The Eve of Defeat, by T.L. Davis

T.L. Davis reports from Hungary on the documentary he’s filming there and Hungarian culture, which is in better shape than ours. From T.L. Davis at tldavis.substack.com:

This time spent in Hungary has been a great moment to consider one’s situation in the world. It’s much clearer how little our individual lives mean in the progress of human history and anywhere that provides that truth more than Hungary, I cannot fathom. It also, however, proves that one person who ventures into the annals of history can achieve some monumental things. The single man who stands up to the powers that surround him and decides that he is not going to play by the slanted rules any longer, though he give his life in that decision, can affect history. Likewise, those who never stand, who refuse to risk their lives, often die having achieved nothing.

What you can see and feel here is history. Even the shabby history of Soviet domination sticks out as ugly blocks of buildings amongst the almost awe-inspiring architecture of the pre and post 1000s. Like the picture above, their buildings are generously adorned by such figures that Stalin, in comparison, no matter how huge the sculpture, does not possess. There is a sense that Stalin had no heart beating within his chest with the determined will to survive and protect his nation that this one exudes with every fiber of his being.

That is what is missing in most of European and therefore American history. There’s always a sense of the betrayal present, even among our founding fathers. A desire for sophistication that has so marred the US, England, France and Germany that now stands as their greatest weakness. Behind that is knowing that in the Western European psyche is the tendency to betrayal and ignominious behavior on the eve of defeat.

Continue reading