David Craig, on February 1st, 2022Wednesday/Thursday/Friday blog. I’ll leave this up for 3 days as it might be more than mildly important.
Wikipedia describes societal collapse as follows:
Societal collapse (also known as civilizational collapse) is the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of socioeconomic complexity, the downfall of government and the rise of violence. Possible causes of a societal collapse include natural catastrophe, war, pestilence, famine, population decline, and mass migration. A collapsed society may revert to a more primitive state, be absorbed into a stronger society, or completely disappear.
Virtually all civilizations have suffered such a fate, regardless of their size or complexity
Plenty of journalists and mainstream-media commentators have opined at length about the problems facing the West – government waste, our useless political leaders, the climate change doomsday cult nonsense, the BLM crazies, out-of-control immigration, our ultra-woke ineffective police and civil service, Afghanistan or whatever. But very few seem to have joined the dots and realised these are all part of one overarching scenario. That scenario is the ongoing implosion, decline and collapse of Western civilisation and the rise of competing civilisations such as an ever more powerful totalitarian Chinese empire and violent, radical, West-hating, anti-progress Religion of Peace fanaticism.
Eminent historian and anthropologist Sir John Glubb wrote The Fall of Empires in 1976 and said this:
“The life expectation of a great nation, it appears, commences with a violent, and usually unforeseen, outburst of energy, and ends in a lowering of moral standards, cynicism, pessimism and frivolity.”
Various historians have developed different models describing the rise and fall of previous civilisations. For example, in his acclaimed 12-volume work, A Study of History (1934–1961), the British historian Arnold J. Toynbee explored the rise and fall of 28 civilizations and came to the conclusion that civilizations generally collapsed mainly by internal factors, factors of their own making, but external pressures also played a role. He theorized that all civilisations pass through several distinct stages: genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration.
Each civilisation, before its collapse, has believed that it was the ultimate in human achievement.
Such is our conviction that ours is the ultimate civilisation that there was even a bestselling book in 1992 titled The End of History and the Last Man by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama which argues that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy — which occurred after the Cold War (1945–1991) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)—humanity has reached “not just … the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: That is, the end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government”.
What arrogance. What hubris we had. But now some of us unfortunately know better.
As for Mr Fukuyama, I believe he is still making millions from the lucrative lecture circuit, though I have no idea what theory he is peddling now and I can’t be bothered to find out.
None of these models seems to precisely describe the current disintegration of the supposedly democratic West. But as Mark Twain wrote:
By this I believe he meant that no historical situation will be exactly the same, but that we can still see the same basic patterns in historical events.
However, whichever model you choose, they all show a similar trajectory for each civilisation – rise, plateau and collapse.
Western civilisation probably should have collapsed in the appalling destruction of WWII. That the West managed to rebuild so quickly and then bring along the former communist states after the fall of the Soviet Union is an extraordinary achievement. This shows what can be achieved by cohesive societies with competent leadership. That the West has now decided to self-destruct is probably well described by Sir John Glubb.
In his analysis of past civilisations, Sir John Glubb described the final phase of each civilisation as follows:
“Frivolity, aestheticism, hedonism, cynicism, pessimism, narcissism, consumerism, materialism, nihilism, fatalism, fanatics and other negative behaviours and attitudes suffuse the population. Politics is increasingly corrupt, life increasingly unjust. A cabal of insiders accrues wealth and power at the expense of the citizens, fostering a fatal opposition of interests between haves and have-nots. The majority lives for bread and circuses (panem et circusem); they worship celebrities instead of divinities…. throw off social and moral restraints — especially sexuality; shirk duties but insist on entitlements.”
Although this was written almost fifty years ago, I think you’ll agree that every single word of the above accurately describes the West today:
Point 1: “Frivolity, aestheticism, hedonism, cynicism, pessimism, narcissism, consumerism, materialism, nihilism, fatalism, fanatics and other negative behaviours and attitudes suffuse the population
Absolutely correct
Point 2: Politics is increasingly corrupt, life increasingly unjust.
