Dan Nexon
@dhnexon.bsky.social
Professor in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Power Politics | Empires | International Order
dhnexon.net | https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | duckofminerva.com
Power Politics | Empires | International Order
dhnexon.net | https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | duckofminerva.com
Reposted by Dan Nexon
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” is the greatest founding myth of any nation ever.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” is the greatest founding myth of any nation ever.
November 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” is the greatest founding myth of any nation ever.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” is the greatest founding myth of any nation ever.
In other words, the thing they prize most about "western civilization" is, inarguably and unequivocally, the least distinctive aspect of its cultural landscape.
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November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
In other words, the thing they prize most about "western civilization" is, inarguably and unequivocally, the least distinctive aspect of its cultural landscape.
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The only thing they actually care about defending — other than their own wealth and power — is naturalized hierarchy: the idea that some people — by virtue of their parentage, sex, skin color, language, or whatever — are born to command, while others are required to obey.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The only thing they actually care about defending — other than their own wealth and power — is naturalized hierarchy: the idea that some people — by virtue of their parentage, sex, skin color, language, or whatever — are born to command, while others are required to obey.
tl;dr These insecure, corrupt, fascist goons hate everything that is good, decent, and valuable about America and "western civilization."
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
tl;dr These insecure, corrupt, fascist goons hate everything that is good, decent, and valuable about America and "western civilization."
"The West" can only survive and thrive by adding new voices and new perspectives. Pluralism and openness gives it life. Closure means decay and death. The price of admission? Nothing more than a willingness to participate in the dialogue, and agree to the ground rules that make it possible.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
"The West" can only survive and thrive by adding new voices and new perspectives. Pluralism and openness gives it life. Closure means decay and death. The price of admission? Nothing more than a willingness to participate in the dialogue, and agree to the ground rules that make it possible.
"Western civilization" only exists because of the flow of individuals, ideas, practices, and cultures — over thousands of years — among people who considered themselves members of mutual exclusive groups.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
"Western civilization" only exists because of the flow of individuals, ideas, practices, and cultures — over thousands of years — among people who considered themselves members of mutual exclusive groups.
I write "most importantly" because *none* of those values are specific to some objective thing called "the West."
"Western Civilization" is about the terms, references points, writings, and names that dominate our discussions of those values.
"Western Civilization" is about the terms, references points, writings, and names that dominate our discussions of those values.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I write "most importantly" because *none* of those values are specific to some objective thing called "the West."
"Western Civilization" is about the terms, references points, writings, and names that dominate our discussions of those values.
"Western Civilization" is about the terms, references points, writings, and names that dominate our discussions of those values.
Or we can embrace a reality-based understanding of "western civilization" as a specific set of values.
And, most importantly, as a set of ideational and rhetorical commonplaces through which we discuss and debate those values.
And, most importantly, as a set of ideational and rhetorical commonplaces through which we discuss and debate those values.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Or we can embrace a reality-based understanding of "western civilization" as a specific set of values.
And, most importantly, as a set of ideational and rhetorical commonplaces through which we discuss and debate those values.
And, most importantly, as a set of ideational and rhetorical commonplaces through which we discuss and debate those values.
So, as I see it, we have a choice.
We can surrender all of this to far-right thugs — ones who are so far gone that they no longer even pretend to celebrate modern science, liberal democracy, and pluralism as the putative 'great achievements' of "western civilization."
We can surrender all of this to far-right thugs — ones who are so far gone that they no longer even pretend to celebrate modern science, liberal democracy, and pluralism as the putative 'great achievements' of "western civilization."
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
So, as I see it, we have a choice.
We can surrender all of this to far-right thugs — ones who are so far gone that they no longer even pretend to celebrate modern science, liberal democracy, and pluralism as the putative 'great achievements' of "western civilization."
We can surrender all of this to far-right thugs — ones who are so far gone that they no longer even pretend to celebrate modern science, liberal democracy, and pluralism as the putative 'great achievements' of "western civilization."
And not only that. Every node of political debate in English-language social media —from leftist 'isms' found on Bluesky to the claims that the right derides as woke — are incomprehensible outside of those dialogues.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
And not only that. Every node of political debate in English-language social media —from leftist 'isms' found on Bluesky to the claims that the right derides as woke — are incomprehensible outside of those dialogues.
But the aforementioned dialogues (and debates) among ideas and beliefs — ones iterated over centuries, redefined and reconstructed countless times... including as they were retconned into ideas about "western civilization?"
That's part of the fabric of American pluralist democracy.
That's part of the fabric of American pluralist democracy.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
But the aforementioned dialogues (and debates) among ideas and beliefs — ones iterated over centuries, redefined and reconstructed countless times... including as they were retconned into ideas about "western civilization?"
That's part of the fabric of American pluralist democracy.
That's part of the fabric of American pluralist democracy.
There are no objective, let alone conceptually fixed, boundaries of "the West."
