A brief history of “Barbarism”, the birthplace of “Depravity.”
To begin with, “depravity” is not the same as “insanity”, although many of us use the terms interchangeably. For one, the law only recognizes one as being criminal. One of the most common comments I read on Twitter is “Why that’s insane! They ought to go to jail for that.”…
…which is precisely why they won’t go to jail.
Because I fancy myself an amateur cultural anthropologist, and have had the good fortune to observe up-close several different, even exotic cultures up close, often in periods of historic change, I view both history and politics through a cultural lens, especially in matters of class. Long before race ever entered into the slavery picture in the ancient world, even the poorest Roman citizen felt superior to, and could look down upon the best-dressed, most educated (white) slave of a Roman aristocrat. Class. Students of the early histories of African empire-building will tell you the same thing about black slavery in all-black kingdoms…if they are to allowed speak those things out loud these on modern American or European campuses.
The dividing line between insanity and depravity runs pretty much between “civilized people” which is a name they give themselves, and “barbarians”, which is the name that a civilization generally calls everyone else. The ancient Greeks did, the ancient Romans did, the ancient Persians, all the way back to the ancient Egyptians, all of which began in their own distant memory as a group of farmers who usually did better than anyone else within a 500 mile radius, largely because they had water. We know from the American Indian tribes that the name they give to themselves (versus the name first French or Spanish explorers gave them, such as “Sioux”) was always translated as “We, the people.” (Where have you heard that before?) Then they also had a name in their own language about all the other people around them. “People of the river”, “People of the long poles”, etc.
Basically, “Them” and “Us”. (We all still do that, don’t we?)
Now, we’re told we live in a post-modern era, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say the old-fashioned definition between “civilized” and “barbarian” are still valid. Maybe even eternal. And serve as the basis upon which this developing war between competing political world views will be defined, no matter who wins.
You see, should be barbarians ever get in charge of America they will then have the power to declare and to teach for several more generations that is we who are ”depraved” and “barbaric”, even in the simplest of things, such as teaching children that there is a God, and to worship Him. If you don’t believe me, ask a Russian who was an adult in 1992 when suddenly their barbaric, godless civilization came tumbling down. Thirty years later, they still have only begun to search for, let alone, re-acquire those guiding stars for the civilized universe. The old God of the 19th Century Russia is still little more than a rumor. (But at least it is once again legal to enter a church and pray. These things take time, but there is a race going on the soul of Russia.)
What you need only to know is how easy it is to switch the “Them” and “Us” around. We are in the middle of just such a process today…where if all the cards do fall in the favor of the “barbarians” over the next few weeks, months, maybe even years…it will be us, the People of Faith, the People of Freedom, the People of “life, liberty and property”, who will be renamed the “barbarians”. And all the history books, and sociology studies, and philosophies, will be redrawn to prove this is so.
So even the most simple act of piety, prayer, will be deemed an act of “depravity”, punishable by whatever mode that best served as a deterrent for future depraved misconduct. The French used a guillotine. Even gave her a name. Do you have any idea how many walked up to those steps to Lady Razor clutching a rosary. The Russians used a gulag for individuals, but also found mass starvation worked. As did the Cambodians. (My general view is that none of the political ‘ism’s” are very good on the supply side, feeding their people, which even international corporatists will learn within a generation, once they’ve been forced to put on a Mao jacket to maintain control of their empire.)
Today, there are acts of depravity being perpetrated almost daily in America, without consequence…under a politically-protected umbrella. These acts may or may not be linked to prior acts as children, e.g., killing pets or stray animals, which if caught in time, can be easily fixed with a variety of punishments by parents without benefit of state agencies.
But certain classes have been immune, both economic class, and now, political class. Children from this area of society are often just moved, from school to school, and strings pulled to insure their juvie records are sealed or remain clean so as to be able to get into a better college. There were lines, as we learned in the 1920s; that randomly picking a kid like Bobby Franks and killing him for sport just to prove they were smart enough to get away it, never pausing to consider their families might not be able to use their “Get out of Jail Free card” if caught, was a bridge too far. Leopold and Loeb went to prison for life anyway, probably never understanding that this was the one pickle their parents couldn’t get them out of.
That’s depraved. It’s also cowardly, and a number of other things. But let’s just focus on “depraved”. I’ve been suggesting for weeks that these modern kids be snatched up taken for psych-eval’s for a week or so, without due process (easy to do) just to see if they are on drugs (legal of otherwise) or possess any other mental disabilities that might serve as mitigating circumstance in determining their legal guilt.
Of course, we can’t do that if we don’t arrest them. And that process has been entirely the province of the Royalist Democrats in the cities these depraved acts are occurring.
People are right to believe that those governments actually exhibit a higher level of depravity simply by doing nothing than the children they indulge.
As I noted about the behavior of the Mob in the French Revolution, driven on by their intellectual betters who had no taste for getting their own hands dirty, or bloody, we are seeing a much more dangerous level of depraved behavior today.
With true depravity there generally is no shame. Just the fear of being caught. History rarely pauses to even name their victims. Does anyone know of Bobby Franks, a 14-year old kid? No memorial marks his name or his death. But compare to Johann Palm, a Bavarian bookseller, who was executed on orders by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars in 1806 simply because he sold a pamphlet against Napoleon and, upon being arrested refused to name the author. Bonaparte, busy doing other things, told his officers to give him one day to reveal the author’s name, or shoot him. Which they did. A statue now exists in his home town, and several countries even grant laureateships in his name. (No one still knows who wrote that pamphlet.) Bottom line, Napoleon began the French Revolution as an army officer, and a democrat, siding with the “republican” ideals of the Revolution. A military genius himself, he clearly saw where the intellectual lightweights were taking France, and decided that the only way to bring sanity back to France was to become a “royal” himself, by crowning himself Emperor in 1804. That really did mess up the whole “divine right of Kings” schtick since it had been around just over 1000 years, and every noble family in Europe had forgotten that they all started our eating their steaks with Bowie knives, the fork taking another 400 years to find its way into their dining rooms. All former barbarians.
But because of this single, seemingly minor but “depraved act of indifference”, Bonaparte ended any discussions about his previous democratic thoughts. He was a fraud and a depraved mind.
Note how ordinary depravity has become in America.
I can only suggest how you think about the daily acts of depravity we see in America today. How you define it is entirely your concern, just remember the First Principles that underlay it, and that it is a constant, day to day effort to re-evaluate your thinking. I like to throw in a little history just to give you some extra meat on your table.
