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The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power
In what we tell ourselves is an age of reason, we are behaving increasingly irrationally. An astonishing number of people subscribe to celebrity endorsed cults, Mayan armageddon prophecies, scientism, and other varieties of new age, anti-enlightenment philosophies. Millions more advance popular conspiracy AIDS was created in a CIA laboratory, Princess Diana was assassinated, and the 9/11 attacks were an inside job.
In The World Turned Upside Down, Melanie Phillips explains that the basic cause of this explosion of irrationality is the slow but steady marginalization of religion. We tell ourselves that faith and reason are incompatible, but the opposite is the case. It was Christianity and the Hebrew Bible, Phillips asserts, that gave us our concepts of reason, progress, and an orderly world on which science and modernity are based.
Without its religious traditions, the West has drifted into mass derangement where truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and aggressor are all turned upside down. Scientists skeptical of global warming are hounded from their posts, Israel is demonized, and the US is vilified over the war on terror—all on the basis of blatant falsehoods and obscene propaganda.
Worst of all, asserts Phillips, this abandonment of rationality leaves the West vulnerable to its legitimate threats. Faced with the very real challenges of spiraling demographics and violent, confrontational Islamism, the West is no longer willing or able to defend the modernity and rationalism that it once brought into being.
In The World Turned Upside Down, Melanie Phillips explains that the basic cause of this explosion of irrationality is the slow but steady marginalization of religion. We tell ourselves that faith and reason are incompatible, but the opposite is the case. It was Christianity and the Hebrew Bible, Phillips asserts, that gave us our concepts of reason, progress, and an orderly world on which science and modernity are based.
Without its religious traditions, the West has drifted into mass derangement where truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and aggressor are all turned upside down. Scientists skeptical of global warming are hounded from their posts, Israel is demonized, and the US is vilified over the war on terror—all on the basis of blatant falsehoods and obscene propaganda.
Worst of all, asserts Phillips, this abandonment of rationality leaves the West vulnerable to its legitimate threats. Faced with the very real challenges of spiraling demographics and violent, confrontational Islamism, the West is no longer willing or able to defend the modernity and rationalism that it once brought into being.
486 pages, Hardcover
First published March 30, 2010
72 people are currently reading
354 people want to read
About the author
Melanie Phillips
31 books155 followersMelanie Phillips, journalist, broadcaster and author, is Britain’s best known and most controversial champion of traditional values in the culture war.
Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.
Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.
Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, antisemitism and the power of history, was published in April by Post Hill Press. Her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, was published by Post Hill Press in January.
Among her earlier books is All Must Have Prizes, a devastating critique of Britain's education system. She is also the author of The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, published by the Social Market Foundation, America's Social Revolution, published by Civitas, and The Ascent of Woman, a history of the ideas behind the female suffrage campaign, published by Little, Brown. She also wrote a play, Traitors, which was performed at the Drill Hall in London in 1985
Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.
Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.
Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, antisemitism and the power of history, was published in April by Post Hill Press. Her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, was published by Post Hill Press in January.
Among her earlier books is All Must Have Prizes, a devastating critique of Britain's education system. She is also the author of The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, published by the Social Market Foundation, America's Social Revolution, published by Civitas, and The Ascent of Woman, a history of the ideas behind the female suffrage campaign, published by Little, Brown. She also wrote a play, Traitors, which was performed at the Drill Hall in London in 1985
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August 19, 2023
In this seismic and brilliant work the redoubtable Melanie Phillips dissects the insanity, moral cowardliness and perversity of the post modern left elite and methodically displays the moral perfidy and the intellectual dishonesty of the bastions of their ideology: Environmentalism, anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism, Third worldism, 'anti-racism' , victim culture, moral and cultural relativism, utilitarianism, and transnationalism that all all define the post-modern left-wing mind.
In her forward Ms Phillips rightly points out that deep division in the West on today's issues is no longer so much 'left' and right' but between ordinary people on the one hand and the intelligentsia on the other. The left-wing intelligentsia lacking all rationality. Objectivity has been replaced by the intellectual elites with ideology. The leftist intelligentsia today controls the schools and universities, the media, the increasingly influential NGOs the legal and justice system, the liberal churches and increasingly government.
The plans by the sinister Stalinist Antonio Gramsci has been very successful indeed. Gramsci's ideas were the staple diet of the 60's radicals that now dominate the elites. Gramsci entrenched the idea that Western civilization could be overthrown by gaining hegemony over the citadels of the culture - the universities and schools, churches, media, civil service and professions.
Chapter One is is about the various bizarre conspiracy theories and cults that have infected the minds of modern society, These include NeoFascist, Islamist, Green and New Age groups.
Insane conspiracy theories include the idea that the 911 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the George W Bush administration and in some versions (particularly popular among Muslims, Neo-Nazis and the anti-Zionist left) aided and abetted by the Israeli Mossad.
Others are anti-Semitic conspiracy theories espoused by such crackpots as David Icke about the world being controlled by the Illuminati and Bildeberg group which were responsible for the Holocaust, world terrorism and which are linked to central text of Jew-hating conspiracy theory, The Elders of the Protocols of Zion. She deals with the personality cult around figures such as Princess Diana and Barack Obama. the latter being tied to the suspension in political judgement. Susan Sarandon gushed that Obama 'is a community organizer and now he can organize us'. A New York art student made a papier mache figure of Obama as Jesus, complete with a blue halo and described Obama as 'a sort of potential saviour that might come and absolve the country of all it's sins'. And after Obama's vociferously pro-Islamic speech in Cairo in June 2009 Newsweek editor Evan Thomas declared on MSNBC 'I mean in a way Obama's standing is above the country, above the world, he's sort of God'. In October 2009 Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for having created a 'new political climate in the world' despite having not achieved any significant move towards peace anywhere in the world.
In Chapter Two the author describes her theory that man-made global warming is a hoax and in Chapter Three demolishes the myths that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair went to war against Saddam Hussein 'based on a lie'.
She explains finding such as those by British intelligence officials in March 2002 that revealed that Saddam was continuing towards a lethal biological weapons and chemical weapons programme and planned to go nuclear. and we know he had used WMD's in the past on the Kurds and Marsh Arabs and planned to do so again if his regime was threatened. She rightly points out that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. Weapons are know to have been moved to Syria from Iraq just before the 2003 Iraq War , and evidence by Saddam's former officials such as former air vice-marshal George Sada, that Saddam had ordered his weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military inspector could hope to find them and millions had been moved to Syria.
Furthermore Saddam had been a massive sponsor of world terrorism providing havens to terrorist organizations and paying out the families of those who carried out homicide bombings against civilians in Israel. A very important chapter is Chapter 3 where Ms Phillips discusses and analyses the deliberate misrepresentation of Israel in the media and by so called 'educators'. Israel has been under genocidal attack for 60 years and the Jews of the Holy Land for thirty years before that but the victimized have been turned into victimizers and the victimizers into victims. Israel has been demonized for defending herself and labelled as an Apartheid state despite the facts being to the contrary and even labelled 'Nazis ' for reacting to attacks on her civilian populace and for being the only Jewish state in a sea of 22 Arab Islamic states. Phillips masterfully go's through the history of the holy Land demonstrating that their was no nation called the Palestinians and the majority of Arabs in Israel and the West Bank migrated to Israel after the beginning of the return of the Jews to Zion in the 1890s. Those who oppose double standards against Israel are demonized in the most horrific ways and the victims of witch hunts in universities and the media where all voices that try to present the narrative that shows Israel's side are being silenced. As Ms Phillips writes " Perhaps the most mind-twisting example of psychological projection is the claim that the people you victimize are actually victimizing you. Those who are trying to silence Israelis or the Jews who support Israel turn around to claim that any protest against their boycotts or other acts of suppression is a threat to their freedom of speech-even while they dominate the media and their books are regularly displayed in bookshops".