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
There are no objective, let alone conceptually fixed, boundaries of "the West."
Ancient Mediterranean societies were enmeshed in extensive networks of trade and cultural interaction.
I am typing in signs derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
You cannot excise the contributions of Islamic philosophy and science to the development of what Europeans called "western civilization."
I am typing in signs derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
You cannot excise the contributions of Islamic philosophy and science to the development of what Europeans called "western civilization."
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Ancient Mediterranean societies were enmeshed in extensive networks of trade and cultural interaction.
I am typing in signs derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
You cannot excise the contributions of Islamic philosophy and science to the development of what Europeans called "western civilization."
I am typing in signs derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
You cannot excise the contributions of Islamic philosophy and science to the development of what Europeans called "western civilization."
There is no line of biological or spiritual succession between classical Athenians and the Northern European tribes they considered dumb brutes. No national-state is the "true heir" to Rome.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
There is no line of biological or spiritual succession between classical Athenians and the Northern European tribes they considered dumb brutes. No national-state is the "true heir" to Rome.
As a claim about racial identity, or blood-and-soil ethnic identity, "western civilization" is an incoherent mess.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
As a claim about racial identity, or blood-and-soil ethnic identity, "western civilization" is an incoherent mess.
I lack the energy, time, and expertise to provide a full accounting of how we got from those cultural appropriations to the concept of "western civilization."
But like much of European and American theory and practice, it involves racism, ethnonationalism, and anxieties about decline.
But like much of European and American theory and practice, it involves racism, ethnonationalism, and anxieties about decline.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I lack the energy, time, and expertise to provide a full accounting of how we got from those cultural appropriations to the concept of "western civilization."
But like much of European and American theory and practice, it involves racism, ethnonationalism, and anxieties about decline.
But like much of European and American theory and practice, it involves racism, ethnonationalism, and anxieties about decline.
I also like to believe that we can agree on a basic fact: that tradition did not emerge whole-coth on the soil of North America.
It drew from prior traditions and ideas — or, more accurately, from later *cultural appropriations* of them that involved putting them into dialogue with one another.
It drew from prior traditions and ideas — or, more accurately, from later *cultural appropriations* of them that involved putting them into dialogue with one another.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I also like to believe that we can agree on a basic fact: that tradition did not emerge whole-coth on the soil of North America.
It drew from prior traditions and ideas — or, more accurately, from later *cultural appropriations* of them that involved putting them into dialogue with one another.
It drew from prior traditions and ideas — or, more accurately, from later *cultural appropriations* of them that involved putting them into dialogue with one another.
I like to believe that people who are serious about fighting fascism understand that.
I like to think that we share a disdain for those whose patriotism — whose commitment to the American Republic — is so fragile that it must be shielded from the truths of U.S. history.
I like to think that we share a disdain for those whose patriotism — whose commitment to the American Republic — is so fragile that it must be shielded from the truths of U.S. history.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I like to believe that people who are serious about fighting fascism understand that.
I like to think that we share a disdain for those whose patriotism — whose commitment to the American Republic — is so fragile that it must be shielded from the truths of U.S. history.
I like to think that we share a disdain for those whose patriotism — whose commitment to the American Republic — is so fragile that it must be shielded from the truths of U.S. history.
We do not — and should not — have to reject that tradition because it does not match the reality of much of the American experience.
Nor because it was never shared by all Americans.
Nor because its genealogy includes vile people who did vile things.
Nor because it was never shared by all Americans.
Nor because its genealogy includes vile people who did vile things.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
We do not — and should not — have to reject that tradition because it does not match the reality of much of the American experience.
Nor because it was never shared by all Americans.
Nor because its genealogy includes vile people who did vile things.
Nor because it was never shared by all Americans.
Nor because its genealogy includes vile people who did vile things.
That tradition, expanded and upgraded through multiple iterations — the Civil War, World War II, the Second Reconstruction — has been a crucial resource for those seeking to bring about a more just, equal, and inclusive republic.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
That tradition, expanded and upgraded through multiple iterations — the Civil War, World War II, the Second Reconstruction — has been a crucial resource for those seeking to bring about a more just, equal, and inclusive republic.
The United States is blessed with a strong tradition that defines itself — as a political community — as a pluralist democracy, built on cross-cutting associations among its religiously, ethnically, and racially diverse citizens.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The United States is blessed with a strong tradition that defines itself — as a political community — as a pluralist democracy, built on cross-cutting associations among its religiously, ethnically, and racially diverse citizens.
Bragg's great, and after many years they finally seemed to have fixed the inconsistent audio levels. But I still loved that moment when William Ashworth, Jeremy Black, and Pat Hudson were all, "No. Nope. Not at all."
November 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Bragg's great, and after many years they finally seemed to have fixed the inconsistent audio levels. But I still loved that moment when William Ashworth, Jeremy Black, and Pat Hudson were all, "No. Nope. Not at all."