"They do not know what words mean;
they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling
them back; they are a prey to words in their emotions instead of being the
masters of them in their intellects.
"We who were scandalized in 1940 when men were sent to fight
armoured tanks with rifles, are not scandalised when
young men and women are sent into the world to fight massed propaganda
with a smattering of “subjects”; and when whole classes and whole nations
become hypnotised by the arts of the spellbinder, we have the impudence
to be astonished.
"We dole out lip-service to the importance of education—
lip-service and, just occasionally, a little grant of money; we postpone the
school leaving-age, and plan to build bigger and better schools; the teachers
slave conscientiously in and out of school-hours, till responsibility becomes a
burden and a nightmare; and yet, as I believe, all this devoted effort is largely
frustrated, because we have lost the tools of learning, and in their absence
can only make a botched and piecemeal job of it."
British Novelist Dorothy Sayers, 1947
"We are smack in the middle of a Fourth Turning, and the turmoil of it all has affected the entire West. Over the last five years, virtually every major institution has disgraced itself. What used to be a high-trust society has been blown to smithereens, and nobody knows what to think anymore. And even when an individual person’s convictions haven’t changed, despite the societal turmoil, it is very difficult to know who to think those convictions with. This implosion of all the trusted institutions and relationships has of course included those of us on the political right.
"...So what am I saying? When being normal is weird, be normal. When being normal is normal, remember why you should be normal, and be prepared to defend it, which cannot be done apart from Christ. And when being normal is weird, don’t be extra weird. Be extra normal. Normal you say? By what standard? To the law and to the testimony. Exactly so."
Doug Wilson
“The decline of community in the modern world has as its inevitable religious consequence the creation of masses of helpless, bewildered individuals who are unable to find solace in Christianity regarded merely as creed.”
Robert Nisbet
American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism. Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory.
The White House
The National Security Strategy Document