Ms Phillips described the horrific Jew-hatred in the Muslim world and once more points out the hypocrisy of porjection: "Israel in particular is the object of frenzied psychological projection. Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan or the putative state of Palestine refuse to have Jews living within their borders; yet Israel is falsely accused of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'apartheid' The Muslim world tells lies about Jews; but it is Jews who are accused of telling lies about Islam. Nazi style anti-Semitism pours daily out of the Muslim world; yet that world accuses Zionism of being 'racist'. Iran threatens to wipe Israel off the map yet Israel is accused of 'genocide' against the Palestinians whose numbers have actually multiplied
.
The author shockingly delves into Muslim Jew hatred and Jew-hatred/Israel hatred among the Western elite, pointing out the interesting fact that venomous Israel-hatred is more prevalent among the elites, among those higher on the social ladder and with more formal education, an indictment of the poisonous culture at the universities and the perversity of the post modern elite.
The Neo-Nazi right are also not spared her scrutiny and she outlines the alliances far right anti-Semites have built up with the Islamist as well as the hypocrisy of the left who are supposed to be the enlightened supporters of feminism and gay rights wit the Islamist extremists who want to destroy all Western freedoms including those the left falsely claim to advance.
Phillips describes the malaise of western society especially in Britain and how the left elites aim to destroy British culture. I was particularly interested to explore her view of the witch-hunt of anti-racism which has destroyed the lives of so many ordinary people in Britain and the destruction of the family by social workers and government agencies . In one shocking case when a Scottish heron addict had her five and four year old children removed by the authorities, their grandparents request to adopt them was turned down and they were placed with a gay male couple, against the wishes of their grandparents who were told that if they objected they would never see the children again.
The later chapters of the book are taken up with the author's examination of the malaise of western culture and the historical precedents and philosophies that have led to this as well as presenting a convincing case for intelligent design and against scientific triumphalism, This is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the rot and conflict besetting the modern world and provides a thorough education on the many topics explored.
Merged review:
In this seismic and brilliant work the redoubtable Melanie Phillips dissects the insanity, moral cowardliness and perversity of the post modern left elite and methodically displays the moral perfidy and the intellectual dishonesty of the bastions of their ideology: Environmentalism, anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism, Third worldism, 'anti-racism' , victim culture, moral and cultural relativism, utilitarianism, and transnationalism that all all define the post-modern left-wing mind.
In her forward Ms Phillips rightly points out that deep division in the West on today's issues is no longer so much 'left' and right' but between ordinary people on the one hand and the intelligentsia on the other. The left-wing intelligentsia lacking all rationality. Objectivity has been replaced by the intellectual elites with ideology. The leftist intelligentsia today controls the schools and universities, the media, the increasingly influential NGOs the legal and justice system, the liberal churches and increasingly government.
The plans by the sinister Stalinist Antonio Gramsci has been very successful indeed. Gramsci's ideas were the staple diet of the 60's radicals that now dominate the elites. Gramsci entrenched the idea that Western civilization could be overthrown by gaining hegemony over the citadels of the culture - the universities and schools, churches, media, civil service and professions.
Chapter One is is about the various bizarre conspiracy theories and cults that have infected the minds of modern society, These include NeoFascist, Islamist, Green and New Age groups.
Insane conspiracy theories include the idea that the 911 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the George W Bush administration and in some versions (particularly popular among Muslims, Neo-Nazis and the anti-Zionist left) aided and abetted by the Israeli Mossad.
Others are anti-Semitic conspiracy theories espoused by such crackpots as David Icke about the world being controlled by the Illuminati and Bildeberg group which were responsible for the Holocaust, world terrorism and which are linked to central text of Jew-hating conspiracy theory, The Elders of the Protocols of Zion. She deals with the personality cult around figures such as Princess Diana and Barack Obama. the latter being tied to the suspension in political judgement. Susan Sarandon gushed that Obama 'is a community organizer and now he can organize us'. A New York art student made a papier mache figure of Obama as Jesus, complete with a blue halo and described Obama as 'a sort of potential saviour that might come and absolve the country of all it's sins'. And after Obama's vociferously pro-Islamic speech in Cairo in June 2009 Newsweek editor Evan Thomas declared on MSNBC 'I mean in a way Obama's standing is above the country, above the world, he's sort of God'. In October 2009 Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for having created a 'new political climate in the world' despite having not achieved any significant move towards peace anywhere in the world.
In Chapter Two the author describes her theory that man-made global warming is a hoax and in Chapter Three demolishes the myths that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair went to war against Saddam Hussein 'based on a lie'.
She explains finding such as those by British intelligence officials in March 2002 that revealed that Saddam was continuing towards a lethal biological weapons and chemical weapons programme and planned to go nuclear. and we know he had used WMD's in the past on the Kurds and Marsh Arabs and planned to do so again if his regime was threatened. She rightly points out that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. Weapons are know to have been moved to Syria from Iraq just before the 2003 Iraq War , and evidence by Saddam's former officials such as former air vice-marshal George Sada, that Saddam had ordered his weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military inspector could hope to find them and millions had been moved to Syria.
Furthermore Saddam had been a massive sponsor of world terrorism providing havens to terrorist organizations and paying out the families of those who carried out homicide bombings against civilians in Israel. A very important chapter is Chapter 3 where Ms Phillips discusses and analyses the deliberate misrepresentation of Israel in the media and by so called 'educators'. Israel has been under genocidal attack for 60 years and the Jews of the Holy Land for thirty years before that but the victimized have been turned into victimizers and the victimizers into victims. Israel has been demonized for defending herself and labelled as an Apartheid state despite the facts being to the contrary and even labelled 'Nazis ' for reacting to attacks on her civilian populace and for being the only Jewish state in a sea of 22 Arab Islamic states. Phillips masterfully go's through the history of the holy Land demonstrating that their was no nation called the Palestinians and the majority of Arabs in Israel and the West Bank migrated to Israel after the beginning of the return of the Jews to Zion in the 1890s. Those who oppose double standards against Israel are demonized in the most horrific ways and the victims of witch hunts in universities and the media where all voices that try to present the narrative that shows Israel's side are being silenced. As Ms Phillips writes " Perhaps the most mind-twisting example of psychological projection is the claim that the people you victimize are actually victimizing you. Those who are trying to silence Israelis or the Jews who support Israel turn around to claim that any protest against their boycotts or other acts of suppression is a threat to their freedom of speech-even while they dominate the media and their books are regularly displayed in bookshops".
Ms Phillips described the horrific Jew-hatred in the Muslim world and once more points out the hypocrisy of porjection: "Israel in particular is the object of frenzied psychological projection. Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan or the putative state of Palestine refuse to have Jews living within their borders; yet Israel is falsely accused of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'apartheid' The Muslim world tells lies about Jews; but it is Jews who are accused of telling lies about Islam. Nazi style anti-Semitism pours daily out of the Muslim world; yet that world accuses Zionism of being 'racist'. Iran threatens to wipe Israel off the map yet Israel is accused of 'genocide' against the Palestinians whose numbers have actually multiplied
.
The author shockingly delves into Muslim Jew hatred and Jew-hatred/Israel hatred among the Western elite, pointing out the interesting fact that venomous Israel-hatred is more prevalent among the elites, among those higher on the social ladder and with more formal education, an indictment of the poisonous culture at the universities and the perversity of the post modern elite.
The Neo-Nazi right are also not spared her scrutiny and she outlines the alliances far right anti-Semites have built up with the Islamist as well as the hypocrisy of the left who are supposed to be the enlightened supporters of feminism and gay rights wit the Islamist extremists who want to destroy all Western freedoms including those the left falsely claim to advance.
