Comments on: Stopping a Streetcar with an Umbrella

By: The Symbolism of a White Sidewalk | Front Porch Republic

The Symbolism of a White Sidewalk | Front Porch Republic — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:29:24 +0000

[...] in the Netherlands, originally appeared in the Dutch daily newspaper Trouw (January 2, 2010). The Front Porch Republic article that Kennedy references is also soon to appear in the well-known Polish conservative magazine [...]

By: Bob Cheeks

Bob Cheeks — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:08:06 +0000

Exactly!

By: eutychus

eutychus — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:05:39 +0000

yes, yes. but professionals occasionally need to allow the uneducated village idiot onto the porch now and again. that way when the emperor passes by…

By: Bob Cheeks

Bob Cheeks — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:45:57 +0000

Well, in that case, it’s all good. A little emotion is uplifting. As for you, I look forward to your wit, critiques, and sarcasm…though, as you know, you are among professionals here.

By: eutychus

eutychus — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:32:39 +0000

neither, of course. but you do amuse (and frighten) me a great deal.

By: Bob Cheeks

Bob Cheeks — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:40:34 +0000

eutychus, it is, of course, a pleasure…to either educate or annoy you.

By: eutychus

eutychus — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:14:53 +0000

ah, we can always count on Cheeks to explain the history of western culture and everything else to us morons in two pithy sentences so overpopulated with words and ideas that only the author (who is privy to the footnotes) could fully understand them. at least that way no one can assail his inscrutable mind. thank you God for giving Bob Cheeks the wisdom of the prophets.

as per the article. some pretty dubious generalizations there. especially the bit about europeans hating themselves. written as if it were verifiable fact. the truth! there were some good observations… but in general? it just sounds like the usual trashing of european liberals by some sanctimonious american living in their midst.

this website deserves better.

By: TGGP

TGGP — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:20:58 +0000

Reminds me of Irving Babbitt.

By: rex

rex — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:12:29 +0000

After listening to some of the debate at COP 15, Europe’s “colonizing of concerns” is clearly visible. When the less developed county’s call for a world democracy to settle the matter, the patronizing nature of this concern becomes crystal clear.

By: Bruce Smith

Bruce Smith — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:24:44 +0000

Oh yep the Europeans should stop colonizing their concern after their economies were nearly blown up by Wall Street!

By: D.W. Sabin

D.W. Sabin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:10:17 +0000

Come on Cheeks, Islam is hardly the greatest threat we face. There just aint enough of em, in particular the murderous sector of em to constitute our top threat. That distinction goes to the mirror and the cheerfully clueless face staring back at us.

The Vicarious Global Agora eats sturm und drang by the fistful, it provides the sanguinary drama a human needs as he festers away within a circus of bureaucracy and its global service jobs. Descartes had it wrong…the real agenda of modernism is “I watch therefore I am.” . The Homunculus sits aboard a Barcalounger and he loves his telly remote.

Caricature is the new reality.

By: Bob Cheeks

Bob Cheeks — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:33:20 +0000

This is just an excellent essay that gives account of the current European deculturation. A deculturation long triggered by reductionism and sundry ideological distortions spawned by the Enlightenment Project whose final result was a collapse of the order of western man and a noetic disturbance that acted to sever the “constitutive core” of man with the spiritual realm.
The most significant example of the Western cultural collapse is the inability to identify Islam as our greatest threat, and to deal with them accordingly.

By: Cecelia

Cecelia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:37:54 +0000

I thank you for this thoughtful essay. You express a number of interesting notions. I would suggest there may be alternatives or at least additions to some of what you say. First, I wonder if America is to some extent like Rome – no matter where you lived in the Roman Empire – you aspired to be like a Roman, you concerned yourself with Roman politics. Rightly so since Rome ruled the known world and was likely to have an effect on your life if in no other way than shipping your sons off to some Roman military campaign. In the sense that the US is the superpower what we do has a huge effect on those Europeans. Their sons are likely to get sent off to military campaigns we initiate. Their concern with our politics is understandable. Their concern re: Bush was not just escapism. Their concern was rooted in legitimate distaste for a war they saw as against their interests and in some coutnries, a war which took their sons and daughters.

Second, I spent some time in Denmark last summer and was inclined to think for a nation suffering from disease of the soul they acted more like Christians than us allegedly God fearing Americans do. They were uniformly polite and welcoming. They are very focused on their children – even if they have only one. They are very family oriented and for sure much less into stuff than we are. They have less crime and seem to have a passion for honest government. And while they may live in a city, they return to the family farm with their children often and value their traditions. More important – they work to preserve those traditions.

Third, I think the “guilt” thing is often a function of some segment of the population – urban, affluent and well educated. But there is a pushback against this attitude among other folks – the further away from London one gets – the less people feel guilty about empire and the more annoyed they are with those who do feel guilty.

Finally – I think to define “Europe” as some homogenous mass is inaccurate and misleading. There are clear differences among European nations. So while I absolutely agree we should pay attention to what they are up to, we should do so recognizing that what they are up to in the Netherlands is not quite the same as what they are up to in Italy etc. And we might also consider that sometimes what they are up to is rather interesting and productive.