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Clearing the Mind of Cant

City Journal
December 7, 2020
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Cant is insincere expression of concern for others or denunciation of contrary opinion. It is harmful, infectious and when caught by enough people can destroy free thought, free speech, intelligent discourse and the very ability to recognize – and live in – reality. The eternally-immune Theodore Dalrymple diagnoses our current contagion in City Journal.

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France is in the Crosshairs, but the Target is Western Civilization

Theodore Dalrymple in Law & Liberty crystallizes the recent riots in France to a simple equation: “Whole generations have been taught and come to accept that Western civilization consists of slavery, exploitation, and massacre.” Tearing it all down – not merely reforming it – is therefore not just understandable but desirable. Dalrymple disposes of the delusional trope that these are “student” protests, noting the preponderance of Muslim migrants committing the mayhem.
For a luminous glimpse into the singular civilizational achievements the rioters would tear down, read this C2C article by Patrick Keeney.

Educator, Refugee, War Criminal

In National Review, Jim Geraghty reviews the family history of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, now under investigation for lying about her age and using an alias on her U.S. immigration application. Geraghty notes that Omar’s father, who fled to Kenya before claiming refugee status and whom she describes as an “educator” back in Somalia, was actually a full colonel under military commander and later dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose regime fought a brutal war against Ethiopia and committed genocide in Somaliland.
For more on the toxic outcomes when democracies import terrorists, click through to this C2C article by Anthony Furey.

Endgames in Ukraine

Comparing the Ukraine-Russia “situation” to the impenetrable Gordian Knot of the ancient world, Victor Davis Hanson in American Greatness games five possible ways out of the slaughter: Russia settling, Ukrainian elections installing a new government that will settle, a coup removing Vladimir Putin, the Russian military collapsing, or Ukraine collapsing. Or the conflict could come to “resembl[e] the bella interrupta of the Middle East,” ending only when both sides literally run out of soldiers.
For insight into the Putin regime’s mindset and plans for Ukraine, check this C2C essay by Borys M. Kowalsky.

Catalyst for Civilizational Collapse

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For more on this topic, check this C2C article by Lynne Cohen.

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