Phillips describes the malaise of western society especially in Britain and how the left elites aim to destroy British culture. I was particularly interested to explore her view of the witch-hunt of anti-racism which has destroyed the lives of so many ordinary people in Britain and the destruction of the family by social workers and government agencies . In one shocking case when a Scottish heron addict had her five and four year old children removed by the authorities, their grandparents request to adopt them was turned down and they were placed with a gay male couple, against the wishes of their grandparents who were told that if they objected they would never see the children again.
The later chapters of the book are taken up with the author's examination of the malaise of western culture and the historical precedents and philosophies that have led to this as well as presenting a convincing case for intelligent design and against scientific triumphalism, This is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the rot and conflict besetting the modern world and provides a thorough education on the many topics explored
In her forward Ms Phillips rightly points out that deep division in the West on today's issues is no longer so much 'left' and right' but between ordinary people on the one hand and the intelligentsia on the other. The left-wing intelligentsia lacking all rationality. Objectivity has been replaced by the intellectual elites with ideology. The leftist intelligentsia today controls the schools and universities, the media, the increasingly influential NGOs the legal and justice system, the liberal churches and increasingly government.
The plans by the sinister Stalinist Antonio Gramsci has been very successful indeed. Gramsci's ideas were the staple diet of the 60's radicals that now dominate the elites. Gramsci entrenched the idea that Western civilization could be overthrown by gaining hegemony over the citadels of the culture - the universities and schools, churches, media, civil service and professions.
Chapter One is is about the various bizarre conspiracy theories and cults that have infected the minds of modern society, These include NeoFascist, Islamist, Green and New Age groups.
Insane conspiracy theories include the idea that the 911 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the George W Bush administration and in some versions (particularly popular among Muslims, Neo-Nazis and the anti-Zionist left) aided and abetted by the Israeli Mossad.
Others are anti-Semitic conspiracy theories espoused by such crackpots as David Icke about the world being controlled by the Illuminati and Bildeberg group which were responsible for the Holocaust, world terrorism and which are linked to central text of Jew-hating conspiracy theory, The Elders of the Protocols of Zion. She deals with the personality cult around figures such as Princess Diana and Barack Obama. the latter being tied to the suspension in political judgement. Susan Sarandon gushed that Obama 'is a community organizer and now he can organize us'. A New York art student made a papier mache figure of Obama as Jesus, complete with a blue halo and described Obama as 'a sort of potential saviour that might come and absolve the country of all it's sins'. And after Obama's vociferously pro-Islamic speech in Cairo in June 2009 Newsweek editor Evan Thomas declared on MSNBC 'I mean in a way Obama's standing is above the country, above the world, he's sort of God'. In October 2009 Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for having created a 'new political climate in the world' despite having not achieved any significant move towards peace anywhere in the world.
In Chapter Two the author describes her theory that man-made global warming is a hoax and in Chapter Three demolishes the myths that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair went to war against Saddam Hussein 'based on a lie'.
She explains finding such as those by British intelligence officials in March 2002 that revealed that Saddam was continuing towards a lethal biological weapons and chemical weapons programme and planned to go nuclear. and we know he had used WMD's in the past on the Kurds and Marsh Arabs and planned to do so again if his regime was threatened. She rightly points out that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. Weapons are know to have been moved to Syria from Iraq just before the 2003 Iraq War , and evidence by Saddam's former officials such as former air vice-marshal George Sada, that Saddam had ordered his weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military inspector could hope to find them and millions had been moved to Syria.
Furthermore Saddam had been a massive sponsor of world terrorism providing havens to terrorist organizations and paying out the families of those who carried out homicide bombings against civilians in Israel. A very important chapter is Chapter 3 where Ms Phillips discusses and analyses the deliberate misrepresentation of Israel in the media and by so called 'educators'. Israel has been under genocidal attack for 60 years and the Jews of the Holy Land for thirty years before that but the victimized have been turned into victimizers and the victimizers into victims. Israel has been demonized for defending herself and labelled as an Apartheid state despite the facts being to the contrary and even labelled 'Nazis ' for reacting to attacks on her civilian populace and for being the only Jewish state in a sea of 22 Arab Islamic states. Phillips masterfully go's through the history of the holy Land demonstrating that their was no nation called the Palestinians and the majority of Arabs in Israel and the West Bank migrated to Israel after the beginning of the return of the Jews to Zion in the 1890s. Those who oppose double standards against Israel are demonized in the most horrific ways and the victims of witch hunts in universities and the media where all voices that try to present the narrative that shows Israel's side are being silenced. As Ms Phillips writes " Perhaps the most mind-twisting example of psychological projection is the claim that the people you victimize are actually victimizing you. Those who are trying to silence Israelis or the Jews who support Israel turn around to claim that any protest against their boycotts or other acts of suppression is a threat to their freedom of speech-even while they dominate the media and their books are regularly displayed in bookshops".
Ms Phillips described the horrific Jew-hatred in the Muslim world and once more points out the hypocrisy of porjection: "Israel in particular is the object of frenzied psychological projection. Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan or the putative state of Palestine refuse to have Jews living within their borders; yet Israel is falsely accused of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'apartheid' The Muslim world tells lies about Jews; but it is Jews who are accused of telling lies about Islam. Nazi style anti-Semitism pours daily out of the Muslim world; yet that world accuses Zionism of being 'racist'. Iran threatens to wipe Israel off the map yet Israel is accused of 'genocide' against the Palestinians whose numbers have actually multiplied
.
The author shockingly delves into Muslim Jew hatred and Jew-hatred/Israel hatred among the Western elite, pointing out the interesting fact that venomous Israel-hatred is more prevalent among the elites, among those higher on the social ladder and with more formal education, an indictment of the poisonous culture at the universities and the perversity of the post modern elite.
The Neo-Nazi right are also not spared her scrutiny and she outlines the alliances far right anti-Semites have built up with the Islamist as well as the hypocrisy of the left who are supposed to be the enlightened supporters of feminism and gay rights wit the Islamist extremists who want to destroy all Western freedoms including those the left falsely claim to advance.
Phillips describes the malaise of western society especially in Britain and how the left elites aim to destroy British culture. I was particularly interested to explore her view of the witch-hunt of anti-racism which has destroyed the lives of so many ordinary people in Britain and the destruction of the family by social workers and government agencies . In one shocking case when a Scottish heron addict had her five and four year old children removed by the authorities, their grandparents request to adopt them was turned down and they were placed with a gay male couple, against the wishes of their grandparents who were told that if they objected they would never see the children again.
The later chapters of the book are taken up with the author's examination of the malaise of western culture and the historical precedents and philosophies that have led to this as well as presenting a convincing case for intelligent design and against scientific triumphalism, This is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the rot and conflict besetting the modern world and provides a thorough education on the many topics explored.
Merged review:
In this seismic and brilliant work the redoubtable Melanie Phillips dissects the insanity, moral cowardliness and perversity of the post modern left elite and methodically displays the moral perfidy and the intellectual dishonesty of the bastions of their ideology: Environmentalism, anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism, Third worldism, 'anti-racism' , victim culture, moral and cultural relativism, utilitarianism, and transnationalism that all all define the post-modern left-wing mind.
In her forward Ms Phillips rightly points out that deep division in the West on today's issues is no longer so much 'left' and right' but between ordinary people on the one hand and the intelligentsia on the other. The left-wing intelligentsia lacking all rationality. Objectivity has been replaced by the intellectual elites with ideology. The leftist intelligentsia today controls the schools and universities, the media, the increasingly influential NGOs the legal and justice system, the liberal churches and increasingly government.
The plans by the sinister Stalinist Antonio Gramsci has been very successful indeed. Gramsci's ideas were the staple diet of the 60's radicals that now dominate the elites. Gramsci entrenched the idea that Western civilization could be overthrown by gaining hegemony over the citadels of the culture - the universities and schools, churches, media, civil service and professions.
