shame. These painfully condemn us to such an extent that we feel
as if God Himself is condemning us.
How do we live with these life-controlling feelings? If we do not confess our sins to God and experience His forgiveness, these feelings will become so intense that they will coerce us to cover them up with positive affirmations, accolades, successes, and joining an idealistic cause to prove our worthiness against the assaults of guilt and shame. Our feelings of unworthiness and impending condemnation can become so intense that we might practice self-deprivation and even self-punishment (cuttings, burnings) to, at least momentarily, restore our feelings of worthiness:
How do we live with these life-controlling feelings? If we do not confess our sins to God and experience His forgiveness, these feelings will become so intense that they will coerce us to cover them up with positive affirmations, accolades, successes, and joining an idealistic cause to prove our worthiness against the assaults of guilt and shame. Our feelings of unworthiness and impending condemnation can become so intense that we might practice self-deprivation and even self-punishment (cuttings, burnings) to, at least momentarily, restore our feelings of worthiness:
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The physical pain of cutting not only diffuses
negative emotion, but it can also create a sense of calm and relief. Because it
works almost instantly, cutting is highly reinforcing—some even say addictive.
Individuals who cut describe the sensation as an escape or a release of
pressure, similar to how people suffering from bulimia describe purging. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-be-yourself/201610/self-injury-4-reasons-people-cut-and-what-do
It is estimated that 20% of women and 14% of men practice
self-harm. Why would cutting release pressure? Why wouldn’t spending money or
taking a walk suffice? Could it be that we know that we deserve punishment
and therefore punish ourselves? When asked why they self-harm, many claim “I
dunno!..after I cut, I felt better.” https://aeon.co/essays/how-self-harm-provokes-the-brain-into-feeling-better
Research affirms the sense of relief that many experience:
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People who self-harm, writes [Carrie] Arnold,
have “learned that, while the pain peaks with self-injury, it then comes down
the other side. The physical pain lessens – as does the emotional pain.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/theres-scientific-reason-why-self-harm-makes-some-people-feel-better-180953062/
However, when we accidentally cut ourselves, we usually don’t
feel relief. Why then would the “cutter” feel relief? Evidently, the relief
derived from cutting is not strictly biochemical. There is also a psychological
component that informs us that we deserve punishment. Therefore, when we punish
ourselves, we feel that the price self-atonement has been paid. However, the
relief is only temporary, like a drug fix. Why? Cutting and drugs do not
address the underlying psychological problem.
What is this
underlying problem? Alienation for the Creator, who wired our pesky
conscience with its feelings of guilt, shame, and condemnation! From a
Christian perspective, we need to listen to these feelings. Our temporal
feelings and relationships mirror higher things – our relationship with God and
our eternal fate.
If this analysis is correct, then God has given us our
conscience to call us into a loving and eternal relationship with Him. This is
what the Cross is about. Christ died for us, proving His love and assuring us
that He will accept us if we simply acknowledge what we already know in our
heart – that we are sinners who need a Savior.
Instead, the Western rejection of the God, who had once
elevated the West, has made the auto-immune response of Oikophobia and its
self-contempt almost inevitable.
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