April 3, 2022
CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS...:
The "Clash of Civilizations" Thesis Is Still Ignorant Nonsense: Mentally arranging the world into homogeneous "civilizations" makes us oblivious to the world's complexity as well as to our shared humanity with those considered mysterious Others. (Nathan J. Robinson, 31 March 2022, Current Affairs)
Now that the threat of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremist groups on United States soil has receded--along withthe disturbing post-9/11 war fever--one might think the "clash of civilizations" idea would finally be dead. Alas, it's back again, thanks to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's attempt to unify Ukraine and Russia (the fierce Ukrainian resistance to this reunification suggests that the people considered part of the same "civilization" do not concur that they are in it.)
Devastating enough to the Clash enthusiasts is the fact that the war is intra-Orthodox, even worse is how easily the even just slightly civilized Ukraine is defeating the great Orthodox power. It's essentially just another triumph of Western Civilization over an anti-civilization.
Posted by Orrin Judd at April 3, 2022 7:51 AM