Chapter One is is about the various bizarre conspiracy theories and cults that have infected the minds of modern society, These include NeoFascist, Islamist, Green and New Age groups.
Insane conspiracy theories include the idea that the 911 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the George W Bush administration and in some versions (particularly popular among Muslims, Neo-Nazis and the anti-Zionist left) aided and abetted by the Israeli Mossad.
Others are anti-Semitic conspiracy theories espoused by such crackpots as David Icke about the world being controlled by the Illuminati and Bildeberg group which were responsible for the Holocaust, world terrorism and which are linked to central text of Jew-hating conspiracy theory, The Elders of the Protocols of Zion. She deals with the personality cult around figures such as Princess Diana and Barack Obama. the latter being tied to the suspension in political judgement. Susan Sarandon gushed that Obama 'is a community organizer and now he can organize us'. A New York art student made a papier mache figure of Obama as Jesus, complete with a blue halo and described Obama as 'a sort of potential saviour that might come and absolve the country of all it's sins'. And after Obama's vociferously pro-Islamic speech in Cairo in June 2009 Newsweek editor Evan Thomas declared on MSNBC 'I mean in a way Obama's standing is above the country, above the world, he's sort of God'. In October 2009 Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for having created a 'new political climate in the world' despite having not achieved any significant move towards peace anywhere in the world.
In Chapter Two the author describes her theory that man-made global warming is a hoax and in Chapter Three demolishes the myths that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair went to war against Saddam Hussein 'based on a lie'.
She explains finding such as those by British intelligence officials in March 2002 that revealed that Saddam was continuing towards a lethal biological weapons and chemical weapons programme and planned to go nuclear. and we know he had used WMD's in the past on the Kurds and Marsh Arabs and planned to do so again if his regime was threatened. She rightly points out that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. Weapons are know to have been moved to Syria from Iraq just before the 2003 Iraq War , and evidence by Saddam's former officials such as former air vice-marshal George Sada, that Saddam had ordered his weapons teams to hide the WMDs in places no military inspector could hope to find them and millions had been moved to Syria.
Furthermore Saddam had been a massive sponsor of world terrorism providing havens to terrorist organizations and paying out the families of those who carried out homicide bombings against civilians in Israel. A very important chapter is Chapter 3 where Ms Phillips discusses and analyses the deliberate misrepresentation of Israel in the media and by so called 'educators'. Israel has been under genocidal attack for 60 years and the Jews of the Holy Land for thirty years before that but the victimized have been turned into victimizers and the victimizers into victims. Israel has been demonized for defending herself and labelled as an Apartheid state despite the facts being to the contrary and even labelled 'Nazis ' for reacting to attacks on her civilian populace and for being the only Jewish state in a sea of 22 Arab Islamic states. Phillips masterfully go's through the history of the holy Land demonstrating that their was no nation called the Palestinians and the majority of Arabs in Israel and the West Bank migrated to Israel after the beginning of the return of the Jews to Zion in the 1890s. Those who oppose double standards against Israel are demonized in the most horrific ways and the victims of witch hunts in universities and the media where all voices that try to present the narrative that shows Israel's side are being silenced. As Ms Phillips writes " Perhaps the most mind-twisting example of psychological projection is the claim that the people you victimize are actually victimizing you. Those who are trying to silence Israelis or the Jews who support Israel turn around to claim that any protest against their boycotts or other acts of suppression is a threat to their freedom of speech-even while they dominate the media and their books are regularly displayed in bookshops".
Ms Phillips described the horrific Jew-hatred in the Muslim world and once more points out the hypocrisy of porjection: "Israel in particular is the object of frenzied psychological projection. Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan or the putative state of Palestine refuse to have Jews living within their borders; yet Israel is falsely accused of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'apartheid' The Muslim world tells lies about Jews; but it is Jews who are accused of telling lies about Islam. Nazi style anti-Semitism pours daily out of the Muslim world; yet that world accuses Zionism of being 'racist'. Iran threatens to wipe Israel off the map yet Israel is accused of 'genocide' against the Palestinians whose numbers have actually multiplied
.
The author shockingly delves into Muslim Jew hatred and Jew-hatred/Israel hatred among the Western elite, pointing out the interesting fact that venomous Israel-hatred is more prevalent among the elites, among those higher on the social ladder and with more formal education, an indictment of the poisonous culture at the universities and the perversity of the post modern elite.
The Neo-Nazi right are also not spared her scrutiny and she outlines the alliances far right anti-Semites have built up with the Islamist as well as the hypocrisy of the left who are supposed to be the enlightened supporters of feminism and gay rights wit the Islamist extremists who want to destroy all Western freedoms including those the left falsely claim to advance.
Phillips describes the malaise of western society especially in Britain and how the left elites aim to destroy British culture. I was particularly interested to explore her view of the witch-hunt of anti-racism which has destroyed the lives of so many ordinary people in Britain and the destruction of the family by social workers and government agencies . In one shocking case when a Scottish heron addict had her five and four year old children removed by the authorities, their grandparents request to adopt them was turned down and they were placed with a gay male couple, against the wishes of their grandparents who were told that if they objected they would never see the children again.
The later chapters of the book are taken up with the author's examination of the malaise of western culture and the historical precedents and philosophies that have led to this as well as presenting a convincing case for intelligent design and against scientific triumphalism, This is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the rot and conflict besetting the modern world and provides a thorough education on the many topics explored
July 13, 2012
Melanie Phillips states quite clearly in her first chapter just where she herself stands - an 'agnostic Jew'- setting the tone of this fiercely honest, rigorously argued and committed book. Much of the material she cites was unfamiliar to me and I learned a lot. Where she writes of things closer to home, in the closing chapters, I found her pages full of 'Yes!' moments. There are things here to be deeply pondered. You may not agree with everything she says, but it is a book that needed to be written and deserves to be read with thoughtful attention. I hope that it will be read by those who have been duped by the nonsense of our age: probably, to a greater or lesser extent, most of us.
May 28, 2015
Ugh! Barf! If I could give a zero or a minus score, I would. This book is a far right-wing polemic. It is simply the author replaying the conservative line, with little attempt at objectivity or balance. It has nothing to do with "god" or "truth" as the cover blurb and subtitle purports.
The nominal theme of the book is that the erosion of Judeo-Christian principles has cast western society adrift, caused it to lose its ability to reason properly, and made it more gullible. That sounded like an interesting premise. However, the book never lays out the argument for why that would be the case, and doesn't lay any groundwork before launching into examples of how we've lost our reason. And all the examples the author gives are of "liberals" being gullible, as if the phenomenon she's trying to describe doesn't affect conservatives as well as liberals. (I think one can make an equally strong case, if not even stronger, that a number of conservative positions are unsupported by or contrary to evidence.)
Right off the bat in the first few pages, the author mentions how our gullibility led the U.S. to deify and elect Barack Obama as President despite any evidence (according to the author) of his ability. Sounds like a playbook from Fox news and the conservative right - anything Obama says or does is bad, wrong, and something they must oppose. The author makes no attempt to be either objective nor balanced. For example, she doesn't look at the conservative demonization of Obama at all or suggest that they might be guilty of the same gullibility and unreason as liberals.
Then Phillips challenges the global scientific consensus on climate change. She starts with the climategate e-mails a few years ago (which have since been investigated and found innocent of the charges of manipulation by several key national scientific organizations), and proceeds to cite several climate skeptics on other points. Having worked in the energy and climate field for 30 years, I can only conclude that the author does not know enough science or enough about climate change to decipher truth from fiction (exactly what she accuses "liberals" of), and defaults to the "authority" of the few voices who provide answers she wants to hear.