Absolutely correct – just look at the bunch of lying, incompetent, scheming, self-enriching cowards running the UK. Or the senile basket-case of a US president. Or the rotten corrupt, self-serving EU. Or the totally corrupt international organisations like the United Nations or the World Health Organisation.
Point 3: A cabal of insiders accrues wealth and power at the expense of the citizens, fostering a fatal opposition of interests between haves and have-nots.
During Covid, the world’s billionaires have become massively richer while the rest of us have been burdened with huge rises in national debts the repayment of which we and our children and their children will be taxed for generations to come. Moreover, the elites are forcing their ludicrous ‘net zero’ greeny agenda on the rest of us, impoverishing our lives while they enjoy the privilege of jetting around the world to lecture on us on why we should be happy giving up many of those very things which make life worth living
Point 4: The majority lives for bread and circuses (panem et circusem); they worship celebrities instead of divinities
You only need to look at the endless stream of z-list supposed celebs on cooking or dancing or reality TV shows and see how many millions follow the inane witterings of their social media heroes.
Point 5: The majority shirk duties but insist on entitlements.
With one in five Brits claiming they are disabled, with hundreds of thousands of Third-Worlders flooding into European countries with the most generous welfare systems and over two million crossing into the US since cognitively-challenged Joe Biden was wheeled into the White House unaware of where he was, why he was there and what day of the week it was, I hardly need to comment on this. Though I’ll mention Milton Friedman who famously once said something like, “you cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state” (1999). This is something our rulers don’t seem to understand.
Don’t say you weren’t warned
So, it’s time to get in the beer and crisps, relax and enjoy watching “The Collapse of the West” – an exciting and realistic new drama performed live by the superficial, celeb-adoring, progressive, virtue-signalling, narcissistic, self-loathing, cowardly populations of Europe, the US, Australia and the Chinese socialist colony of New Zealand.
Hey – this is much better than Netflix!
Category: 
No previous societal collapses have had nuclear weapons available – perhaps this time it’s going to be final.
With all the dystopian signals listed, total annihilation might be the only solution.
A very interesting piece with a massive amount of information to digest. One question to ask is did any of the past civilisations see collapse coming? If they did, they didn’t prevent it. Will it be the same for us?
I think the common factor in collapse is the growth of the state (Emperors, Kings or democratically elected governments) and the state dominance over our lives and how they manage the economy. Rome is a case where the Emperors controlled more and more and had to support massive armies. The currency was also devalued. The coins were silver but the silver was replaced with copper and eventually it was worth only 5% of the true value. They ran out of money. Today we are printing worthless paper money and going in the same direction. Venice declined when the Doges took a bigger share of the trade and limited those who could trade and this stifled innovation. When the state grows and spends, taxes increase, add in inflation and a situation develops that cannot continue. Higher taxes also discourage enterprise.
You ask why the west did not collapse after WWII. Industry kept going producing arms and there was high employment. We only needed to convert it back to peacetime production. In my view, technology tends to advance during wars, and in WWII there was the advance of electronics which gave a huge boost to the world economy. Britain’s failure was to develop a welfare state, creating a sense of entitlement, and we did not modernise industry. One look at our trade deficit since the war compared to Germany tells the story. But Germany is now following disastrous energy policies. As for the UK we exported our jobs to China, let foreign companies take over our essential utilities, allowed uncontrolled immigration. What better ways to destroy a country?
If the green climate policies could be reversed there is a chance to recover and it is impossible to understand how this nonsense has such a grip on ordinary people. I can understand that there is a group of people who are making money from it and do not care about anything else. They have the power and control, just like the Roman Emperors. The belief in something that does not exist seems comparable to witchcraft and I have been trying to find views on how that started and ended but there seems to be no obvious reasons. It is impossible to understand why climate alarmism has such a grip, when, as Tony Heller points out daily, there is no evidence to support it. Witchcraft was never likely to cause collapse of a civilisation but destroying our energy supplies will and that was never a cause of collapse in the past.
