Timothy Lusch interviews Polish Ryszard Legutko
New Oxford Review Oct. 2017 p. 32
Previously, individual responsibility was moral, anthropological, and legal. Nowadays, it is only legal. Courts decide...with no connection to...moral dimension. Morality and truth are no longer independent authorities but have been swallowed by law and various types of "ethics"…the courts have become more and more powerful institutions, and they derive their power from the irreconcilability of growing claims, entitlements, and privileges.
NOR: You argue that "Christianity is the last great force that offers a viable alternative to the tediousness of liberal-democratic anthropology. " Can you elaborate?
Legutko: ...the anthropological assumptions that underlie our political choices. Both democracy and liberalism have assumed a minimalist concept of human nature, devoid of any higher dimensions, metaphysical or moral. Christianity has an entirely different view of human nature, similar in many respects to what we find in antiquity...the liberal-democratic man is a flat character whose higher aspirations are considered either as personal idiosyncrasies or politically dangerous ambitions to overthrow equality. In Christianity, as in antiquity, human existence is represented vertically - it has its highs and lows and is strained between sainthood and sin...In the flat anthropology of liberal democracy, there is not much people hope for and not much they fear. Even God is reduced to a liberal- democratic dimension in that He resembles a nice, easygoing [non-authoritarian] philanthropist more than the God we read about in the Bible.
Theorists of liberalism and democracy have tried to eliminate from the picture of human nature all the elements they believe to be irreconcilable with the idea of equality...What transcends this horizon is [to them] negligible, unnecessary, irrational, and often dangerous. This flatness of philosophy and imagination prevents those infected by it from perceiving and treating seriously those insights into human nature that were passed on to us by the ancients and Christian philosophy and theology...education, which, predictably, has been transformed in such a way that it almost completely cut itself off from our ancient and medieval heritage.
...Wherever Christianity survives and is strong, people are likely to broaden their perspective and go beyond what liberal democracy offers them philosophically...As classical culture disappears from school curricula, Christianity remains, practically, the only way to go outside the closed and arid world of the liberal-democratic set of ideas.
NOR: Poland played a pivotal role in the fall of communism. What role do you see Poland playing in the EU and the rest of the world with respect to the growth of totalitarianism in the liberal-democratic ideology?
Legutko: Poland...has...noisy, anti-clerical, and anti-religious groups, as well as fanatical pro-EU supporters. What makes Poland unique is that the Catholic Church is strong there, and a large part of society supports it [as the Catholic Church in Poland was not run over by communists and Marxists after WWII]...a basis for a certain type of conservatism that expresses itself, among other ways, in the rejection of abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and other outrageous ideas* common in the European mainstream. Since 2015 Poland has been ruled by the Law and Justice Party, which is clearly conservative and opposed to the mainstream European politics. No wonder this current government has been an object of constant attacks. What irritates the progressive elites in Europe is that Poland seems to be one of the few European countries that has a large social basis for conservatism and a significant Christian presence...we [in Poland] are a stronghold of Christianity in Europe.
...in Poland the scope of freedom is definitely wider than elsewhere in Europe, and political correctness is comparatively weak The progressive elites deplore this fact because they identify freedom with the acceptance of one ideology - their own. For some reason, when one calls oneself a liberal democrat, one believes that no matter how harshly one imposes one's point of view on others and how brutally one transforms the social fabric, one remains a staunch supporter of freedom and pluralism. ...Poland is not a country of one ideology, probably because it is the conservatives, not the liberals, who defend pluralism...academic freedom, though diminishing through the initiative of academics themselves, is still considerable; the courts have been pushing toward political correctness but not as fanatically as elsewhere. I hope Poland will continue to steer this course despite an immense opposition from within and from without.
Ryszard Legutko 's book The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies was published by Encounter Books in 2016.
Not in Europe, but in America--
John E’s comment—In the U.S., flyover-country mainstream folks are the ones holding on to morals. To some extent, they are Tea Party. But the political orientation is not so strong as the value placed in traditional morals. To an extent not known yet, Pres. Trump advocates traditional morals, though whether that has worked in his personal and corporate life is not clear. (divorces) As producer Harvey Weinstein (The King's Speech, Paddington, etc.) has come under condemnation for his sexual bullying of Hollywood women, the lid seems to be lifting about how the power elites have their own deviant morality. But so many men live in that way, and so many attractive women have been facilitated by that system, that the lid may very well end up being clamped back on. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-13/harvey-weinstein-emma-thompson-says-sexual-harassment-endemic/9046144
2017 Oct 10 By JAKE COYLE Associated Press In Weinstein's downfall, a moment of reckoning for Hollywood A moment of reckoning for a Hollywood that has faced increasing scrutiny over its treatment of women, from pay equality to fair employment opportunity behind the camera. "...at least eight women over sexual harassment allegations." Rose McGowan: "Hollywood's power is dying because society has changed and grown, and yet Hollywood male behavior has not." Kim Masters: "women who put up with this in the past and felt powerless to act."
Oct. 18 The succinct phrase heard on radio: “male predatory culture in Hollywood”
*Legutko’s frank condemnation of liberal policies (asterisk above) is rarely heard. He did not mention the euthanasia advocates, or the radical homosexuals who have transitioned society in 40 years from tolerance to acceptance to adulation and promotion of the sexual practices (of just 2% of the population) that used to be condemned. See in this timeline how HIV is the first politically protected disease, at 1959 and 1983, https://sites.google.com/site/solderandcircuits/home/more-circuit-design/physics-timeline/physics-time-line-1900-present. The CDC continues to warn that homosexuality is a leading risk factor for HIV. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/msm/index.html
New Oxford Review is an intellectual-oriented, U.S. periodical from Roman Catholics who left the U.S. Episcopal Church and joined Roman Catholicism when they got fed up with apostasy in the Episcopal Church. They now cast light on apostasy in the Catholic Church. NOR has thoughtful articles that are often informative to protestants.