It goes on and on. The next chapter challenges the widely-held belief that we were taken into the Iraq War by lies; Phillips even dedicates a small section to explain how the absence of evidence (of weapons of mass destruction) does not mean the evidence of the absence (of those WMDs). Then she turns to how Israel is subjected to unprecedented scrutiny while the Palestinians are given a pass, turning history on its head. It is true that many liberals do this; but not all (myself included) do, and many/most conservatives do precisely the reverse - blame the "Arabs" while giving Israel a pass. (I believe that both sides are equally to blame for the deadly stalemate.) At one point she twists Obama's words, accusing him of Pro-Arab sentiment - another example of her own (and the right's) anti-Obama bias.
Phillips takes on scientific triumphalism - the idea that science trumps religious belief - especially as advocated by hard-core atheists like Richard Dawkins; while she doesn't advocate "Intelligent Design" as the alternative (her alternative actually sounds reasonable), she does cite a few proponents of "Intelligent Design," which made me wonder where she's really coming from. Then she even has a chapter about how sexual behavior has been hauled out of the "private realm" and turned into public "rights."
Toward the end Phillips briefly tries to explain how the erosion of western belief in God has led to this situation. It is too little too late. She shot her credibility in the first few pages, and then kept digging deeper for two hundred pages. Instead, it is a post-hoc rationalization of her anti-liberal venom.
The nominal theme of the book is that the erosion of Judeo-Christian principles has cast western society adrift, caused it to lose its ability to reason properly, and made it more gullible. That sounded like an interesting premise. However, the book never lays out the argument for why that would be the case, and doesn't lay any groundwork before launching into examples of how we've lost our reason. And all the examples the author gives are of "liberals" being gullible, as if the phenomenon she's trying to describe doesn't affect conservatives as well as liberals. (I think one can make an equally strong case, if not even stronger, that a number of conservative positions are unsupported by or contrary to evidence.)
Right off the bat in the first few pages, the author mentions how our gullibility led the U.S. to deify and elect Barack Obama as President despite any evidence (according to the author) of his ability. Sounds like a playbook from Fox news and the conservative right - anything Obama says or does is bad, wrong, and something they must oppose. The author makes no attempt to be either objective nor balanced. For example, she doesn't look at the conservative demonization of Obama at all or suggest that they might be guilty of the same gullibility and unreason as liberals.
Then Phillips challenges the global scientific consensus on climate change. She starts with the climategate e-mails a few years ago (which have since been investigated and found innocent of the charges of manipulation by several key national scientific organizations), and proceeds to cite several climate skeptics on other points. Having worked in the energy and climate field for 30 years, I can only conclude that the author does not know enough science or enough about climate change to decipher truth from fiction (exactly what she accuses "liberals" of), and defaults to the "authority" of the few voices who provide answers she wants to hear.
It goes on and on. The next chapter challenges the widely-held belief that we were taken into the Iraq War by lies; Phillips even dedicates a small section to explain how the absence of evidence (of weapons of mass destruction) does not mean the evidence of the absence (of those WMDs). Then she turns to how Israel is subjected to unprecedented scrutiny while the Palestinians are given a pass, turning history on its head. It is true that many liberals do this; but not all (myself included) do, and many/most conservatives do precisely the reverse - blame the "Arabs" while giving Israel a pass. (I believe that both sides are equally to blame for the deadly stalemate.) At one point she twists Obama's words, accusing him of Pro-Arab sentiment - another example of her own (and the right's) anti-Obama bias.
Phillips takes on scientific triumphalism - the idea that science trumps religious belief - especially as advocated by hard-core atheists like Richard Dawkins; while she doesn't advocate "Intelligent Design" as the alternative (her alternative actually sounds reasonable), she does cite a few proponents of "Intelligent Design," which made me wonder where she's really coming from. Then she even has a chapter about how sexual behavior has been hauled out of the "private realm" and turned into public "rights."
Toward the end Phillips briefly tries to explain how the erosion of western belief in God has led to this situation. It is too little too late. She shot her credibility in the first few pages, and then kept digging deeper for two hundred pages. Instead, it is a post-hoc rationalization of her anti-liberal venom.
December 11, 2010
The World Turned Upside Down is a review and critique of liberal-brand groupthink, protective stupidity, and scapegoating that can break the pull of polarization for anyone not already thoroughly polarized to the left or to the right.
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist who writes from the perspective of a disillusioned liberal with an abiding respect for her liberal Jewish upbringing. She begins her concluding chapter with a poignant reprise of her thesis:
“The Enlightenment is consuming its own progeny. In the West, the culture of reason is dying, brought down by a loss of faith in progress and in the rationality that underpinned it. The replacement of objective truth by subjective experience has turned some strands of science into a branch of unreason, as evidence is hijacked by ideology.”
The subtext of The World Turned Upside Down concerns the world turned rightside up, by which I understand Philips to hold that the best of all possible worlds is a secular society, organized as a liberal democracy in a market economy guided by the lessons of Jewish history. And further, that what is required in order to establish and maintain such a society is the inculcation of Jewish morality and ethics, rooted in a reverence for life as a gift from our Creator, which nurtures a characteristically Jewish love of learning and inquiry, that alone can produce an informed, rational, responsible, citizenry.
But, there is a fly in the ointment. The Christian term is “original sin,” a concept explored in depth by René Girard in I See Satan Fall Like Lightening and by Gil Bailie in Violence Unveiled. I recommend reading Phillips’ book in connection with those two and with one other: Jacques Ellul’s The Meaning of the City. In that sort of meeting of the minds, Phillips contributes significantly to the conversation.
For me, a pair of disappointing and distracting aspects of Phillips’ otherwise cogent presentation is that she does not seem to have an appreciation of the thoroughgoing Jewishness of the New Testament, and that she retrofits Medieval Christian beliefs and attitudes back onto the New Testament in ways that are entirely anachronistic and misleading. In doing so she is only following the lead of liberal Christian writers, but I would have liked to have seen her get it right.
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist who writes from the perspective of a disillusioned liberal with an abiding respect for her liberal Jewish upbringing. She begins her concluding chapter with a poignant reprise of her thesis:
“The Enlightenment is consuming its own progeny. In the West, the culture of reason is dying, brought down by a loss of faith in progress and in the rationality that underpinned it. The replacement of objective truth by subjective experience has turned some strands of science into a branch of unreason, as evidence is hijacked by ideology.”
The subtext of The World Turned Upside Down concerns the world turned rightside up, by which I understand Philips to hold that the best of all possible worlds is a secular society, organized as a liberal democracy in a market economy guided by the lessons of Jewish history. And further, that what is required in order to establish and maintain such a society is the inculcation of Jewish morality and ethics, rooted in a reverence for life as a gift from our Creator, which nurtures a characteristically Jewish love of learning and inquiry, that alone can produce an informed, rational, responsible, citizenry.
But, there is a fly in the ointment. The Christian term is “original sin,” a concept explored in depth by René Girard in I See Satan Fall Like Lightening and by Gil Bailie in Violence Unveiled. I recommend reading Phillips’ book in connection with those two and with one other: Jacques Ellul’s The Meaning of the City. In that sort of meeting of the minds, Phillips contributes significantly to the conversation.
For me, a pair of disappointing and distracting aspects of Phillips’ otherwise cogent presentation is that she does not seem to have an appreciation of the thoroughgoing Jewishness of the New Testament, and that she retrofits Medieval Christian beliefs and attitudes back onto the New Testament in ways that are entirely anachronistic and misleading. In doing so she is only following the lead of liberal Christian writers, but I would have liked to have seen her get it right.
June 13, 2010
49% of the world is stupid, 49% of the world is evil and the rest is in deep trouble.
