The authorities in both Russia and China are making it perfectly clear that they want nothing to do with the culture wars raging in the West, particularly those occurring in the USA.
Like it or not they are making a stand against what they see as a narcissistic, navel-gazing, rabidly self-interested, and entitlement-infused amorality masquerading as ‘human rights’.
Their way is the way of long-held traditions that have stood the test of time and bear a minimum of potential for endless division as one sector of society continually fights another. The tried and tested principles of the past are their choice, not the headlong flight into headlong chaos they see the West descending into.
In America there’s a phrase that has become well known in recent years, “My country right or wrong”. The same stance can be applied to the approaches in both Russia and China now. For them, unity is of paramount importance and the atomization of their societies in culture wars is abhorrent. They have both been through that with hugely tragic consequences and have no intention of returning to those days when certain dogmas were forced on people and entire lives could be cancelled at a stroke.
Of course, there will be those who are aghast that the freedoms of the West could be criticised in this way, aren’t we all to be able to let our freak flags fly and do exactly as we please within the law? But this flies in the face of the realities faced by nations who do not have anything like the privileges of wealth boasted of in the USA and those who are ambitious to be just like them. In those nations, relatively much poorer these are simply examples of excess and selfishness, of societies of empire, reaching a similar stage as that of Rome just as it fell.
Which way forward will we take as a species? Toward a complete anarchy of infinite diversity? Or on a more solid path where predictability and unity are emphasised above all else? On the former path, a constant updating of the rules will be required in each human mind. Do’s and don’ts will become minefields needing new maps on an almost daily basis. Many will find their minds swirling with confusion as they are castigated for using an inappropriate pronoun or turn of phrase or even for an action such as opening a door or clapping too loudly. The thought police will appear to be everywhere waiting to pounce, punish and regulate behaviour.
In the traditional societies where a lesser degree of ‘anything goes’ freedom exists predictability is far higher than in the ‘human rights are all’ West and or good reason. Access to relatively freely available income is also traditionally less. Absolute human rights have not been affordable as predictable behaviour and hard work, raising families, and solidarity to get through hard times together have been extremely valuable, indeed necessary, attributes. The affluent West has been able to exploit much in the so-called developing nations and use those resources as a springboard (along with their own natural assets) to future undreamed of by most of the rest of the world.
When everyone wants their own way no one gets their way. As we see now in western nations, affluence breeds a certain aggression where the fight to assert one’s own rights rather than looking for a communal solution emphasising unity as human beings, creates a social war at its extremes. Methods become increasingly divisive where those opposing or seeming to oppose such individuals are almost depicted as war criminals, as racists, fascists, and a great number of other terms denoting cancellation.
For those like me who were inspired by the enthusiasm for change in the West during the Sixties where there was an impatience to be rid of the stultifying norms of previous eras the about-face to once again embrace the traditional outlooks of parents and grandparents might feel quite disconcerting. There was also a surge toward socialism and other changes of system that were looked upon as radical at the time. Free love, the use of recreational drugs was much more attractive, and an aversion to the normal - find a job - work 9 to 5 - settle down - start a family and live as your parents did, was virtually anathema.
Those days of the Sixties are long gone. The surge of freedom-loving anarchism and relatively innocent experimentation hardly survived into the Seventies. The relative innocence and simplicity of just a few years before vanished like morning mist in the full glare of midday. Only a very few found a way to maintain themselves in anything like an ‘alternative lifestyle’. Most rejoined the more or less normal like of the majority sooner or later and mostly sooner rather than later.
Traditional forms of life tend to be the archetypal form whose shape we tend to migrate toward unless we find some kind of niche in the rarified stratosphere of eccentric living within the arts, crafts, therapy, or religious life.
For most of us, the more or less standard life structure, as usually visualised, will likely suit us best. We are none too concerned if those on the fringes act as they wish as long as they don’t impact society and the life of the majority in too extreme a way. But just this is beginning to occur in the West, particularly so in the USA. The fringes are demanding to be mainstream and some within the mainstream elites appear to believe their rights ought to be raised above those of the majority who remain within a generally traditional lifestream. This is precisely what the Russian and Chinese authorities do not want and will not tolerate.
A kaleidoscope of emotional choices where outcomes are of questionable benefit but may sadly lead to a cul-de-sac of unhappy chaos where society becomes riven by internal discord and social atomization makes for a very unhappy existence, potentially for all.
Youthful folly is a known phenomenon. We normally grow out of such follies, taken on when we feel immortal and resistant to all that may hurt us. Societies that never outgrow the follies it takes on, but remain searching for eternal youth will likely stay in the kindergarten stage of interminable and extremely shallow-minded chaos where maturity never arrives. The big question is, can such societies ever return to the stable foundations that once were the norm and which allowed for unimpeded growth?
Eurasian nations are determined never to have to find out whether such levels of chaos can be reversed. They have seen how much pain is involved in such a process. They have decided to retain the tried and tested ways of life they know bring important unity of purpose, predictability, and stability to life. Thus they aim to guarantee that such debilitating anarchy as seen currently growing in the West has no fertile ground to undermine their own nations.
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