I'm reading this book by a Japanese historian on how Neoconfucianism in the East unwittingly prepared the ground for the adoption in East Asia of Western progressivism as its logical conclusion. Really cool stuff. I'll have a review shortly.
But before that, let me anticipate you this kind of evolutionary argument with something more relevant to our day.
I've been writing a lot about how Islam has a big chance of taking over the West. Not because Muslims are strong or anything. They're a bunch of lazy low IQ pansies for the most part. But they have their shit together, and for various reasons they are immune (on average, of course) to adopting progressive ideology. One reason which I've written about a lot is that Muslim culture gives very high status to men. It's a patriarchy. And Muslim men very much enjoy that. So when they move to the West, where feminism gives pretty low status to men as men, well Muslim men see very clearly that assimilating to Western culture will lower their status.
And they'd very much not lower their status. So Muslim men cling steadfastly to their traditional culture, as dumb and dysfunctional as it is, with its clannishness and laziness and inshallah fucked up work ethic. None of that matters compared to the dire threat of losing status. You'll notice that the odd Muslim man which lands a high-status job, say Fareed Zakaria or Mohamed Hadid are quite happy with abandoning Islam for progressive. Feminism is pretty good for the high-status rich guy. But for your average guy, even a high middle class professional, feminism is a way worse deal than Islam. You'll note plenty of self-bombing jihadists have been doctors and engineers.
Anyway, this is one factor. The male side to the equation, which accounts for why Islam is so healthy, unlike Christianity. But there's this other side of the equation. The side which accounts for why the West is so weak. The female side. Take a look at this white lady.
https://twitter.com/reo\_lowe/status/848533440458887168
This British woman, apparently some journalist or QUANGO employee or whatever, went on a cycling trip from Britain to Iran. Because she loves the Middle East or something. Now, if you know your geography you may have thought that she just cycled through Turkey and that's it. Which would be dangerous enough. It wasn't that long ago that a Japanese college student was raped and murdered in Cappadocia. But no, this chick is the real deal. Look at her route.
Screenshot 2017-04-02 19.00.54
She went all the way down to Sudan. She's the real deal. She really likes them arabs. You may have noticed that on her Twitter picture she's wearing a veil of some sort. Now why would she do that? Why would she like Middle Eastern culture so much? This clip gives you a hint. (HT Sailer's)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=2530&v=\_8FvwoAZvVY
That's Omar Sharif. If anyone knew Arab women, it must be him. And he makes a really good point. Egypt is indeed becoming more piously Islamic than it used to be. The whole Muslim world is. This is Kabul in the 1970s.
2fe59a9e30cf3a653392abd4a4d5fb8b
And of course in Egypt, things like these were going on. Nobody wore the veil well into the 1980s. Then they did. What happened? As Omar Sharif puts it, back in the 1950s and forward, you had this big baby boom, and the modernization of the whole Muslim world. Egypt had this huge showbiz industry, and the showbiz industry was run on more or less Western templates. Women in short skirts and all that. Young actresses, being young women, surely liked to show off.
But then this very same actresses got older. They weren't so pretty anymore. And so they made virtue out of necessity and started to cover up those wrinkles and saggy skin and unshapely legs. But they were still in showbiz; they started the industry, they still had some authority. Given that celebrities were wearing the veil, that surely must have trickled down. Not just out of imitation, but because they had a point. All those Westernized girls were getting older. Westernization hadn't brought the world of honey and spice that they'd thought. So they went Islamic. Once you go Islamic, the signaling went out of control. Next thing you know you ought to wear a Burka and let yourself get beaten by your husband. But, by then it was too late.
Western women like our British cyclist journalist aren't immune to that temptation. Look at that woman again? WYB? I don't think so. But man was she popular out there in Turkey and Egypt. Must have felt nice. Not sure how many men she slept with. She won't say, she has a "boyfriend". But you and I know she didn't go all the way to Sudan just to see sand dunes. At any rate, during her trip she must have understood why the veil is a good idea. It hides you, but hides also everyone else. If you're not very good looking, it's a winning proposition in the zero-sum game of status competition.
Let's be honest here, Western culture is exhausting for women. For men too, of course. But sexual freedom means women have to be in their top game; and then again you can't help your genes. Sexual freedom expanded the field of conflict. And that brings a lot of losers. Feminism is if anything a compensatory symptom more than a cause. If you're gonna shit on me because I'm ugly then I'll use feminism to paint you as an evil fuck. Which is, of course, why the most prominent feminists tend to be ugly and fat.
germany-population-pyramid-2014
This is Germany's population pyramid. Not a lot of young ladies. A huge bunch of older ladies. And it's not getting any better. And so the interests of the older ladies have the upper hand. If there's something older ladies don't like it's hot young ladies. Having them cover up is perhaps not such a bad idea. Probably overkill in Germany, given that the men have been completely neutralized. It would be interesting to test this theory in Italy or France, with more of a culture of adultery.
So anyway, more to worry about.