LewRockwell
“Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.”
~ Terence McKenna
The word civilization from Latin is civis, which means citizen, and civitas, which means city-state. It is seen as ‘enlightened culture’ instead of barbarism. A more modern take on the Latin root of this word would be a society which has developed a writing system, government, production of surplus food, division of labor, and ‘urbanization.’ The two trouble spots here are the false belief in the necessity of government and of urbanization. Both indicate collectivism instead of the individual and independent rule, in what should properly be a voluntary society. Regardless, a so-called ‘civil society’ today is what would be thought of as a mature, progressive, and non-barbarous state of ‘superiority.’ The ancient Greeks clarified this as far back as the fifth century BCE, and felt themselves above others who were not as worthy in their minds. As time passed, a citizen was not just a resident of a particular area, but in reality, became the property of the State, or more accurately, a lifetime indentured servant.
A common truth that should be recognized, is that in order to be a citizen in the modern world, one must be considered of secondary importance to the State or nation, and therefore a pawn or slave of that State or nation. After all, initially, ‘citizenship’ is decided simply by state of birth, or by parent’s state of birth. Each individual has no say in their original and usually lifetime citizenship, and this classification, as in herd animals, is a label decided by the ruling political class. This is not any indication of freedom, as should be quite obvious, but is a pronouncement of inferiority to rule, which negates from birth the individual in favor of the State. There is no need to get further into the particulars of this type of human ownership in this discussion, but sufficed to say, how can one be considered to be free when born a slave?
The subject here is the fate of what is considered Western Civilization, and why it is doomed to not only failure, but complete collapse as a political and ruling force. In fairness, all civilizations eventually fail, and in my opinion, this is mainly due to the false belief that a system of top-down rule, restrictive laws, and completely concentrated co-existence, is necessary for sustained survival. While the division of labor is extremely useful in many if not most aspects of modern life, total concentration of populations is not mandatory for civilization to survive and prosper. But it is the desired outcome by those who rule, (consider ‘smart cities’) because it allows for easier control over the masses of common people, who always far outnumber the ruling class, and are therefore considered a continuous threat to their power…