A very important book and a must-read for those puzzled by the way common sense seems to have deserted our self-styled intellectual, self-appointed elites.
Why do their words fly in the face of historical and scientific facts, why do they demonise victims and make victims of aggressors?
Melanie Phillips, of 'Londonistan' fame, helps answer these questions.
I withhold the fifth star however, since she makes the discredited claim that British immigration policies in the thirties were responsible for the deaths of Jews in the subsequent Holocaust.
Two points, one minor, one major.
i) Who could possibly have foreseen the Holocaust in the thirties? Certainly not those Jews who actually returned to Germany in the thirties, believing it would all 'blow over', and
ii) the major point, Jewish immigration quotas both to Britain and Palestine were never filled until 1939, following Kristalnacht, when British consuls throughout Greater Germany began issuing tens of thousands of visas, far exceeding quotas, often simply to rescue Jews from the camps and random Gestapo beatings.
Look for 'The Myth of Rescue' by William D Rubinstein, in 'My Books'.
A very important book and a must-read for those puzzled by the way common sense seems to have deserted our self-styled intellectual, self-appointed elites.
Why do their words fly in the face of historical and scientific facts, why do they demonise victims and make victims of aggressors?
Melanie Phillips, of 'Londonistan' fame, helps answer these questions.
I withhold the fifth star however, since she makes the discredited claim that British immigration policies in the thirties were responsible for the deaths of Jews in the subsequent Holocaust.
Two points, one minor, one major.
i) Who could possibly have foreseen the Holocaust in the thirties? Certainly not those Jews who actually returned to Germany in the thirties, believing it would all 'blow over', and
ii) the major point, Jewish immigration quotas both to Britain and Palestine were never filled until 1939, following Kristalnacht, when British consuls throughout Greater Germany began issuing tens of thousands of visas, far exceeding quotas, often simply to rescue Jews from the camps and random Gestapo beatings.
Look for 'The Myth of Rescue' by William D Rubinstein, in 'My Books'.
September 1, 2010
Some would call the coercion of virtue a form of tyranny; "but to the progressive mind, tyranny occurs only when their untopia is denied. Virtue thus has to be coerced for the good of the poeple at the receiving end. Progressivism is all about creating the perfect society and is therefore inherently and incontestably virtuous. Progressives feel justied in trying to stifle any disagreement with their agenda on the grounds that the people they are are trying to stifle are 'fascist,' a term they employ without irony. Dissent is labled as pathology, with phobia, or irrational fear, used as a synonym for prejudice.
Calling today's conservatives 'fascists' is particularly absurd since such poeple tend to believe in limiting state power and giving more freedom to the individual. Nevertheless, leftists see the alternative to themselves as 'fascist' by definition.
Any fact that challenges the worldview of the left is ignored, deneid or explained away. Anyone who objects to the falsehoods of the left and points out the truth must be right-wing, and thus 'fascist.' In this way, truth itself is demonized...."
Calling today's conservatives 'fascists' is particularly absurd since such poeple tend to believe in limiting state power and giving more freedom to the individual. Nevertheless, leftists see the alternative to themselves as 'fascist' by definition.
Any fact that challenges the worldview of the left is ignored, deneid or explained away. Anyone who objects to the falsehoods of the left and points out the truth must be right-wing, and thus 'fascist.' In this way, truth itself is demonized...."
October 12, 2010
A book that has challenged my thinking on issues such as environmentalism, secularism, Darwinism, religion, science, modernity and the Middle East conflict. Very well researched and written, the author argues Western thinking rooted in rationality, separation of church and state, individualism, equal rights, tolerance, freedom of thought and action is being eroded by a loss of religious belief. Reason and truth are being replaced by irrationality, ideology and prejudices. It may take another reading to fully grasp the extent of her position, but I definitely feel I've gained a much better understanding of historical and current world conflicts.
October 1, 2014
Because Phillips' book is one that touches a very hot-potato issue at the moment (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), it's a bit challenging to write a review on it - only because she is so forthcoming about her support for the Israeli cause (it is pervasive and in-your-face in 80% of the book), and I do not have that particular tendency (if neutrality were possible in this conflict, I'd be right there in the centre!). Anyway, I will try to write a review based on her writing and the strength of her arguments rather than judge her political stance.
According to Phillips, she is "an agnostic although traditionally minded Jew. [She has] a deep concern for the security and survival of the Jewish people and for the security and survival of Western civilization, which [she happens] to believe are symbiotically connected." At least she warns us in the introduction. Also: Phillips is a British journalist.
I am a practicing Canadian Catholic, and so that is the lens through which I read her book.
Firstly, I found Phillips' writing a bit repetitive, and she seemed to be making the same central points over and over again. Her vocabulary, however, is delightful and generously varied. How British! =)
Secondly, while I agree with many of the arguments she puts forth about the erosion of rationality and the dictatorship of the Leftist, secularist intelligentsia, as well as some serious issues about Islam on a global level, I found that the vast and sweeping brush strokes with which she accused opponents of painting were the same ones that she was using in making her arguments and counter-arguments. She sometimes makes swelling generalizations, especially when it came to connecting antisemitism to the decline of Western civilization. (I personally agree that the two are related, but not to the degree to which she expounds the matter.) Part of her strong stance might be due to the fact that she is in Britain, where moral degradation, Islamist extremism, antisemitism, pro-Palestine support, and environmentalism are a lot more powerful than they are here in North America.
Additionally, because of the religion to which I adhere, I wasn't particularly pleased by the treatment of the Catholic Church in her book. She nonchalantly mentions several times in the book the dictatorial persecution of Jews by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition, thereby taking very easily for fact one of the myths surrounding our religion. (Meanwhile, Phillips is so quick to argue against anyone doing that for Judaism or for Israel.) Anytime any good achievement of Catholics are mentioned, the individuals are referred to as "Christians," a much broader term that is generally used to refer to Protestants.
I thought her analysis of the particular vulnerability of the Church of England is dead-on. She supports her argument by looking into the history of the CoE.
All in all, aside from the Zionist content, I found that a lot of what Phillips had to say had already been presented by Catholic apologists such as G.K. Chesterton and Peter Kreeft in a much wittier and easier to read format decades ago.
Finally, I would probably have something to say about the sources for her arguments, but I wasn't particularly interested in prolonging my reading of this book, and so couldn't be bothered to take time to source-check throughout. However, I do recommend to anybody reading this book seriously to check the sources for Phillips' facts because she builds some pretty contentious arguments with them, and the implications are that much scarier if they are indeed true.
According to Phillips, she is "an agnostic although traditionally minded Jew. [She has] a deep concern for the security and survival of the Jewish people and for the security and survival of Western civilization, which [she happens] to believe are symbiotically connected." At least she warns us in the introduction. Also: Phillips is a British journalist.
I am a practicing Canadian Catholic, and so that is the lens through which I read her book.
Firstly, I found Phillips' writing a bit repetitive, and she seemed to be making the same central points over and over again. Her vocabulary, however, is delightful and generously varied. How British! =)
Secondly, while I agree with many of the arguments she puts forth about the erosion of rationality and the dictatorship of the Leftist, secularist intelligentsia, as well as some serious issues about Islam on a global level, I found that the vast and sweeping brush strokes with which she accused opponents of painting were the same ones that she was using in making her arguments and counter-arguments. She sometimes makes swelling generalizations, especially when it came to connecting antisemitism to the decline of Western civilization. (I personally agree that the two are related, but not to the degree to which she expounds the matter.) Part of her strong stance might be due to the fact that she is in Britain, where moral degradation, Islamist extremism, antisemitism, pro-Palestine support, and environmentalism are a lot more powerful than they are here in North America.
