Essays

Barbarians, Savages, and the Perils of Civilization

by James Harting

IN EVERYDAY CONVERSATION, the words “barbarian” and “savage” are used interchangeably. This is understandable, as both terms refer to people or societies that are uncivilized. Yet, there really is an important distinction to be made between them. The term “barbarian” correctly refers to those who are pre-civilized, that is, to those who are capable of higher civilization, but who have not yet attained it. “Savage” on the other hand, refers to those who not only lack civilization, but who also lack the innate capacity to become civilized.

If we go back far enough in time, the ancient Aryan peoples who migrated into Europe from their original homeland were barbarians. The Hellenic barbarians poured into the Greek peninsula. After conquering the inhabitants of that land, they settled down and organized themselves into political units known as city-states. Over time, in connection with other peoples in the Mediterranean basin, they gave birth to the high culture of Classical Greece.

Other Aryan barbarians, the Latins most notable among them, occupied the Italian peninsula, eventually evolving the Roman civilization.

To the north, the Germanic and Celtic peoples remained in a state of barbarism longer than their southern neighbors. Yet in time, they too, rose from their humble beginnings and gave birth to Western Civilization — the agonizing death throes of which we are experiencing today.

But all of these ancient peoples, even while still in a pre-civilized state, carried the genetic potential for civilization within them. It only remained for the right circumstances to arise that would allow this spark to burst forth into a glorious flame.

Yet not all of the peoples of the Earth have the potential to develop a higher civilization. Some, like the races of sub-Saharan Africa, are essentially savages when left to their own devices. They can only become civilized in a superficial sense: the veneer of civilization among American Blacks, for example, is paper-thin. Yes, various mulattos can be taught to speak proper English, to dress in a civilized manner and to operate computers or machinery. With some difficulty, they can even be trained to obey society’s laws. But without the constant influence and ongoing supervision of a higher race, all of these apparent signs of civilization would be forever beyond their reach. And if, as now seems horribly possible, that higher race were to disappear from the face of this planet, then the civilization that it created would likewise vanish, and a long age of darkness will descend upon whatever humans remain.

We notice that recently there has been a renewed effort by anti-White intellectuals to extol the virtues of alleged lost Negro civilizations in Africa. Truly, such civilizations are indeed lost — because no one to this day has ever found them! The anthropological hallucinations of racial egalitarians aside, there are simply some races which lack the capacity for civilization, the hallmarks of which are intellectual achievement and advanced social organization.

One can argue whether or not the emergence from barbarism to civilization was a boon or a bane for our race. Although it brought many advantages with it, civilization was not an unalloyed good. In many ways, White people had healthier and happier lives when they lived a primitive but more natural existence, before the rise of cities and money-economy. In addition to environmental degradation, we may also cite the cultural and religious contamination that has afflicted Aryan humanity from contact with the Semites and other Asiatic peoples, as well as a general racial pollution from the whole of non-Aryan humanity. As a matter of historic fact, all of these evils have accompanied civilization.

But perhaps the most harmful effect of civilization has been to define human worth in monetary terms. Among the ancient Aryan tribes, a man’s value was determined by his fitness, his character and his service to his people. With the rise of civilization, it was the ability to accumulate material wealth — by any means necessary — that gave a man status in society.

Some have suggested “rebarbarization” as a solution to the indesiderati brought upon our race by civilization. But realistically speaking, we cannot turn back the clock, and return to a pre-civilized mode of existence. Such sentimental romanticism, as appealing as it may seem at times, is fundamentally inorganic. Time only flows in one direction: forward. Rather, the task of a future National Socialist Aryan super-civilization will be to synthesize modern, cutting-edge technology on one hand, and on the other a lifestyle and a society that is keeping with the Natural Order from which we evolved as a species. Only those technological developments that do not short-circuit or contravene natural law will be accepted. Thankfully, in the historic record of National Socialist Germany we have a successful model of what such a civilization looks like.

In particular, we want to see a return to the free play of natural forces that leads to the continual improvement of our race, both biologically and intellectually. In this way, we will be able to pursue our racial destiny, and fulfill the role allotted to us by the Creator of the Universe.

As for the other races, we wish them no ill, in so far as they do not harm us. In an ideal world, they would be free to develop their own societies and potentials, in keeping with the evolutionary vectors upon which Nature has set them.

Today, the White peoples of the world find themselves ensnared in a web of circumstances which are partly of their own making, and which are partly the result of the machinations of their racial enemies. If it turns out that we are unable to surmount the problems facing us, then we will pass into extinction. But if, even at this late date, we are able to regain the control of our destiny, a brilliant future awaits us that only a few today can imagine.

In that event, the inevitable decline and demise of Western civilization will be seen not as our final cultural achievement, but only as a stepping stone in our long racial ascent to the stars.

* * *

Source: Do Right and Fear No One

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mistercc
mistercc
14 March, 2017 5:02 am

The first Christians of Europe were quick to label anyone not of their faith as barbarians, heathens, and savages. The ol’ Germanic tribes were among the first to be labeled barbarians. Nothing was further from the truth. Pagan science and learning was considered of the devil’s authorship simply because it wasn’t in the Bible.

0jr
0jr
16 March, 2017 4:35 pm

Barbariansare what the bloody romans called the europeans they could’nt conquer, Savages were people they could’nt control, and slavs = slaves the Perils of Civilization were the romans that robbed murdered mankind stealing the fruits of their labor and even blocking the progress of mankind by enslavement

PrinzEdelhart
PrinzEdelhart
8 September, 2020 9:12 am

I’ve been saying for years that it would do the White man a WORLD of good to rediscover his inner barbarian.
Editors: How about a system to upvote comments ?