For over a week the media reminded us of the ‘Holocaust’ – the systematic annihilation of 6 million men, women and children by the Nazis just because they were Jews.
Since the Nazis, of course, the world has known the horrific excesses of Maoist China and Pol Pot’s Cambodia – both regimes pursuing the political ideology of Karl Marx.
But will there be 75th anniversary commemorations for the many millions sacrificed on the altar of Materialist Ideology born of the Enlightenment – a mindset of Rights eclipsing Responsibilities, a mindset which gave the world the French Revolution and the writings of Karl Marx.
I doubt it.
The worst culprits of mass murder and their apologists have managed to divert attention from their deep culpability by perverting the parameters of public consciousness about genocide to define it as Racist, Nationalist or Religious.
Nazism of course qualifies as Racism and extreme Nationalism. But no-one ever mentions the fact that it qualifies under the heading of Materialist Socialism too – the National Socialist German Workers Party is the full name of the Nazis.
If you look up the words “genocide” and “convention” on Wikipedia you will find extracts from the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260.
Article 2 of that Resolution defines genocide as: “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
- national,
- ethnical,
- racial or
- religious group“
No mention of a political or ideological group. But then the Wikipedia entry goes on to explain that in these terms:
The convention was passed to outlaw actions similar to the Holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War 2. The first draft of the Convention included political killings, but the USSR[6] along with some other nations would not accept that actions against groups identified as holding similar political opinions or social status would constitute genocide,[7] so these stipulations were subsequently removed in a political and diplomatic compromise.
Marxist-Leninist, Stalinist Russia committed mass murder and massive criminal neglect before, during and after the 12 years of the Nazi regime. Its crimes were on a scale larger than that of Nazi Germany. But Joseph Stalin was able to censor and pervert an international accord on this most heinous crime to exclude the identification of mass murder in the pursuit of political Ideology such as Marxism.
How could this happen ?
In 1948, all attention was focused on the Nazis; Stalinist Russia was one of the principal Allies against Germany in the World War; and the assumptions and worldview of Materialism were already embedded in the western Intelligentsia. It was therefore easy to divert attention from the obvious question concerning Politically motivated mass murder of anyone disagreeing with totalitarian, Marxist regimes.
The reality is that Materialist thinking has very real consequences. Its critical worldview forming ideas include:
- there is no God in heaven who will judge the way we treat our fellow human beings
- we are therefore our own god and can determine all morality ourselves
- there is no existence after this material life so the worst that can happen when someone dies is that they are put to sleep forever
- life has no other dimension but the material here and now
- therefore only the material conditions of this life matter
- happiness and success are purely material – not moral and spiritual
Christianity on the other hand teaches us that
- every individual will account for their every action to God their Maker
- everyone should treat others with respect and concern as God’s creation
- to kill is to usurp God’s position in the life of another – it is blasphemy and treason !
- moral responsibility towards others starts with me as an individual – not with the State
- accountability to God and his law comes before all other powers and persons
- we are all sinners made in God’s image therefore we are all capable of good, but we are all capable of serious evil
- therefore we must each wage war against the evil in our own hearts and minds, first and foremost, and refuse the evasive cop-out of hypocritically judging others
Materialism is essentially amoral – we are neither good nor bad; we are just what we are. That means, however, that we ignore a fundamental, critical aspect of our humanity: our inner propensity to deceive ourselves in our pursuit of self interest. It means we easily see evil in others – rarely in ourselves. That leads us into the snare of hypocritical self righteousness.
Evil, of course, must always be eradicated, especially when the perpetrators are so obvious – be they a racial group, be they political adversaries. We Righteous are called to Eradicate the Evil Injustice “they” perpetrate.
You are guilty but I am righteous has been the hallmark of the oppressive rules rigid Pharisee from before the time of Jesus Christ. Inspired by hatred of those seen as dangerous apostates from the One True Faith, Saul [who became the apostle Paul] severely persecuted innocent people simply because they disagreed.
Today, many western intellectuals have unconsciously absorbed the Marxist mindset and so display a Self Righteous Condescension to anyone who disagrees. This arrogant assumption of a right to over rule and dismiss anyone who disagrees has been well illustrated by the Remainiac attitude within the British Intelligentsia – no amount of voting by stupid and ignorant working people will ever justify Brexit in their eyes.
But in the final analysis, it is not just about groups committing or suffering atrocities. In the final analysis each one of us is capable of terrible sin, and each one of us is capable of great good.
Each of us is responsible to ensure that our own lives are lived with respect to others, whoever they may, whatever their views and lifestyle. And while most of us shrink from committing murder, we are all capable of standing by and acquiescing when others commit crimes because we fear the consequences to ourselves.
Self righteous/ interested Causes + Fear = Auschwitz, Gulags, Maoist massacres, Jihad etc etc …
Ray Catlin
Conservatism Institute 