Additionally, because of the religion to which I adhere, I wasn't particularly pleased by the treatment of the Catholic Church in her book. She nonchalantly mentions several times in the book the dictatorial persecution of Jews by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition, thereby taking very easily for fact one of the myths surrounding our religion. (Meanwhile, Phillips is so quick to argue against anyone doing that for Judaism or for Israel.) Anytime any good achievement of Catholics are mentioned, the individuals are referred to as "Christians," a much broader term that is generally used to refer to Protestants.
I thought her analysis of the particular vulnerability of the Church of England is dead-on. She supports her argument by looking into the history of the CoE.
All in all, aside from the Zionist content, I found that a lot of what Phillips had to say had already been presented by Catholic apologists such as G.K. Chesterton and Peter Kreeft in a much wittier and easier to read format decades ago.
Finally, I would probably have something to say about the sources for her arguments, but I wasn't particularly interested in prolonging my reading of this book, and so couldn't be bothered to take time to source-check throughout. However, I do recommend to anybody reading this book seriously to check the sources for Phillips' facts because she builds some pretty contentious arguments with them, and the implications are that much scarier if they are indeed true.
May 19, 2018
This book is a major defense of Western Judeo-Christian Culture against the assaults (and insults) of those seeking to undermine it. Phillips defines these as "secular ideologies of materialism, environmentalism, and scientism and Islam." She especially focuses on her home country of Britain "Why Britain is in the Forefront" and Brexit and her own faith, Judaism and Israel ("The Misrepresentation of Israel", "Islamic Jew-Hatred", "Western Jew-Hatred", "The Revival of Christian Jew-Hatred").
Phillips sees left-wingers and liberals as falling under the sway of the "Red-Black-Green-Islamic Axis". Quoting the philosopher Eric Hoffer, "mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without belief in a devil." The true believer needs to have someone or something to hate and see the alternative to progressives as "fascist", so label Conservatives thusly. Any fact that challenges their worldview must be ignored or denied else their utopian house of cards will crumble.
"That's why progressives refuse to acknowledge the French Terror, Stalin's gulags or the millions dead under Mao; that's why today they refuse to acknowledge black racism, Arab rejectionism of Israel or the fact that the climate was warmer a thousand years ago. But here's what follows from this denial: Anyone who objects to the falsehoods of the left and points out the truth must be right-wing, and thus "fascist." In this way, the truth is demonized-- and the bigger the truth that is told, the more demonized the teller becomes."
In the "Global Battle", she finds Western progressives and Islamists joined at the hip. "Both are attempting to create utopias in order to redeem past sins; both permit no dissent from the one revealed truth; both demonize and seek to suppress their opponents; both project their own bad behavior onto others; both are consumed with paranoid conspiracy theories. Both are giving expression to a totalitarian instinct that involves wholesale repudiation of reason...Both have ended up suppressing freedom and imposing a tyranny of the mind."
This 400-page book is followed by 50 pages of footnotes and attributions, so it is a mixture of journalism and scholarship. Phillips researches back into the influencing philosophies and thinkers that have led to this contemporary impasse and war of ideas. It takes a while to work your way through her arguments but it is well worth the journey to better understand how we arrived at the present crossroads of civilization.
Phillips sees left-wingers and liberals as falling under the sway of the "Red-Black-Green-Islamic Axis". Quoting the philosopher Eric Hoffer, "mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without belief in a devil." The true believer needs to have someone or something to hate and see the alternative to progressives as "fascist", so label Conservatives thusly. Any fact that challenges their worldview must be ignored or denied else their utopian house of cards will crumble.
"That's why progressives refuse to acknowledge the French Terror, Stalin's gulags or the millions dead under Mao; that's why today they refuse to acknowledge black racism, Arab rejectionism of Israel or the fact that the climate was warmer a thousand years ago. But here's what follows from this denial: Anyone who objects to the falsehoods of the left and points out the truth must be right-wing, and thus "fascist." In this way, the truth is demonized-- and the bigger the truth that is told, the more demonized the teller becomes."
In the "Global Battle", she finds Western progressives and Islamists joined at the hip. "Both are attempting to create utopias in order to redeem past sins; both permit no dissent from the one revealed truth; both demonize and seek to suppress their opponents; both project their own bad behavior onto others; both are consumed with paranoid conspiracy theories. Both are giving expression to a totalitarian instinct that involves wholesale repudiation of reason...Both have ended up suppressing freedom and imposing a tyranny of the mind."
This 400-page book is followed by 50 pages of footnotes and attributions, so it is a mixture of journalism and scholarship. Phillips researches back into the influencing philosophies and thinkers that have led to this contemporary impasse and war of ideas. It takes a while to work your way through her arguments but it is well worth the journey to better understand how we arrived at the present crossroads of civilization.
Read
August 7, 2011The redoubtable Miss Phillips has come up with another fine, if sobering effort. This book is arguably more ambitious than her previous works; indeed, one might even say it's an attempt to pull them altogether into one cohesive theory. The initial subjects may seem quite disparate - the West's views towards Israel, the Iraq war, global warming, and intelligent design - and what Phillips has to say about each issue is a credit to her excellent journalistic skills and basic common sense. But she goes further and suggests a common thread; namely, the West has abandoned the traits that allowed it to become the great modernizing force of world history. Reason and religion have been cast aside (and as she makes clear, they are by no means mutually exclusive); the question is, why? Phillips' most impressive feat is tracing this movement to its roots in Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau and the reaction against it as personified by thinkers like Nietzsche.
Towards the end of the book it seemed to me Phillips was repeating arguments and she wasn't quite sure how to conclude. But that's a minor quibble with this otherwise commendable and worthwhile read. It may well turn out the greatest enemy facing Western civilization is itself.
Towards the end of the book it seemed to me Phillips was repeating arguments and she wasn't quite sure how to conclude. But that's a minor quibble with this otherwise commendable and worthwhile read. It may well turn out the greatest enemy facing Western civilization is itself.
September 9, 2010
If you subscribe to the prevailing orthodoxy on secular humanism, global warming, the Iraq War, and/or the Israel-Palestine conflict, this book will probably be uncomfortable for you to read. And yet, I would encourage anyone who does subscribe to such views to let themselves be challenged by the reading. Phillips is an Oxford-educated, award-winning journalist and her writing is clear and her arguments on-target. She has extensive documentation as well; indeed, I intend to go through her notes to delve more deeply into some of the topics.
Often I'll read a work that sets down and helps give shape to ideas and impressions that have been bouncing around in my head. This book was such a work. At times, I felt her points were over-argued, but that is probably because I agreed with her already and so it was preaching to the choir.
An excellent book, and an important one.
Often I'll read a work that sets down and helps give shape to ideas and impressions that have been bouncing around in my head. This book was such a work. At times, I felt her points were over-argued, but that is probably because I agreed with her already and so it was preaching to the choir.
An excellent book, and an important one.
January 16, 2020
Everything was going well until she decided to slam science as just another ideology. Science is not an ideology. It’s a method. Observe phenomena in order to formulate a hypothesis. Then test that hypothesis in a controlled setting and measure the results. The same tests performed independently by a third party under the same conditions should yield the same results. Voila. Science. Ironically, in the chapter immediately prior to her anti-science screed, she showed implicit faith in the data produced by scientists who are skeptical of anthropogenic global warming. You can’t throw out your cake and eat it too.
July 20, 2010
She gets one point across very well--people need to acknowledge where evidence ends and belief begins. There are very interesting chapters about things like "scientism" & global warming. I didn't agree with everything she said, but she's a smart woman and a critical thinker for sure.
August 21, 2011
I finished this a couple weeks before the Tottenham and UK rioting - which verified just about everything she said about the steady erosion of values, standards and decency in the UK... Read the Melanie Phillips blog for the latest.
