The Fall Of Western Man Essay, Research Paper

The Fall of Western Civilization

A new revolution is required– a Western revolution. The values of Western civilization are lost, it’s morals murdered and it’s society turned sour. Something has changed. Currently, man is absorbing empty, worthless material. This idea of “pop culture” has been injected into the Western man. His values and morals have depreciated greatly. He has entered a black hole filled with expendable amounts of junk. In it, he is so severely sedated with endless amounts of indoctrination that a transformation is highly improbable. Indeed, Western society is in trouble. But why has is turned into an useless trashcan? Why are the mentalities of these individuals so twisted, so immoral, so depraved? Prior to 1900, mankind was at the mercy of a moral order. There was evidence of a moral imperative. So why is there such a drastic change in society within a century of time? The answer is God. God has not changed us with his power; rather we have changed ourselves with the lack of faith for Him. Religion was the base structure in the support of humanity. Many pieces of ideas concerning standards, principals, values and ideals were mended into many coherent pieces of art because of the faith in God. Society acted as though their every word, every decision and every move reflected their chance for salvation. They had a goal, an ambition, too prove to God that they were ethical. Certainly, there was a moral imperative. However, through the false assumption of The Enlightenment and the Scientific and Industrial revolutions, something has changed. The assumption of The Enlightenment was that even peasants could transform themselves into aristocrats, that given a choice, they could as well enjoy the niceties of an ambitious morally bound society. This was proven wrong because not everyone wanted the pleasure of being a part of the aristocracy. The Scientific Revolution changed humanity with critical inventions from Edison, Burbagge, Descartes and many other visionaries. The industrial revolution also contributed to degeneration of utility within our communities. It created a boom in population, which imposed overpowering demands on all aspects of our already struggling society. I will demonstrate the critical state of Western culture through exploring three significant examples from C.S Lewis’ essay about the Law of Human Nature, William C. Booth’s essay on proper essay writing, and a Toronto Star article pertaining to the tragedy of the Western world.

In C.S Lewis’ essay, he presents to us his vision on the subject of morality. He states the Law of Human Nature. He uses the analogy of a “non-thinking” object (a stone) and a human being to compare both of them to the law of gravitation. “The idea was that, just as falling stones are governed by the law of gravitation and chemicals by chemical laws, so the creature called man also has his law- with this great difference, that the stone couldn’t choose whether it obeyed the law of gravitation or not, but a man could choose either to obey the Law of Human Nature or to disobey it.” Lewis deems that man?s morality is administered by ethics–to know what is right and wrong. Lewis then proceeds to examine all the factors concerning this Law of Human Nature. First, he explains how the Law of Human Nature used to be called the “law of nature”. Thinkers before Lewis assumed that people obeyed it and was aware of the nature of the law. He states, “They called it the law of nature because they thought that every one knew it by nature and didn?t need to be taught it. Taking the race as a whole, they thought that the human idea of Decent Behavior was obvious to everyone. And I believe they were right.” Next, he makes clear some people think that the Law of Human Nature is unstable because different civilizations have quite different moralities. Not all men are quite different; they are only slightly different. He grasps on the point that because every man knows and understands the law, other societies engage to exemplify irrelevant ways of expressing ethics– they all act slightly different. Furthermore, he deciphers the critical aspect about selfishness. “Selfishness has never been admired. Men have differed as to whether you should have one wife or four. But they have always agreed that you mustn’t simply have any woman you liked.” Selflessness is what we must strive for to achieve a strong sense of apposite morality, yet the remnants of the world believe the opposite. We must not be fooled. Establishing this law into the masses is almost impossible. “None of us really follow the Law of Nature.” He tells us, that almost every day we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people. “The point is that they are one more proof of how deeply, whether we like it or not, we believe in the Law of Human Nature. If we did not believe in decent behaviour, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently? The truth is, we believe in decency so much– we feel the Rule or Law, pressing on us so that we can’t bear to face the fact that we’re breaking it, and consequently we try to shift the responsibility.” He tries to make the point that humans know and understand the law of nature and yet they still break it. This exemplifies how man understands and is knowledgeable of these laws yet still acts immoral. Man is given a choice–yet he still heads in the wrong direction. With no faith in salvation, he does consider his ethical value. His principles and morals are lost.

