Societies have always had to negotiate the competing demands of the better-off and the poor. Yet for Aristotle, attributing civil war solely to economic causes is myopic. In Book V of his Politics, the ancient Greek analyzed no fewer than seven long-term causes that can transform peaceful citizens into violent factionalizers. Writing in American Greatness, Steven Skultety wonders how many of these are at play right now in the United States.

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.