April 27, 2011
Starting this today. It's been on my list for awhile and I saw it at the librarywhen I was there for my walking books pickup. I great addition to the "we are doomed" shelf. And it's pretty clear we are in fact doomed
June 29, 2020
Wow. Easily the most thorough and well-documented explanation of the literal insanity of the modern world I have ever encountered. The hijacking of the western mind by radical 'liberalism' is laid out here in painstaking detail. There are so many lines, entire pages practically that scream for underlining, highlighting or little stickers (my preferred method). My copy looks like a purple porcupine. This scholarly and deeply researched explanation of the descent of the supposedly rational, liberal western mind into the morass once occupied by the narrowest of religious viewpoints and currently shared mainly by extremist Islam is simply impressive. There is just so much here. If you have ever wondered how on earth western liberals could walk down a street arm-in-arm with Wahhabist mullahs in seeming complete concordance (when in reality they have almost no common ground), you will begin to understand the title of this truly important work. I could paraphrase. but the parallels between radical Islam and western liberalism are is just too good, so in her words: 'The correspondences between Western progressives and Islamists are really quite remarkable. Both are attempting to create utopias in order to redeem past sins; both permit no dissent from the one revealed truth; both demonize and seek to suppress their opponents; both project their own bad behavior onto others; both are consumed by paranoid conspiracy theories. Both are giving expression to a totalitarian instinct that involves a wholesale repudiation of reason'. It goes on but you get the idea. This book provides a fully documented history of how and why the West has gone down this path. It is unnerving, terrifying and disturbing on a level that I cannot minimize. Page after page of documentation, quotations and research into the roots of this madness are presented. And according to her much of it has to do with the decades long liberal attack on Jews, Judaism, and Israel. You may feel it is overdone but it is a fairly convincing argument. She does have a blind spot with respect to the enormous influence that Jews actually do wield in the West, but hard to refute much of the thesis. And yes, there are fuzzy spots in these 400+ pages in the arena of science (specifically on climate), but her recognition that science itself has begun to go completely awry is actually spot-on. She discusses trends I was unaware of like 'post-normal science', which uses a politically sensitive starting point and makes up facts to influence opinion. The whole notion of 'settled' science is now a political cudgel to suppress dissent whether in be in global warming theory or lately the Covid pandemic. And suppressing dissent is one theme of this book which mainly preceded the social media frenzy of today but has put that suppression on steroids. Look at Twitter and Facebook. Suppressing rogue political thought is a full-time job at Twitter--who was blocked today? Only of a certain set of viewpoints of course. The newly developed religions of the west (you know them!) have their high priests, their enforcers of conformity, and their foot-soldiers (SJW warriors!). You will kneel, bow down or shut-up or as in 1793 France you will be 'beheaded', make no mistake.
April 9, 2022
While I may not agree with Melanie on all the topics in this book I do agree with the underlining premise that "progress" is seriously flawed and taking us away from reason instead of toward it. This could just be my Christian bias but seeing the culture that had replaced it take hold I don't think so. In light of recent events in British politics, the Jewish angle has increasingly interested me and it really does seem a rule of thumb now that you have to give those who give Israel a hard time a wide berth. Would recommend to others who like Melanie have perhaps fallen out of love with left progressivism.
June 20, 2020
Core Reading for Anyone Bewildered by Outrage Culture
Well written, brilliantly referenced reminder of how precious freedom is, and how indebted the West is to Biblical Christianity and it’s Hebrew roots. A valuable resource to draw from time and time again. The battle today isn’t left vs. right, black vs. white, it’s truth vs. falsehood. Phillips provides a unique tool to help separate the scared from the surreptitiously spurious.
Well written, brilliantly referenced reminder of how precious freedom is, and how indebted the West is to Biblical Christianity and it’s Hebrew roots. A valuable resource to draw from time and time again. The battle today isn’t left vs. right, black vs. white, it’s truth vs. falsehood. Phillips provides a unique tool to help separate the scared from the surreptitiously spurious.
January 30, 2020
This is a very good read. I did find it at times to be a bit esoteric and difficult to fully comprehend but overall Phillips is an exceedingly well read and knowledgeable author on a host of critical topics concerning religion, Western culture and science. I wish this site provided for half star reviews because it merits 4.5 stars. I strongly recommend the book.
February 19, 2018
A turgid read at times...could have been 25% of the length
July 28, 2020
"The disposing of religion has not meant the disposing of the religious impulse. The drive to connect with something beyond the self is fundamental & ineradicable."
May 22, 2025
a prophetic eye opener. I have so many things to say and think about, but I don't even know where to start. everyone should read this book.
November 11, 2010
A great polemic. Lazy journalism in places, biting insight in others. Finding Richard Littlejohn articles being used as attributable sources rather reduces my trust in her journalism, and her openly stated - and rather well defended - view that israel is a totem and talisman of the West doesn't accord with my own views. You have to hand it to her, though, she is a a rottweiler when it comes to the liberal socialist chattering classes. Which does accord with my view.
Just finished the book. Thoroughly enjoyed it though didn't agree with all facets of her argument. She seems to have adopted a more strident tone since Londonistan with regard to to Islam. I found her analysis of Britain's decline to be spot-on but felt that at times her desire to weave Israel into every single strand of her argument became rather forced. Makes Coulter and Geller look shallow.
Just finished the book. Thoroughly enjoyed it though didn't agree with all facets of her argument. She seems to have adopted a more strident tone since Londonistan with regard to to Islam. I found her analysis of Britain's decline to be spot-on but felt that at times her desire to weave Israel into every single strand of her argument became rather forced. Makes Coulter and Geller look shallow.
April 4, 2016
Throughout this book, Melanie Phillips pursues the question of HOW the world became so upside down. While some people perceive the modern world as progressive, developing, and generally prospering; others perceive the world as unraveling, corrupted, and Orwellian. To these world views, Melanie Phillips brings her brilliant mind and vast access to knowledge--distilled and clarified in 18 meaty chapters that are beyond my resources to summarize. I learned a great deal reading this book. Because it is so concentrated with information and insights, I need to go back and reread it one chapter at a time--maybe a chapter a week or so. But what would really be good would be to read this book in a study group. The book needs to be shared and discussed with others!
January 19, 2012
Has western civilization stopped trying to survive? A progressive inquisition, Islamic jihad, and rampant antisemitism are chief among several movements that are trying to crush the Judeo-Christian West according to Phillips. She pulls these disturbing trends and ideas into a coherent package that screams 'dangerous times ahead'. A good read with depth.
February 24, 2013
I've only started reading the book but so far it is a feisty confrontation between the mishmash of media propaganda that is often mistaken for truth in our day and a gritty point by point critique which doesn't have the media and political or the average citizen coming off too well.
Melanie Phillips takes on the Zeitgeist and she's winning so far!
Melanie Phillips takes on the Zeitgeist and she's winning so far!
August 14, 2015
Overall I was disappointed. The book made some good points. The book lost me and other "neo-conservative" readers with too much of a focus on evolution, intelligent design and creationism. A book's aim should be to persuade, not to preach to the choir. Focusing on materials of more interest to the "wackos" is a bad idea.
May 22, 2016
This book tears down the global world without once (except in the title) mentioning the power of Satellite and the invasion of people's privacy via technological tools as a possible cause for unrest. Instead she uses out-of-date philosophies, politics, and the blossoming of new age religions as the cause for much that has been changed due to science and technology. Pretty sad indeed!
May 8, 2013
It's a great book with many topics but joined in a sensible manner. I did not give it a full 5 star as I thought the author had explored one topic (Muslims, Arabs in GB) too deep in this particular book. Other than that well written, most importantly I shared most of her views.
January 28, 2011
She's a bit loopy. Her arguments about religion and global warming were really good, but I really found her views on the Israeli and Jewish dilema very biased and frankly, silly.
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