The victory of narcissism

Peter Hitchens [here] on his dawning realisation that liberal ideology may now be triumphant and all-pervasive:

"...For at least 20 years now, the British public have been subject to a stream of propaganda and re-education all the more effective for being subtle. The borders are not closed. It’s not illegal to listen to foreign radio stations. Conservative newspapers, magazines and books continue to be published. There are independent schools. People such as me appear on the panels of discussion shows, though under interesting conditions. Frankly, if the old Communist regimes of Eastern Europe had had the sense to allow such safety valves, they might still be in power. As long as the young were imbued with the regime’s world view, as long as mainstream TV seldom if ever departed from the agenda of equality, diversity, globalism, climate change, as long as comedy, drama and soap operas were all under the control of pro-regime ideologues, not to mention the book review pages and the bookshops,  supporters of the old regime could continue to live in a world of their own, while the government got on with its purposes..."

It's a  fact of life 'conservative' Anglicans have had to live with for years - talking to ourselves in internal exile for as long as  the 'politburo' permits it, followed by, most likely, the not unattractive prospect of physical exile as well - British house prices alone will, in all probability, see to that.
This excellent post from The Vicar of Purgstall [here], prompted by the news of Fr Philip North's appalling experience in Cleveland (and we should all remember Fr Philip in our prayers), spells out the likely future:

"... Others have pointed out that the charge of Donatism, often levelled at Anglo-Catholics, is a charge that could easily be applied to this situation. I would be cautious about crying heresy, but I do think that this situation does mark a precedent in Anglican polity. First of all, this is only the second occasion in modern times (that I know of) that an episcopal candidate has withdrawn from an episcopal nomination (cf. Jeffrey John), and second, I have my suspicion that Philip North's name will be the last of it's kind to be nominated to an institutional see.                      If the provision for traditionalists that comes back to Synod in July looks anything like the Act of Synod, then we need to prepare ourselves. If this incident sticks, it won't be long before traditional bishops will only be found in the persons three of the PEVs. Then, though explicitly voting against it in Synod and decrying the mere idea elsewhere, we shall - by default - have a church within a church. There are those - including my own Diocesan Bishop - who said that 'Respect' was a difficult and loaded concept: without wishing to stoke the fires, I can't help but think (and suggest) that this situation is an unpleasant demonstration of exactly that problem..."

That there is a problem with our atomised and rapidly disintegrating western culture is evident to anyone who takes off the blinkers of the zeitgeist and allows themselves to see it, but following the Sandy Hook atrocity  in Connecticut, Brendan O'Neill [here], writing for The Telegraph, thinks we are barking up the wrong tree if we blame it all on the free availability of guns in the U.S.A.:

"...But look at the photo of Adam Lanza. Or better still watch the videos and manifestos made by the Columbine killers or the Virginia Tech shooter and other recent school shooters. Do you really see Southern-style gun culture in these videos and words and images, or do you see a different, more modern culture at work? I see youngsters raised to consider themselves little gods, who see their self-esteem as king and who believe their angst must always be taken seriously. I see youth brought up in a world where we are increasingly encouraged to cultivate a persona, preferably a dangerous, edgy one, through media like YouTube and Twitter. I see young people so imbued with the narcissistic creed of the politics of identity, where how you feel and what you want must take precedence over any social or communal considerations, that they have been absolutely wrenched from both their own communities and from even basic moral codes.I see the culture of narcissism, taken to its extreme, not the culture of gun worship. Which rather suggests that the supposedly liberal politicians currently wringing their hands over the availability of guns in the US might want to shine the spotlight on themselves instead, and on the dislocated, atomised, self-regarding modern world they have had a hand in creating..."