They didn't have the Enlightenment. Although the rot had set in much earlier, that was pretty much the decisive blow to the aristocratic warrior spirit in the West. Since then it has atrophied badly over many generations. Japan and Korea maintained a warrior nobility for longer, and so longer resisted effeminization which redefines morality in terms of pacificity, pity, tenderness, sensitivity, empathy, sympathy with suffering, etc. Since the politics of pity is more alien to their culture, it's hard for the liberal factions within East Asian countries to use it to justify immigration etc.
Whatever the solution for the West, it will involve a rebirth of this masculine martial spirit. There's probably no single change that will bring it about, other than either collapse on the one hand, or on the other, a concerted effort by enough people to instill traditional virtues in their families and to serve as examples for their communities.
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"longer, and so longer resisted effeminization which redefines morality in terms of pacificity, pity, tenderness, sensitivity, empathy, sympathy with suffering, etc"
He said that like it is a bad thing
The thing that has probably kept our species alive this long, even though we are relatively weak and unprotected, is our ability for empathy and cooperation.
Your "traditional" masculine spirit causes death, sufferings, hatred, and famines. Why don't you move to Raqqa? Those boys know nothing of "effeminization", empathy nor pity.
Yeah, that martial spirit: there are reasons, real reasons, why peace is preferable to war. You want that "warrior nobility"? Just think through the consequences of that desire. More young men going off to war, more deaths, ...and inevitably fewer young men returning home again, and more women being required to keep civilization ticking. Bang, there goes your warrior nobility crap.
There's nothing noble about building your life and character around killing other people, nor is the mentality even of use anymore due to the nature of modern warfare. Your precious berserker-style warriors didn't die out because of some insidious plot. They were replaced by soldiers because they were outdated and wholly inferior, both in and out of combat.
I'm guessing that you don't know that the samurai were expected to be cultured gentlemen as well as warriors. Also the code of bushido which specifically includes the concept of mercy and benevolence. From Bushido: The Soul of Japan (published in 1889): Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity, are traits of Benevolence, the highest attribute of the human soul. Both Confucius and Mencius often said the highest requirement of a ruler of men is Benevolence.
Just out of curiosity though, how many countries that conduct themselves in a way that you approve of are doing well? Just asking.
Yes, because empathy and concern for the rest of the species is such a bad thing...
If masculinity is lack of empathy, perhaps it's time to rethink the concept.
Korea did not, in fact, have a large scale warrior tradition. They modeled themselves after the intellectual Chinese traditions, and typically looked to China for military protection. And guess what? The intellectual nations badly bloodied your warrior paradise when the "legendary" Hideyoshi invaded Korea, and was subsequently repulsed. Lotta good their martial tradition did them then, huh?
redefines morality in terms of pacificity, pity, tenderness, sensitivity, empathy, sympathy with suffering, etc.
All those things which Jesus was preaching to his all-male disciples. The man had some good ideas.
If the collapse you want does happen, you have no reason to believe you and your (LOL) "martial spirit" will survive even a first encounter with some else's.
In other words, big fish tend to eat smaller ones. If you were unprotected by the rule of law, what the hell makes you think you'd be a predator?
Yeah, fuck empathy; if you're an enemy soldier taken prisoner during wartime, you set the rules: They can torture you 'til you're a pulp.
I'm absolutely certain someone who says the shit the OP says has never been struck by a metal baton (nor has he done that to anyone else). He just sits there in his basement jacking off to horrors he'd never fucking survive.
I really hate his sort, and am not sure how much empathy I could muster if it were ever my turn to educate them on why terrorising other people is bad.
My knowledge of Meiji-era Japanese social customs is next to nonexistent, but the kouha, literally "hard school", were a type of student with strong preference to traditional Japanese practices of bushi, as opposed to the nanpa, who dressed in a western fashion and flirted with girls. The kouha preferred male-male sexuality, which sort of throws a monkey wrench in your whole "the gays are a symptom of cultural decadence" bullshit narrative.
Chewing has clearly never heard anything about the Napoleonic Wars, which were full to bursting with all the manly, aristocratic warrior spirit you could shake a stick at: Dukes and Earls and whatnot quipping about having legs blown off, cavalry charges every which way, men lining up in bright fancy uniforms and throwing volleys of musketfire at one another, etc.
And then a number of wars - the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, the civil war between the Emperor and Shogun in Japan - happened and you know what happened? All of the aristocratic martial spirit lined up and got shot . Then WWI was more of the same, and by the time WWII rolled around, manly aristocrats were getting pretty thin on the ground.
Regardless, the Enlightenment was hardly the death knell of the warrior aristocracy; indeed, it came alongside (probably coincidentally) a big expansion of the aristocracy in general and particularly the ennoblement of officers, as well as a renewed appreciation of Classical Greece and Rome which were, guess what, warrior aristocracies. (Rome somewhat less so - they also had a lot of merchant aristocrats - but they were quite militant nonetheless.)
Wait. This tool bag is claiming that East Asia, the region that adhered to philosophies such as Buddhism & Shinto for a few thousand years, didn't value empathy, sympathy, or kindness to the suffering?
Who opened the portal to Bizzaro World?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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