Relativists Are Not Heroes
The relativist is no highfalutin hero—he keeps evil on life support long past its expiration date.
Relativism comes in many forms, but perhaps the most dangerous is moral relativism–the idea that there is no difference between right and wrong, good and evil. “Who’s to say who is in the wrong?” the relativist ponders high-mindedly.
“What Hamas did to Israel on October 7th is barbaric, but we must end this cycle of violence,” she says, implicating both sides.
“Russia may have invaded Ukraine, but Ukraine is conscripting her own citizens. Therefore, both sides have committed wrongdoing.”
“If Hitler was a villain for his genocide, then so was Churchill.”
Relativism might seem open-minded and fair, but it is neither. For it is not open to the possibility that one party is in the right, the other in the wrong. It is not open to the idea that one society is open and dynamic, the other closed and static. It is not open to the notion that one country cherishes life while the other worships death. Nor is relativism fair—the relativist does static societies no favors by denying that they could become as prosperous as dynamic ones should they choose to do so. In his own little way, the relativist traps evil under the weight of its own suppressive culture when he could have cleansed it with the light of better ideas.
And the relativist distorts the self-confidence of dynamic, progressive societies by muddying their understanding of why they’re so successful in the first place, mitigating their ability to make even further progress and spread the right ideas to static societies. The relativist is no highfalutin hero—he keeps evil on life support long past its expiration date.
Perhaps relativism is thriving in the West right now because people can afford to make such an egregious error. But not forever. For the Enemies of the West are the Enemies of Civilization more broadly. They will not stop their anti-human ambitions, no matter how much relativists deny that that is what they are. Nor will it be relativists who ultimately stand up to them, but rather those who distinguish between right and wrong, stasis and progress, victory and defeat.