After posting the above I read an email from NetZero Watch saying Boris proposes a £6bn loan to energy companies and expects them to pass it on to consumers. He hasn’t got the money and we will still have to pay the debt. He should reduce the subsidies and taxes. He, and his entire cabinet, are utterly clueless. He is a modern day Nero, partying whilst the country collapses.
‘Climate Change’ is in fact a new religion. The Swedish church has already hailed Ms Thunberg as a successor to Jesus Christ.
With Climate Change now the official policy of all Western governments, and with the MSM constantly plugging this new faith, it makes one realise exactly how Christianity obtained such a grip on Europe, once it was adopted as the official religion of the Roman empire.
The whole point about religions – particularly those based on a ‘Doomsday’ scenario and with charismatic leaders – is that they rely on faith, rather than facts. And there is no more factual justification for Climate Change than there is for any other religion.
In the 1970’s, we were told that we were all going to freeze to death in a ‘New Ice Age’. In the 1980’s, it was the ‘Hole in the Ozone layer’ and ‘Acid Rain’ that were going to kill us all off. In the late 1990’s/early 2000’s. both the poles were going to be ice-free by 2015, Venice, the Maldive islands, large tracts of New York would be underwater, and children born in the year 2000 would never see snow.
Despite this record of abject failure to predict what actually happened, the spread of this irrational religion continues. It seems to fill a need in many people, particularly as the Christian churches which once fulfilled that need in Western societies have been exposed as corrupt, sexually deviant on a huge scale, and with leaders who themselves plainly no longer believe in the original myths.
The ultimate test, however, is how people who have become used to being able to keep warm, cook hot food at will, and enjoy the freedom to make long journeys with via their own, or public, transport, will react when faced with the imminent possibility of being unable to do these things anymore. This is where myth and reality will collide.
And the leaders of the new religion will suddenly be exposed as just as corrupt, greedy, and cynical as the leaders of the old.
Jeffrey, you make a good point about governments and climate change, and it applies to the pandemic. Most governments seem to be in agreement about actions on climate change, but it took time for them to agree. In the case of the pandemic, they were all in immediate agreement. They normally never agree, and we can see this about dealing with Putin.
I agree with the article and comments above but perhaps we are looking too hard for an answer which might be in very broad terms, not as complicated as we think.
I think natures survival of the fittest has a strong thread running through this topic where the fittest might not mean the best or the most worthy.
If a swarm of flies can kill a buffalo, this does not mean that the flies are superior to the buffalo.
The more refined a creature is, the less adaptable it is when outside factors impact on that creatures environment and generally speaking the more refined, the less chance of survival. Rats can live anywhere but a Koala bear for example, is restricted by its specialised diet.
The western society has, compared to many competitor societies, some built in weaknesses that less developed societies do not suffer.
The west believes that induviduals are entitled to freedom, limit their offspring to ensure a high standard of living and believe in equality and toleration for all. this applies even to the extent that this pursuit of equality and toleration for all may clearly impact upon a westerners own standard of living and quality of life. This is why so many westerners refuse to acknowledge the problems associated with immigration and deny other races unpalatable characteristics which they pretend do not exist.
We are indoctronated by MSM idiots who are usually well insulated from immigration problems and who insist that every culture is equally valid and worthy of respect. Even many of those who’s lives are impacted can be so brainwashed to aspire to think the right way that they will allow their own lives and that of their children and neighbours to be ruined just so long as they are seen, and feel themselves to be inclusive.
That is how the west has peaked and we are about to decline rapidly especially as we are happy to share power and authority with those from other civilisations that smell blood and conciously or unconciously wish to see us fall.
I can’t think as deep as the contributors here. My approach is rather simple. Policy and actions of western govts. have all been the same, more or less. It follows that there has been agreement and collusion between them in response to demands of their masters. This applies to dealing with covid or climate change. I think that’s all there’s to it, at the moment, but the ultimate destination is probably in terms of ‘the great reset’ and it’s not designed for, nor will be, for the benefit of the masses. I do agree that western civilization is heading for the cliffs.