Three articles in a single go.

The last three articles in Islander 5 we’ll take at a go, because (1) this series has gotten long enough (if I repeat it with #6, it’ll be less comprehensive) and (2) I have less to say, for various reasons.

I – II – III – IV – V – VI – VII

Article One

Article one isn’t an article; it’s a short story. Consisting entirely of people talking and people thinking, it revolves around the end of Rhodesia’s colonial history, during the conflagration which was the de-colonialization of Africa, with reference to Mike Hoare (one of the mercenaries I looked at last time in this series). On a technical level, it’s well written, not a thriller by any means but with established pay-offs, interesting enough characters, and sufficiently vivid writing (though not heavy on the visual description). What I’d like to deal with here is the idea is presents experientially: a perspective on race which I see percolating up in the Christian-exterior right wing.

Race, this view holds, deals with moral-spiritual characteristics not technically intransigent but significant, in ways which transcend mere national culture, so that mere acculturation is not enough to alter the general moral character of the persons. Particularly it points to Europeans (of some stripe, often) as a civilizational people whose culture is not truly communicable to the other ethnicities. Let’s acknowledge where this perspective is correct. It is correct in noticing that different people groups have different ingrained moral systems and thought processes, things engraved into the soul received by the child from his fathers and mothers generations back.

The problem is double. First, it sometimes fails to recognize that the acculturation which has failed is not a true and complete acculturation. It is a hybridization, as in Rhodesia or modern London, one culture adopting elements and trappings of another. How much the recipient culture actually changes varies, but it retains a substrate and essence of its old self. (I’d wager that in most cases the people combine the vices of the new or super-added culture with the vices of their old culture, discarding the new virtues and some of the old virtues to make room.)

Second, this perspective does not account for God’s sanctifying work. The reason for the ‘civilization’ and ‘morality’ of Europe (sadly degraded as it is) is the long steeping in Christianity, nothing more. Without it, we’d be just as essentially barbarian as the meanest African tribe, with some virtues a little greater than them and some a little less. (We’re squandering this legacy determinedly, trading virtue for vice at an alarming rate.) The force which can transmute the degraded, degrading cultures of the world, from China to Africa to Europe to South America to Palestine (choose your barbarian, here), that force is God’s saving work; thus even the most squalid culture can become holy and greater than any we’re yet seen- even if the process will take centuries.

Article #2

The article correctly points out the appeal of Warhammer 40K as lying significantly in its return to objective truth- as a continuation of post-modernism. The perspective this franchise incarnates is of determining that, though the world is utterly chaotic and meaningless, mankind can decide to consider some things meaningful and objective, on irrational or missing basis. It takes Puddleglum’s devotion to the Lion, even if the Lion was merely an exaggerated house cat, and forgets how that statement was a defense against defeat, how its virtue ultimately rested in the exceeding reality of the Lion Aslan to whom the marshwiggle held. Without that final reality, the whole thing is merely an exercise in hubris and subjectivity which can only momentarily withstand the seething chaos of post-modernism and meaninglessness. The momentary respite may be better than its alternative, but it is a false respite, a false maximum, a distraction from the God who offers true stability.

The man who says, “I am upright,” when he is turned upside down by the wave, he has a moment of peace. But then he is dashed apart. If he had instead been truly upright, stood upon the dry shore, he would still live. This is the estate of post-modern man: to choose between a momentary lie which does not challenge and even fulfils man’s deepest desire (to be god) or to turn to the Lord who requires complete submission as the path to complete meaning, substance, and life.

Article #3

This article is an analysis of Aragorn. I say, ‘Analysis,’ but it is in essence a super-short biography. Some points are drawn forth amidst the biography, none of them false. I did not find the article particularly thought-provoking, but that may be an ailment uncommon in the readership, as the article’s points lie within areas I’ve already put a lot of time into considering. It did point out an element of Aragorn’s character I had not previous consciously noted, the fact that his worry over the effects of his leadership is his character-plot in the story.

Overall, Short

Islander 5 was a worthwhile read. It was not super-exceptional, not a favorite by any means, but it rewarded the time spent on it. For Islander as a magazine, I say only this: if you find the topic promised by the issue to be intriguing, it may well be worth buying. If you don’t, don’t worry about it.