2017 Nov 21 Associated Press Democrat Rep. John Conyers settled a complaint in 2015 from a woman who alleged she was fired from his staff because she rejected his sexual advances, BuzzFeed News reported...$27,000 to settle. One former staffer said one of her duties was "to keep a list of women that I assumed he was having affairs with and call them at his request and, if necessary, have them flown in using Congressional resources." BuzzFeed said it received the documents from right-wing activist Mike Cernovich. $17 million in taxpayer money over the last 20 years to resolve claims of sexual harassment, overtime pay disputes and other workplace violations filed by employees of Congress. The Office of Compliance released the numbers amid a wave of revelations of sexual misconduct in the worlds of entertainment, business and politics that made its way to Capitol Hill last week.
2017 Nov 21 http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20171204/59602872-6cad-49c6-b736-855b43f9a9cb she saw Conyers touching and stroking the legs and buttocks of Brown and other female staffers on "multiple occasions." Grubbs said witnessing such harassment "was a regular part of life while working in the office of [Democrat] Rep. Conyers."
http://wgno.com/2017/11/22/are-men-really-clueless-about-sexual-harassment/
Two in every three men surveyed didn’t think repeated, unwanted invitations to drinks, dinner, or dates was sexual harassment. One in five didn’t think sexual harassment should be a fireable offense.
2017 Nov 24 T.V. and radio commentators keep saying the Hollywood pay to play is news to them. http://epicstream.com/news/Carrie-Fisher-Said-She-Had-Sex-With-Princess-Leia-Fans But in 1975: In an interview with Vanity Fair, Carrie admitted that she got her role in 1975 in Star Wars, which boosted her to fame at the age of 19, after she "slept with some nerd" during the casting process.
2018 Jan 20 http://www.newser.com/story/254351/suit-fannie-mae-manager-hired-stripper-to-have-sex-with-him.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=earthlink&utm_campaign=rss_topnews By Michael Harthorne According to the Daily Beast, Bonnin met IT department manager Joseph King at a Washington DC strip club where she was working as a dancer and he offered her a job. She says she was hired by Fannie Mae in 2016 to work in the IT department—despite having no IT experience—and King offered to mentor her in her new career. Bonnin's lawsuit states it quickly became clear her $90,000 salary had nothing to do with IT work.
2018 Feb. 3 https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2017/11/03/list-all-hollywood-men-accused-sexual-assault-harassment/827004001/ List: All of the Hollywood power players accused of sexual assault or harassment Sara M Moniuszko, USA TODAY
Ben Af, Scott Ba, Mario Ba, David Bl, 44, a magician, Nick Ca, Vincent Cir, Louis C.K., David Cop, Andy Di, Michael Dou, Richard Dr, Charles Dut, 81, a conductor and artistic director of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, James Fr, Gary Go, David Gu, Paul Ha, Dustin Hof, Ethan Ka, Andrew Kr, John Las, the chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Matt Lau, 59, the TV journalist who co-anchored NBC's Today show for more than 20 years, James Lev, 74, a longtime conductor with New York's Metropolitan Opera, Peter Ma, Benny Me, Murray Mi, T.J. Mi, Nelly, Carter Oos, Jeremy Piv, Brett Rat, Twiggy Ra, Charlie Rose, 75, the longtime TV journalist and host of CBS This Morning, Chris Sav, Mark Sch, Steven Sea, Gene Sim, Russell Sim, Bryan Si, Tom Si, Tavis Smiley, 53, the talk show host, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Sp, Sylvester Stallone, George Ta, 80, an actor and social activist best known for his role on Star Trek, Jeffrey Ta, James To, Ben Ver, Bruce We, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Matthew We, Ed We.
2018 February T.V. press has gotten over most of the male sexual predation and abuse that has been big news for months. Will there be lasting relief from sexual predation? Attention continues to Me Too, #MeToo. Wikipedia: The Me Too movement spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag used on social media to help demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
2018 Ap 26 80-year-old Bill Cosby is convicted on all three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault after decades of accusations by women. http://people.com/crime/a-look-back-at-earlier-coverage-of-cosbys-sex-assault-allegations/
Phrases from the web page: even in 2014, "The accusations keep coming...a starstruck young woman, a world-famous mentor, sometimes a proffered drink or pill [Quaalude], a sexual encounter the women claim was forced on them." "Blacked out on his couch, awaking to find the comedian removing her underwear." "A new wave of women recently started coming forward." 2014: "Cosby’s resurgent career took a heavy hit." "Once lauded as America’s Dad, who has been married to his wife, Camille, for 50 years." "Settled lawsuit, signed a confidentiality agreement." "Public image: a family man dedicated to promoting education, donating millions to charity while often lecturing the African-American community about morals." An accuser raped during the final NBC Cosby Show year, 1992, when "he powered the entire network." Tamara Green in 2005: “He intended to destroy her [Constand], and I couldn’t allow that.” "When she was a secretary in 1965." A list of 11 women accusers, with their real names.
2018 May 3 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expels Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership, using new standards of conduct adopted in December, 2017, after the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Polanski, a French and Polish citizen, fled from Los Angeles to Europe in 1977 when a court was about to order his arrest in a rape case (alcohol and Quaalude) (13-year-old Samantha Gailey, book 2014 The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski). Europe has rebuffed extradition attempts. Other girls and women (as young as 10 at the time, Wikipedia) have alleged sexual abuse by Polanski. Polanski was a victim of violence in the previous decade. In 1969, Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered at Tate's home in Los Angeles. along with four others, by the Manson Family.