Vanquished Aristocracy

Thanks to my great friend Curt Doolittle for helping me understand Ukraine a little better. I am delighted by his visit and hope he stays.

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The story of Ukraine is the story of vanquished aristocracy, annihilated first by the Mongols and second by the Bolsheviks.

Much of what remains waits for their ancient kings to return. A cult awaiting leaders. Predictably, only false profits, lairs, manipulators and the most brutal thugs aspire to the helm. History will not be rewritten. The dead will not return.

Ukrainian aristocracy survives only in the blood of Ukrainians. The aristocratic class needs to be reconstituted. The best genes, those of the ancient kings, perhaps, can only rise amid liberty, in a system of voluntary exchange and property rights where the masses don’t assault the friuts of success with a million rusty knives, each entitled idiot tearing off a piece for himself. Furthermore, t can only arise amid institution like family and fatherhood. Voluntary segregation forces the irresponsible to face the consequences of their irresponsibility.

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Curt:

A country where the men stand around, watch what’s going on, direct the women as if they are somehow adding value to the obvious, and the women humor the men, mollify them sufficiently as if they’re afraid of being beaten, and then do all the work as if the men weren’t there anyway.

. . . .

Men are what mothers breed, and make them. While they have innate tendencies that are very different from those of women, most of what we call civilization is creating rules and incentives that direct men’s energies to the pursuit of status and behavior that is beneficial for all.

So who is to blame for the behavior of men here?

They have not abandoned their wealth of violence. That’s obvious. Neither domestically, politically, economically or socially. And for that I admire them. HOwever, without chivalry, they have no means of directing their energies to service of others.

And without mothers who understand chivalry, they have no one to teach them.

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The remembering of past glory seems to be the predominant theme in much Ukrainian poetry. See Shevchenko’s Розрита могила .

Also, in paintings of the iconic Kozak Mamay:

Kozak Mamay

The Kozaks were many things, including the warrior culture of the steppe that proceeded the annihilation of Kyiv-Rus at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century.

I imagine him singing about how there was once a great kingdom here. Tragically, much ancient Ukrainian literature, including unique original texts were destroyed by the Soviet Union.