What is special about Western civilisation? Put differently, what is it that we have nurtured over the centuries, and to an extent millennia, which is not found, or is rare, in Islam and the eastern religions?
The oldest element is the role of Moral Courage. This is seen in the elevation of anti-heroes. The most prominent, chronologically, are Socrates and Jesus, but not to forget the Old Testament prophets, the stoics and others of mainly Roman times, and those who died for their convictions in the wake of the Reformation. These were people who, at the time, rebelled against fashionable wisdoms; who spoke out; and as a consequence were held in contempt. Some were “saved” from themselves by a cruel death to purge their souls.
Moral courage may involve simply the willingness to risk contempt and exclusion. But it may involve much more, beginning with loss of livelihood, and stretching to imprisonment and threats to life & limb.
The second, more recent element is Checks & Balances. These rose to prominence during the Enlightenment, which at the time was battled by most of Christianity. Rightly upheld, they are the antidote to authoritarianism and totalitarianism.
Checks & Balances are more than the familiar constitutional idea of the opposing estates of executive, parliament, and judiciary.
Since 2020 at the latest we have witnessed that these three estates, with few exceptions, are no longer separate, but have been working hand-in-glove, i.e. in collusion, to implement a novel oppression. This has only been possible due to the failure, or rather, betrayal, of the Fourth Estate, namely the mass media. It was all a long time in preparation. The refusal to publish, and the disparagement of, vital information, for example on the toxicity of novel injectables (vaccines) or on chemtrails, or on electro-magnetic hazards, must be regarded as treason, with, in due time, the traditional penalty, to be reinstated with alacrity. Judges who, in collusion with the executive, rule persistently against common sense and morality, and in favour of absurdities, must be subject to de-selection by popular vote.
Checks & Balances require also personal commitment, by representatives of the three or four estates to truthfulness and proper procedure. Otherwise, they are undermined as people swap one set of loyalties for another.
It is with insistence on truth-telling that the two core elements of Western civilisation coalesce. Not that truth and truthfulness are always as straightforward as imagined. But falsity is. Truth is what remains when falsehoods have been exposed and expunged. Falsehoods include here absurdities.
No-one is required to be truthful in all matters, for example on their emotions, which are largely subjective. But absolute honesty is requisite in their domains of those with expertise and responsibility for specific areas, for example, in medicine, or mechanics, or mathematics, or epidemiology. They are not morally obliged, or much obliged, to absolute honesty towards tax officials, in sexual affairs, about the distant personal past, or other matters of incidental concern. In the absence of discretion, much harm is done by misplaced openness. Questions arise of who deserves to be told a truth, and when it should be told, if ever.
To this limited extent, checks & balances encompass also a division of responsibility. No-one is responsible for everything, but everyone is responsible for something.
There must be exclusion from the professions for those who conspire against truth. This applies in particular to those in so-called “ethics” committees and the like, which have proven to be wholly corrupt. Note that there is only a limited range of penalties which can be imposed on wrongdoers. Hence those who today have been excluding outspoken medics from their livelihoods must fear themselves exclusion.
Coming soon: What are the Unique Features of our Culture?