Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition

The world has come a long way in the last 200 years. Man has rid himself of God, of hierarchy and of everything that gives him meaning until he is left worshiping at the empty altar of his own ambition. Undoubtedly, genuine progress has been made on many fronts. Over the last eight decades, international free-trade policies spearheaded by America and the wider Western world have resulted in a surge in global wealth and a reduction in global poverty levels, with the portion of global citizenry living in extreme poverty falling from 53% in 1953 to just 9% in 2018. Life expectancy has risen from just 32 in 1900 to 71 in 2021. In the same vein, the transformation of economic development and living standards are reflected in the difference between urbanization rates in 1950 (30%) and 2018 (55%).

Whether it be Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla's groundwork for modern electrical processes, Karl Benz’s development of the first practical automobile in 1886 or even the advent of democratic philosophy by the Greeks in antiquity, the contributions offered to humanity by the Western world in the way of scientific, technological, philosophical and medicinal advancements are unparalleled, propelling humanity out of the feudal age and fostering the perpetual growth of our world over the centuries. We have much to be proud of in the way of progress, but at what point does it become an unhealthy and destructive obsession?

While important strides have been made in recognizing past mistakes, there comes a point where a choice is made between a healthy admission of past culpability and perpetual self-castration. Modern Western society has chosen the latter. The advent of amoral secularism and the destruction of the foundational pillars of the Western world (Christianity, traditional moral values and the nuclear family) has rendered many a once-great nation absent of a unified national identity and thorough moral framework. The West is now left saddled with a multiplicity of contentious, individual group identities and various moral perversions reminiscent of the Weimar Republic during the 1920s; it divides us and makes us weak.  

The erosion of America’s moral fabric, as once known by our grandparents, has made incredible headway over the last 80 years. Western Christian values such as a strong family unit, personal integrity, responsibility, modesty, civility and restraint constitute the foundational framework upon which the wider Western world has built its success over the centuries. This framework has been systematically dismantled through various left-wing social movements starting in the 1960s that promise “progress.”

Coinciding with the rise of these social movements, the rate of fatherlessness in the United States has more than tripled since 1960, from a mere 8% to 24.4% in 2012, bringing with it a litany of negative consequences. Integrity and modesty have given way to the damaging effects of widespread promiscuity and impulsive hedonism, fostering the development of an intellectually shallow and perverse populace. Any sense of commitment or sacrifice to another has been replaced by selfishness and the fulfillment of fleeting personal gratifications; these are the cherished “liberations” from “old institutions.”

Modern liberalism has the sexes more estranged from each other now more than ever, thrusting a wrench into what is perhaps America’s most important institution: the nuclear family, the timeless bedrock of our country's prosperity and stability. The divide thrust upon the American people by the fractious forces of identity politics has manifested in a hostile political divide between the sexes within Gen Z itself. 70% of college liberals (the overwhelming majority of which are women) say they would not go on a date with a conservative. A world in which relationships with the opposite sex are dependent upon loyalty to the reigning political orthodoxy is something that previous generations find themselves hard-pressed to relate to.  

Gen Z stands at the helm of a unique opportunity to right recent historical wrongs, bridging fabricated and needless divides between man and woman, left and right, restoring America to its longstanding traditional heritage. It is heritage rather than endowment or advent; we inherited this template, these values, these institutions. Our ancestors, who forged the greatness and prosperity that the Western world is so renowned for, provided us with a "how-to" guide. Their wisdom and ingenuity resounds in all corners of the planet; we are those people. We have hitherto carefully followed this guide to great success. This recent historical aberration is rooted in noble intentions, to be sure. The concept of progress has always occupied a place in our minds, and long may it continue, but not when it descends into the unrecognizable madness witnessed today. Let us look to the past for inspiration, for never is a man more foolish than when he discards the cumulative, ancestral wisdom of past generations and crowns himself king of new truths. Reject modernity; embrace tradition.

Acknowledgment: The opinions expressed in this piece are those of the individual author.