I feel that this work of Theodore Dalrymple is one of the clearest, most concise and thought provoking critiques of culture in the modern Western world. I would say that this book had a tremendous impact on me and gave me a voice, along with a tremendous respect for the author simply because he chooses to see things as they are on the ground using his own eyes through experience. He does not look through looking at the lens of other's ideas that come from political abstractions and political correctness, instead calling a spade a spade without giving even the slightest impression of bigotry or narrow-mindedness.
Similar to what Dalrymple feels about high culture - I believe that high culture is built through the reflections of thousands of years of introspection and survival of important thoughts. By all standards, not all culture is equal and low culture should be treated lowly and not integrated into rest of our values by making the excuse that everyone has an equal voice and that all expression is more or less equal or has a right to be said. He brings about the most challenging ideas about the limits to freedom, perhaps making the most powerful critique of political freedom in the modern sense that I have probably ever read. It is difficult for an non-idealouge to equate his writings intellectual pretense or some form of elitism - his views are solid and grounded in strong arguments.
Dalrymple feels that civilization and the larger moral order needs to be conserved as importantly as civilization needs to be reformed. There is a reason why literature such as The Bible or Plato's Republic still hold in print after all these years - they provide a beautiful reflection into the state of soul and society. The same goes for serious pieces of art and poetry - where Beethoven and Mozart could never be compared to a pop artist like Amy Winehouse. (Yes, I am not kidding - this is a serious criticism!). After all, one work epitomizes the pinnacle of human achievement whereas the other shows works of incredible artistic mediocrity that unfortunately happens to hold a large appeal over popular culture.
He puts a strong blame on intellectuals - the champagne socialist types for this cultural deterioration because their ideas create rationalizations that provide concepts of 'rights' and 'freedoms' that do not allow individuals to accept responsibility for their own actions and instead blame it on a higher authority like the state - equivalent to a complete distrust of authority purely on the ridiculous notion that this distrust is a virtue on its own regardless of its fragile justifications. Liberal intellectuals have made a constant attempt to erode on long held social institutions such as the family, marriage that hold power due to the strength of these bonds in the name of liberation and this is precisely where he lays the blame, and in my opinion, rightfully so.
Amongst other causes of this cultural decline, the author describes the modern sources of phoniness as the result of thoughtless sentimentality and feelings of entitlement that are bestowed upon children quite frequently in a television-plugged household. He examines the strengths of Western Civilization and how it lies in ideas of political freedom, classical education, aesthetic achievements that (in his words) "override the simple biological existence" of man as well as the scientific method and medicine. This makes him sound like a colonial thinker - but he also closely identifies the demerits of the civilization that include mass consumerism, egotism, the cult of the self, breakdown of tradition, high divorce rates and breakdown of the family unit, high uses of drug and alcohol use and so forth.
Perhaps the most profound view of Dalrymple that I strongly empathize with is the idea that Western humanism might have reached the political ideals of freedom of thought, opportunity, speech, movement and public participation but has moved away from cultural ideals such as freedom from want and sin, acceptance of responsibility and civic participation. This collection of essays covers many important topics such as the cultural phenomenon of teen pregnancies, dating, household abuse, negligence and the other destructive ideas that have managed to find acceptance under the pretense of protecting 'individual rights'.
Coming from Pakistan - some would find it absurd that I found inspiration in a British political commentator - Dalrymple's observations are primarily from his experience as a prison doctor in Britain and hence most of his analysis and anecdotes are based on that background. This doesn't stop me from holding sincere beliefs aligned with his inference that a lot of the highlighted problems are contained through the moral order of religion (that unfortunately often emerges with the disastrous menace of religious fundamentalism and moral absolutism). This Eurocentric view is not a problem because it allows us to take the positive sides of Western culture and incorporate it into our worldview and reject those ideas that evoke feelings of disgust.
Perhaps this entire book can be summarized by the simple idea that the author states - Gresham's law: "the bad drives out the good, unless the good is defended". As a corollary, ideas such as transgression no longer legitimately retain their romantic status and voyeurism is not seen as broadening of experience but a fool hardy act that leaves one in a life devoid of meaning - where meaning stems from responsibility towards others. However, at the same time the author quite rightfully leaves the open question about what extent the rationalization behind censorship is valid before it jumps into the territory of forcefulness. Other hard hitting jabs in this book come from the criticism of literary examples of self-pity and entitlement including Karl Marx and instead embraces (rather unknown-ish) figures such as Steven Zweig and James Gillray and praises their empirical and anti-abstract views on culture. The chapter 'How to Read a Society' is a work of art by an incredible genius of expression.
It would be a rare case if this collection of essays doesn't plant a thought in your head. This would be a great gift it to friends and family - a non-dry, aesthetically pleasing book that can be passed on after a read. (or left as a treasure on the bookshelf as a defining book behind one's social conservatism).
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Top reviews from other countries
MC-BT
Leitura fantástica e extremamente importante
Reviewed in Brazil on August 28, 2017Amazon_Kunde
Interessante, wenn auch nun mehr ältere Essaysammlung, mit einem äußerst pessimistischen Grundtenor
Reviewed in Germany on May 5, 2019David Robertson
An outstanding must read collection of essays
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 30, 2019