The Author of “Culturism” Replies to Our Readers

Hello all,

John Press, the author of the book Culturism, here.

It is hard to answer all of the comments here. More information can be found at the website. But…

Doctor, it might make you a culturist. (no “al”)

Aeneas, freedom of speech is one of our values, so I understand your concern. But allowing public airwaves to push drugs and violence shows we do not have any values. In the age of the internet, not allowing crude antisocial behavior on the few public channels would not stop free speech. It would say that someone cares.

Conservative Swede, the real emergency to self-government is Islamic fascism. That said, self-government involves the ability for communities to make collective decisions. The Constitution does and should prevent abuses. But individual rights have now cancelled out self-government. No one can have any tradition if one individual is threatened. Individual rights enforced by the court need to consider the health of the culture that supports them - cultural rights.

Locomotive Breath, I can’t get to all your comments. But, thanks for the input and…
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the big way to decide which cultural beliefs we should have comes from our traditions. As the anthropology chapter in Culturism shows and weekly terrorism demonstrates, diversity includes some very broad behaviors. We should not allow people that believe in tribal warfare, violence, jihad, female genital mutilation, gang rape, etc in here. Those things may be fine elsewhere in the world, but they run counter to our broad traditions and sustainability. If we go, rights will exist nowhere.

Number four was asked by someone else. When we give no moral guidelines or guidance in our schools, when the only values we support are tolerance, we should not be surprised when macho, violent, sexist, gangs result. Mankind, without guidance, may not be lovely. We need to teach not to fight, take our Western traditions for granted, respect teachers, learning, etc., Heavy teen pregnancy is another thing we can expect if we are not willing to discourage such behavior. That means culturism, not having no values under the multicultural guise of tolerance.

Mrgennoiz, as I said, I do think self-government is undermined by courts enforcement of individual’s protection against any discomfort…

Lucille, I try hard to define our culture under the chapter “Western culture.” It is easier when contrasted with Aztecs and Islam. But our culture is progressive and so is much harder to nail down than many. But I have not tried nailing jello so cannot say for sure about that : ) Also, see above on number four.

OMMAG, not sure who should think about the questions. They are, for sure, just a teaser to get people thinking. The hope is that, as Doctor, people might consider identifying as culturists. The hope that this will disarm those who sneak out of conversations by calling everyone racists. It also provides an antidote to the mindless acceptance of multiculturalism.

Many more details are at the website.

Thanks to Dymphna and all and to all a good night!!