Sir Roger Scruton, “A Thing Called Civilization”

Sir Roger Scruton accepts the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Defender of Western Civilization award, September 19, 2019
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[@marcoaslan]

I'm grateful that he gave so many interviews before passing away

[@Abraham_Tsfaye]

Scruton allegedly abused young boys. Now that he dead. Those victims won't get any justice.

[@marcoaslan]

Abraham Tsfaye hmm. Sorry, but I’m highly skeptical of media, or anything coming from the left (until they get their act together).

[@Abraham_Tsfaye]

@@marcoaslan Think of the young children he allegedly abused. Don't you think they deserve justice?

[@marcoaslan]

Abraham Tsfaye have you ever heard of psychological projection?

[@nicholasfraser6332]

@@marcoaslan Do not feed the troll, Marco. It is on a rampage and feeds on attention.

[@oculii1]

'Come, let us reason together.' You are missed, Sir Roger.

[@paulcollings4543]

We're extremely fortunate to have been born in the UK. The western world has been the best place to live, work and learn . For God's sake, be thankful that you live here and not keep apologising for things done centuries ago.

[@seanettles657]

Lucky that your people are who they are and were who they were - civilizations do not exist - cannot - without the peoples who created them. "Your blood does not belong to you. Civilization is a pact between those living, those who have passed, and those yet to be born." - Edmund Burke

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

A true gentleman from the west should take up arm to defend his civilization: a pack of ideas and achievements which shrines from the peak of human world. You have Shakespear, Milton and Hendal; but please be awared, just like Albion was once occupied by the Roman culture, the English culture would't make such a achievement if you folks stop to understand your past and communicate with the continent Europe. It's a whole part.

[@AleXoEx0]

He's right you know.

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

Truth are always being banished or even murdered in the first place.

[@FocusProj]

This is something every father should convey to his children in the west

[@nicholasfraser6332]

Unfortunately, contemporary European fathers prefer to wear man buns, tongue piercings and sarongs, and, after having popped some questionable substances from South America or Afghanistan, they chant corrupted Sanskrit mantras while dancing to the sound of Kongolese drums...

[@juanme555]

@@nicholasfraser6332 The biggest conventional drug producers are on the north side buddy. At the south you're looking at different stuff, not what Euros commonly consume...

[@keithhunt5328]

@@nicholasfraser6332 Wow you negated Mr. Scrutons message.

[@erpollock]

Roger Scruton was quite a wonder, a wondrous personage. A brilliant summation - Western Civilization is really Civilization. I wish I had followed his thought when he was still with us.

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

Indeed. I think The salt of Sir Roger is spread out beyond Anglophone.

[@patricioriv]

I could listen to Sir Roger Scruton all day . Thanks to the Internet for making this possible (and this channel).

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

A matyr of our age. What's he done, many have seen. My sincere tribute to Sir Roger. Message from China.

[@erpollock]

I'm impressed that he studied the Hebrew Bible - the original, not the translation. An accomplishment for a Christian scholar.

[@dylanblack3279]

Well Christians copied from it so its not that surprising.

[@ormsk954]

One of the few radio broadcaters of recent years whom I admired. A rare truth teller.

[@littleitalyblogspot]

At one time or another we all aspired to express what he does so eloquently.

[@mjr597]

Thank you very much, Sir Roger Scruton! You and your thoughts will never be forgotten.

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

There two greatest achievements in Western civilizaion: evocation of smile and freedom of laughter. With this particular civilization, people are dwelled in an air where they're constantly encouraged to smile to his neighbors as a free subject, a kind of expression which can rarely be seen in a authoritarian regime; while the latter indicates a reasonable gesture: instead of ad hominem or any sort of violence, one responds to those which appears to be ridiculous or radical with their harmlessly facial expressions. If further can be explicited, then tolerance and sarcasm have been and still is the core values in this particular civilization-as Prof. Scruton pointed out previouly-which make this civilization special and universal in a world of disbute and conflicts.

[@quantummath]

May he rest in eternal peace. I learned so much from this great man. What a prolific author and an erudite scholar. Love from an Iranian academic living in Germany.

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

Sir Roger is indeed keen and sharp.

[@winksquiffler2454]

He seems unusually upset and moved to speak in this video. What a great soul and what an enormous loss he is to mankind.

[@nicholasfraser6332]

Given the current state of Western civilisation, he would have been terribly upset, and rightly so.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

So... ...Many... *...BOOKS!* 😍😍😍

[@timothychang34]

Damn, what an amazing defense of western civilization. Sad that we've lost such a reasonable articulator of the merits of our civilization. All my life I've been wrestling with my ethnic inheritance of eastern civilization, and the western civilization that my parents moved to and that I was born into. I still have fondness for my Chinese historical heritage and culture, and Ive tried my best to retain what benefits I could find in it. But Ive compared it with western civilization, founded on the reformation (ultimate moral authority, "God", does not lie with the state or clergy, but in our communion with "God", aka conscience to atheists) and the enlightenment (the quest for truth and objectivity) and I find eastern culture wanting. And whatever merits it has, is easily incorporated into western civilization, as Roger says.

