Jul 29, 2022·edited Jul 29, 2022Liked by Damon Linker
I just stumbled onto this post, and am completely unfamiliar with any of these political science arguments, although I have been following Orban a bit, despite not being a member of any "intellectual dialogue" community. I am hesitant to post here due to my ignorance and unfamiliarity with the conversation.
But perhaps this bit of info may be of interest to someone: If you do not agree with Orban, beware of the Latino immigrants you are letting into your country.
I have family and friends in Florida and California, in the Latino communities of immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile, Colombia. These folks tend to be wealthier and whiter than other Latinos, and they also have social and professional positions where other Latinos look up to them (business owners, media, law, medicine, politics).
Many in this group agree with Orban (whether or not they actively follow his speeches)...and, some too whole-heartedly for the comfort of liberals among them.
Talk of not wanting to "race mix" may sound appalling to White Americans/Europeans, but it's pretty much the norm in Latin America. The current situation in Cuba where Blacks and Whites are intermarrying is seen by many as a terrible social experiment brought upon by "communists", and yet another sign of Cuba's overall decay.
In Central/South American countries the lack of "mixing" of European Whites and "Indios" or "Indigenas" is rarely even questioned. To this day if someone from a "white" family marries an "Indio" they can assume they will be disinherited (if the family is wealthy) and casually shunned.
Latin American mainstream has not ingested the liberal orthodoxy, and there is little/no shame in any of this (watch any telenovela).
If Orban were to regularly translate his speeches into Spanish (or there were a Spanish-speaking Tucker Carlson/Fox) and pipe them to Latinos in America -- well, you can kiss liberalism good-bye, because this would all be both popular and not unusual nor alien, and certainly not taboo-- because even the Indigenas and the "Mulatos/Morenos" in America do not want to "mix" with "Los Negros Americanos".
Making up 18% of the population and growing (with thousands of naturalizations every month) Latinos in America will be able to decide any presidential election. And, the talk of Latinos being natural Democrats is...a dream, a hope and a myth.
Message to Liberal democracies: if you want to stay liberal, beware of who you let in and allow to vote, because they may just "replace" you right out of liberalism.
Like another reader, I read and really enjoyed Dreher until sometime around when Trump was running/elected. I was gobsmacked by what happened to several conservative outlets during the Trump ascendancy, including National Review, First Things, The American Conservative, and The Federalist. I am concerned about Dreher’s turn because of his earnestness, reflected in his writing, about trying to lead a life consistent with his faith, and I think his call to spiritual action in “The Benedict Option” had a lot going for it and was directionally correct. Christians and other people of faith don’t need to be popular or culturally dominant to live profoundly rich spiritual lives in close community. And that close spiritual community provides food for the journey in a popular culture that increasingly thinks you are weird and bigoted.
I’m a Catholic convert from a mixed Lutheran/evangelical background who has lapsed and am now agnostic/atheist. I was well on my way to this point while I was reading and admiring Rod Dreher. Nonetheless, I continue to admire the sentiments Mr. Dreher expressed in “The Benedict Option,” and for the record, think those who criticized the book as being too inward looking got it totally wrong - cultivating a close spiritual community helps one to be salt and light to a world beset by serious problems.
I don’t know Mr. Dreher except through his writing, but I like the writer. I hope your open letter to him causes him to evaluate his apologies for Victor Orban through a different lens.
I just stumbled onto this post, and am completely unfamiliar with any of these political science arguments, although I have been following Orban a bit, despite not being a member of any "intellectual dialogue" community. I am hesitant to post here due to my ignorance and unfamiliarity with the conversation.
But perhaps this bit of info may be of interest to someone: If you do not agree with Orban, beware of the Latino immigrants you are letting into your country.
I have family and friends in Florida and California, in the Latino communities of immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile, Colombia. These folks tend to be wealthier and whiter than other Latinos, and they also have social and professional positions where other Latinos look up to them (business owners, media, law, medicine, politics).
Many in this group agree with Orban (whether or not they actively follow his speeches)...and, some too whole-heartedly for the comfort of liberals among them.
Talk of not wanting to "race mix" may sound appalling to White Americans/Europeans, but it's pretty much the norm in Latin America. The current situation in Cuba where Blacks and Whites are intermarrying is seen by many as a terrible social experiment brought upon by "communists", and yet another sign of Cuba's overall decay.
In Central/South American countries the lack of "mixing" of European Whites and "Indios" or "Indigenas" is rarely even questioned. To this day if someone from a "white" family marries an "Indio" they can assume they will be disinherited (if the family is wealthy) and casually shunned.
Latin American mainstream has not ingested the liberal orthodoxy, and there is little/no shame in any of this (watch any telenovela).
If Orban were to regularly translate his speeches into Spanish (or there were a Spanish-speaking Tucker Carlson/Fox) and pipe them to Latinos in America -- well, you can kiss liberalism good-bye, because this would all be both popular and not unusual nor alien, and certainly not taboo-- because even the Indigenas and the "Mulatos/Morenos" in America do not want to "mix" with "Los Negros Americanos".
Making up 18% of the population and growing (with thousands of naturalizations every month) Latinos in America will be able to decide any presidential election. And, the talk of Latinos being natural Democrats is...a dream, a hope and a myth.
Message to Liberal democracies: if you want to stay liberal, beware of who you let in and allow to vote, because they may just "replace" you right out of liberalism.
Like another reader, I read and really enjoyed Dreher until sometime around when Trump was running/elected. I was gobsmacked by what happened to several conservative outlets during the Trump ascendancy, including National Review, First Things, The American Conservative, and The Federalist. I am concerned about Dreher’s turn because of his earnestness, reflected in his writing, about trying to lead a life consistent with his faith, and I think his call to spiritual action in “The Benedict Option” had a lot going for it and was directionally correct. Christians and other people of faith don’t need to be popular or culturally dominant to live profoundly rich spiritual lives in close community. And that close spiritual community provides food for the journey in a popular culture that increasingly thinks you are weird and bigoted.
I’m a Catholic convert from a mixed Lutheran/evangelical background who has lapsed and am now agnostic/atheist. I was well on my way to this point while I was reading and admiring Rod Dreher. Nonetheless, I continue to admire the sentiments Mr. Dreher expressed in “The Benedict Option,” and for the record, think those who criticized the book as being too inward looking got it totally wrong - cultivating a close spiritual community helps one to be salt and light to a world beset by serious problems.
I don’t know Mr. Dreher except through his writing, but I like the writer. I hope your open letter to him causes him to evaluate his apologies for Victor Orban through a different lens.