In Booth’s essay, he begins with a lament, describing how poorly and inadequately students attempt to write essays. He complains about how boring, how meaningless and how empty they are written. He goes on about examples of a teacher in Indiana and how she didn’t care what was in the essay (content), or how the essay was written (style), all she was concerned with was spelling and grammar. Wow. One does not even have to write a story or a paper with content, one can write down a few hollow sentences and as long as the grammar and spelling are correct, a mark of one hundred percent is awarded. That is ludicrous. He then moves along and states how many boring essays he has read in his lifetime. There must some sort of antidote to this serious problem. Moreover, he states three possible cures: 1- “develop an awareness of audience”

2- “give them something to say” and finally, 3- “enliven their writing personalities”. The student must have contact with the audience. One must let them know that this is valuable and is breathable knowledge. Make the essay brilliant, intelligent and interesting. Next, we must give them something to say. Students bore themselves, others and authorities because they have nothing to say; nothing of what everybody already knows is worth saying! At this time and only this time when we have something to say, nothing will bore anyone. Furthermore, Booth encourages us to write through our own eyes and hearts instead of through a haze of clich?. Finally, he states that good fiction will not transform students into good writers. Even the most elite student needs endless hours and years of practice with rigorous criticism. Writing is an essential aspect of reading; reading is a critical aspect of writing. The incompetently of the students essay writing skills is due to the lack of important knowledge with little ambition to say anything valuable, anything worth listening to. Again, with no strong intuition to God, values have vanished.

In this newspaper article, the author is also aware that something has changed. We see that there are too many aspects of this idea of “pop culture” taking over the minds of today’s individuals, indoctrinating them with false values and half truths which are vital in the long road to the salvation of man. This is all part of the leveling process. As population rises, that horizontal line becomes extended to a point where the pyramid is not even a pyramid anymore. In this particular article, the author attempts to follow a number of examples of why people today are buried in a heap of junk. He mentions “quicksand”, “mickeys”, “Casablanca” and innumerable illustrations of how man knows the idea of the subject, yet fails to actually experience it or have some background on it. In the past, pieces of other works are being put into one solid, unified, coherent work of art. Take The Bible for example. So many decades of work, organization and dedication are being integrated into one work of art– the most intriguing, well-written book of all time. That is phenomenal. In addition, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are a collection of writings from orators concerning Greek gods and culture. Moreover, Plato’s Republic is a collection of Socrates interpretations. All sources show evidence. In Western culture, pieces of work and ideas are being thrown around yet nothing is being put together. The pieces are still pieces. Nothing charismatic or captivating has come out of Western culture (at least nothing after 1900). Indeed, something has changed. In past times, coherent pieces of art could be put together because of the people’s faith in God and the faith of the salvation of man. Prior to 1900, people believed every thought and deed had a larger purpose–good or bad. From aristocrats to peasants, all were in fear of committing sin. Values were actually values. A moral imperative was apparent. Presently, there are no signs of a moral imperative; only the indication that “god is dead”. With no belief in God, the pieces are not put together; they are just pieces with no meaning. Pop culture is persuasive. Unfortunately, the masses are neck deep. Currently, in this collaboration of junk, it is hard to establish which is good and meaningful or just plain, useless rubbish. In closing, the leveling process is spreading rapidly. Today’s culture is a collection of junk. Regrettably, this junk is our values. Proper values have diminished and are non-existent. This author too, knows very well that undeniably, something has changed.

In conclusion, we see that in all three examples shown above how peoples values can depreciate with no ambition, with no belief in some sort of salvation. In all aspects of human behavior, we can presently reveal that our society focuses on junk instead of focusing on the importance of ethics. The masses are so occupied in other pop culture paraphernalia that they are unfamiliar and dislike patrician values. Western civilization is falling rapidly. The values that were once imposed by family and religion are now polluted by mass media. It is certainly unmistakable that both family and religion are abruptly falling apart. All these selections exemplify how with no belief in god, with no ambition, man chooses to decline. With no moral imperative even those who aim to act consistent with those values of utility, our subdued cultures have no standards by which they can progress. The values of Western society have sadly depreciated.