[@_Wakaz_]

Enlightenment quite literally followed in the East, though. The Enlightenment began in Germany - and it spread East, to Russia, to China, and in both those countries, in the centuries to come; it still exists today, beholding great civilisations.

[@dorinmicu7511]

A really great Man. May God rest him in peace!

[@tanveermajid6330]

Contradictions are essence of scholars....however no body engages profoundly but this man.

[@srinjansaha2480]

I miss him

[@hansjuker8296]

I'm reading How To Be a Conservative. This guy was the quintessential British professor.

[@offthegridliving3339]

He was so great!

[@reogist]

This particular Horatius lived his whole life defending the bridge "And still his name sounds stirring ⁠Unto the men of Rome, As the trumpet blast that cries to them ⁠To charge the Volscian home; And wives still pray to Juno ⁠For boys with hearts as bold As his who kept the bridge so well ⁠In the brave days of old." Lord Macaulay

[@roastbeef1010]

One of Lincolnshires finest❤️ rip

[@pooman440]

I understand the use of the word inheritance here. He is giving a nod to the gift that other cultures have given us, but it ultimately implies ownership, which is not how others view culture. Culture is an amazing amalgam of many different contributors. It’s shouldn’t be isolated into its component pieces, but neither should it owned by a subsequent culture.

[@garyk.nedrow8302]

Scruton in other videos has consistently lamented the decline of civilization in his own time, particularly the decline in popular culture as reflected in contemporary music. And he is right. But the decline has been evident far longer than that. Imagine what those who heard Beethoven and Mozart in live concerts thought of the musical styles that followed, each one increasingly less complex and more egalitarian than its predecessors until electronics made music a mass media. The music and arts of the masses have never equaled those of the educated and cultured -- and the trend is not likely to reverse in our lifetime or for many years to come. If Mozart were alive today and The Magic Flute was new, no one would perform it.

[@KoreaFirst]

Rest In Peace.

[@bluefishactcl1464]

What a gift to have such a clear and honest defense of our values and legacy to our children . We inherited treasures bought with blood. Lessons and compromises that generations will pay dearly if these have to be re-learned . We owe to our children and to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, to defend this legacy with all our strength .

[@delanym]

I agree. But, this charge, led by Nietzsche, Spengler, et al, is not unwarranted. There is something awry. And while it's obvious where to find the missing ingredient, when we dare to look at it, all we see is the Wagnerian show. A civilization enchanted with appearances

[@alexsandroalvesartecultura5116]

Do you want to blame Wagner and Nietzsche for the downfall of Civilization? Why?

[@b.alexanderjohnstone9774]

The idea that any person can immigrate to an English speaking country and become a citizen by subscribing to a few core values is unique and comes from the western tradition of the individual, not part of a racial or tribal group. Only the ignorant or dishonestcan say western civilisation is racist. It's the opposite.

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

There're bad sides and unpleasant history in the western civilations, no doubt; but one should say what has been developped within these western nations, especially those ideas what people tend to take for granded today: freedom of speech, rule of law and free market, etc. But above all, hats off to Sir Roger as he mentioned one of the essentials of human nautre is a sense of "feeling at home", and it is the descendents of Europa who have fulfilled this sentiment most.

[@anjansarkar9803]

Thoughts from an eloquent man, punctuated by a very creaky chair !!

[@Humanaut.]

Great hair by the way.

[@hanskiela694]

He is was a burning candle in a time full of foolishness. His companions are K. Popper; Amos Oz and so on.

[@muralin239]

I wish he was my neighbour.

[@user-jo5gx1sj8z]

He is a beloved neighbour, friend and guide to us all.

[@TheCrusaderRabbits]

I wish he had never smoked.

[@11kravitzn]

This guy perfectly represents Western civilization: An old white British guy about to fall into a grave vaguely complaining about social change and the youth and pining for the mythical "good old days".

[@garetgrossman539]

Spoken as he's dying from a disease of Western civilization from which Western medicine is unable to save him. But this is not to say that the notion of civilization, Western or otherwise, has a single meaning throughout usage. I feel that Scruton has a hidden agenda here, one which is focused on a small number of specific oppositions in international relations and that it would be more useful to articulate these.

[@justinfoard3322]

What are you blathering on about?

[@gazlives]

lol back to school chap

[@lucianopavarotti2843]

He projects vulnerability. But he has little of real interest to say.

[@justinfoard3322]

He was dying as he made these remarks, you heartless fool.