Let Us Prod It With A Stick, Turn It Over On Its Back...

...and see what sort of beast it is.

In my search for the meaning of a secular civilization, as opposed to Christian civilization, and not finding a suitable definition, I composed one of my own. It is this .... "An association of citizens who, for the benefit of all, have arrived at a morally advanced society, as opposed to savagery and barbarism." The motivation for my search was stirred by an observation of a Chosin Few Marine, Dr. Jim Nicholson, known to Marines as Nick the BARman. Nick, shot thousands of rounds of 30 Cal. rounds into the enemy from the Marines' favorite weapon, the Browning Automatic Rifle, a machine gun with a crew of three. After months of savage, deadly, miserable battle in the steep, rocky mountains of Korea, Nick had killed hundreds, if not a thousand, North Korean and Chinese soldiers with his index finger and having become numb to the carnage, sat down on one of their dead bodies to eat a C-ration. In his book "George-3-7th Marines", he commented ... "The veneer of civilization is much thinner than you think". Most Americans cannot comprehend what could very well happen in Civilized America, under certain circumstances.

Common Sense Commentary: Bill Bonner is a Christian who has followed the teachings of the Bible relating to spiritual and physical life, the golden rule, treatment of other people, integrity, mental, emotional and financial success. He is founder of Agora and Bonnier and Partners, a world-wide, paid membership with several hundred thousands subscribers. All of his successes are based on the lessons of scripture. This is not to say I agree with everything Bill says. But his basic understanding of scripture has served him well and directed his focus in serving our God of civilization. Here is a short sample of his philosophy on "The Secret Of Success". Bill is probably a billionaire.

The One Secret You Must Know To Be Successful 

It is also the secret to civilization. Without it, civilization falls apart.

Let us prod it with a stick, turn it over on its back... and see what kind of beast it is. 

Our knowledge of human life in prehistoric times is sketchy. We have a limited archaeological record. We also have legends and stories. And we have inferences we can make from studying primitive tribes in remote areas of the globe, before civilization got hold of them. What they tell us is that philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a fool. When Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Europe, he had to be practically dragged to the home of Rousseau, whom he considered unworthy of homage. In our book, we mention that Rousseau’s “social contract” theory of government is preposterous. You can’t have a contract with an unwilling, uninformed and unwitting counterparty. Contracts are made between relative equals, not between rulers and the ruled. You can’t make a valid contract with someone while you hold a gun to his head. Nor can you reserve the right to change the terms whenever you want. But an even bigger imbecility is Rousseau’s theme of the noble savage. There was nothing noble about uncivilized man. He may have had some fine qualities, but he was also ignorant, murderous and cruel. This is not to say that civilized human beings are not also ignorant, murderous and cruel. The difference is that civilized people aim to be better than that; often, they succeed.

If you read the accounts of early explorers, you get a glimpse into what life was like before civilization emerged. For example, in the 18th century, an Englishman spent time with tribespeople in what is today Canada. He noted they would go on raiding parties, attacking other tribes. The idea was to kill the men (and take their scalps as proof) and to capture the women. The captured women were raped repeatedly over several weeks, dragged to another tribe and sold. Today, these sorts of things still happen, but they are the work of mental defectives, sociopaths or hardened criminals. Back then it was normal. In another story, recounted briefly in Hormegeddon, a tribe of “Native Americans” hiked for weeks through the forests of Quebec, taking along with them the aforementioned English explorer. Finally, the group arrived at the shores of Hudson Bay, where they found an encampment of Inuit. The hunting party went right to work. To the surprise and horror of their companion, they killed every man, woman and child in camp... and then returned to their own territory. This was apparently a routine summer activity. Trappers and explorers also tell about how men captured from other tribes might be treated. Sometimes they were summarily killed. Sometimes they were tortured, with the entire tribe – especially the women – taking part in the entertainment. Today’s civilizations still have people who like torturing other people, but these practices are outlawed. Those who partake in these dark pleasures do so rarely and surreptitiously. Win-Win Deals Civilization changed behavior. More important, it changed what people thought their behavior should be. That was the real meaning of the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. These were the new rules of a civilized people. They were well adapted to the new phase of human life. Later, Jesus of Nazareth squeezed the rules to get at their essential oil: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That was the message of civilization. And you didn’t have to be a Christian to get it. Hillel the Elder, a Jewish religious leader who lived around the same time as Christ, said the same thing in a different way: “What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else.” This new code – although oft ignored, oft transgressed and oft forgotten – flourished because it made civilization possible. And civilization made material progress possible. If you are going to have civilization, you can’t kill people just because they’re not of the same tribe. And you have to be ready to buy and sell with them. You have to respect their property. And they have to respect yours. Transactions in this new world had to be win-win deals. Otherwise, people wouldn’t want to do business with you.
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My final comment is this: The largest enemy, on earth, of Civilization itself, not to mention of Israel, of America and of Christians, is Islam ... yes, Muslims. I care not that Obama, Hillary, the Democrats and News Media call it a "peaceful" religion. It is a savage, barbaric, political religion whose primary doctrine is converting the rest of the entire world or killing it, and with it Civilization. It is not a civilized society when it condones the rape of thousands of young boys by grown men, the marriage and rape of very young girls by men old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers, the abuse of its women, the outrageous taxing of non-Muslims, the beheading of innocent people, the robbery and enslavement of non-Muslims and even of Muslims of a different order. The list of vile, vicious violations of world, civilized law is endless. It is Satan's counterfeit of Christianity and a diabolical scourge spreading all over the earth. If Islamic nations were a "Civilized Society" they would put an end to such debauchery. Fight it and destroy it. It is "The gates of hell prevailing against civilization ... but not Christ's true church... Not yet, not ever. RB