The Sick Man IS Europe

With the Edict of Milan in 313AD, the Roman Empire officially became a Christian empire. While the empire lasted until 476, it was clearly already in decline. According to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the root cause was neither the Germanic hordes nor anything as direct as war or political instability but instead something much more sinister: Christianity.

One of the things that he seems to have detested the most about Christianity was its emphasis on pity and how this leads to the elevation of the weak-minded. Nietzsche believed that it was wrong to deprive people of their pain, because it was this very pain that stirred them to improve themselves, to grow and become stronger. It should be noted that he did not disbelieve in helping people; he simply believed much Christian pity robbed people of necessary painful life experiences, and robbing a person of his necessary pain, for Nietzsche, was wrong. He believed that “that which does not kill us, makes us stronger”.[1]

While discussing value rivalry which threatens explicit rule sets by promoting implicit rules or values that encourage destructive behavior, Mark Safranski notes that “such a conflict is typical of a dysfunctional rule set that characterizes a system at risk of decline.”(Rule Set Journal Feb 05.) One of the most important and overlooked questions with regard to Christianity is its roots. Christianity, unlike other religions such as Islam, has its roots in the disenfranchised slave classes. Who were the first Christians? The weak, the outcasts, the powerless. This much is indisputable. However, how did a simple belief system, founded by a “traitor” and propagated amongst the lower classes end up conquering the entire empire all the way up to the emperors? Nietzsche thought it was possibly spread intentionally by St. Paul to undermine the Roman system.

Without getting into too much historical depth on this, Nietzsche essentially theorized that Rome was the target of an ideological insurgency bent on undermining Rome. Perhaps one of the first and most famous fourth generation wars? (Dan?) While many more direct factors led to the actual fall of Rome, it was this disease from within which continued to weaken it and make it moreand more susceptible to outside attacks just as AIDS destroys your immune system from within leaving some minor external disease to ultimately kill the victim. What does this have to do with me you ask? The parallels between Christianity, the geneology of its morals and present day Leftism/Socialism is quite interesting.

During a recent discussion of the United States and Europe (Part I and II), the differences between American and European values were investigated. While American values and laws favor the strong and at times screw over the poor, European values handicap the strong and successful while empowering the weak. Keep in mind I’m using strong and week in broad terms and include talent, education, wealth, success and so forth in them. While many European ideas indeed seem noble, they favor the underclass and thus the values of the weaker portions of society, very similar to Christianity. Another connection was noted by Thomas Barnett in The Pentagon’s New Map when he noted that any religion inside the Gap was considerably more radical than the same one in the Core. Adherants were more faithful and strict than their wealthier 1st world counterparts. Compare Jews in Israel to those in the US or Europe. Compare Muslims in the US with those in Pakistan. Compare Christians in Europe with those in South America.

Thus, as people climb the ladder of wealth and development, they slowly discard weaker values and adopt new ones. Keep in mind a person may still call himself Christian, but it’s the practice we’re worried about, not the label. What are the ramifications of this for the US and Europe? The disease of Communism, also an ideology of the weak, rose quickly in Russia in the early 1900s and spread like a plague across the globe ultimately destroying its host states. Socialism is merely a weaker varient thereof yet Europe has long since succumbed to it and its values that favor the weak. Is the United States going to face such a battle in the future? Could it undermine our American values as it has done to other countries past and present? Maybe.

However, it is important to draw the line between changes in our political and social system that are based on practicality and those based on ideology. France and Germany don’t have extensive social systems merely because it’s a practical way to maintain social stability, they believe in these ideas intensly. Reforming Social Security because it is broken is a far cry from introducing full blown socialism for example. Additionally, the flare up from the Left is largely due to the Iraq War (as happened during Vietnam) and will die back down over the next few years. Leftism is America is also largely issue based as opposed to being a widespread movement and additionally is most prevelant among young middle class whites who eventually grow out of it, unlike Europe where it’s the reigning ideology across the board.

The United States has a history of strong and very successful values and this author feels they are very unlikely to be undermined. While individual issues tend to polarize Americans (abortion, gay marriage, Iraq etc.), they still share most all of the same core values.

I would invite readers to offer your thoughts on this matter, especially readers like Dan and Mark who tend to specialize in these kinds of conflicts and regularly write wonderfully insightful pieces on such matters.