Theodore Dalrymple

From the man who wrote that 'the British youth are the most unpleasant and ugly that exist', a critique of modern British, if not all modernday western, culture:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/print/essays/7157308/its-fun-to-smash-things.thtml


"It is one of the tasks of civilisation to tame our inherent savagery. But who, contemplating contemporary British culture, would recognise in it any civilising influence, or rather fail to recognise its opposite? It is a constant call to and celebration of degradation, not only physical but spiritual and emotional. A culture in which Amy Winehouse, with her militant vulgarity and self-indulgent stupidity, combined with a very minor talent, could be so extravagantly admired and feted, is not one to put up strong barriers against our baser instincts, desires and urges. On the contrary, that culture has long been a celebration of those very urges. He who pays the savage never gets rid of the savagery; and this is only the beginning. "

This strikes a chord that I cannot help but appreciate. Perhaps he is one more of the many old farts muttering about how the youth of today is so much worse than before. Or maybe he is tainted by his years of working with the lowest parts of various existing societies. But his many papers, books and articles on society and culture are an interesting read, to say the least.