Celebrating our Western tradition

The notion that the judgement of cultures or civilisations constitutes an invalid mode of inquiry has been put forward, most notoriously, by the school of thought known as relativism. Various names have been given to this school today: post-enlightenment thinking, post-modernism, “weak thought”, deconstructionism. The labels have changed, but the target is always the same: to proclaim that there are no grounds for our values and no solid proof or argument establishing that any one thing is better or more valid that another.

While it is true that Aborigines settled in this continent years before Europeans and migrants from many different races and cultures have made this country their home, the reality is that Australia’s development as a nation and its legal, political institutions and language are Anglo-Celtic in origin and deeply influenced by our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Notwithstanding the “cultural-left’s” dislike of assimilation, research shows that the sons and daughters of migrants prefer to intermarry and to identify themselves with the broader Australian community instead of forming separatist enclaves.

Post Bali bombings and post 9-11 the weaknesses and flaws in cultural relativism are many. First, arguing there is nothing inherently worthwhile about particular cultures ignores the fact that some cultural practices - female circumcision, misogynism and Sati (where wives throw themselves on their husbands funeral pyres) - are wrong and un-Australian.

Also ignored is that the very values of tolerance, compassion, openness and civility that ensure Australia’s continued peace and stability are culturally specific and based on our Western heritage. Much of mankind’s history is a story of bitter and violent warfare, civil unrest and destruction, Australia, by comparison, has a settled and peaceful record.

In a world of increasing globalisation, where international travel, music, film, the Internet and other forms of entertainment make national borders redundant and impose a homogenous view of culture, the danger is that young Australians remain ignorant of who and what we are as a nation.

If nothing else, the return of the History Wars, sparked by the Canberra History Summit, provides an opportunity to ask the question: what should young people be taught about the past and what is the narrative that best tells our story?

Many argue that the type of grand narrative associated with a celebratory, Anglo-Celtic, Christian view of Australian society should be condemned as “conservative, Eurocentric and nationalistic” and of little value. I disagree.

In the same way Winston Churchill argued that while democracy might be flawed, it is superior to any alternatives, in relation to Western Civilisation as transplanted to these shores, I would argue that while it is far from perfect, it is certainly superior to the rest.