Maybe I’ve spent too much time recently on the evils of Islamic terrorism (yes, ISIS struck again in Saudi Arabia at the end of Ramadan). It is what it is; and I see it as two ancient evils combining to wreak havoc. One the one hand, the terrorists themselves are desperately trying to carry on a 1,400 year-old war about a cousin and a brother-in-law or some such stupidity. On the other hand, the governments of the West are doing what governments have done since the institution was invented – meddling for power’s sake. Both of these traditions have gotten really old; one would think people would have had more than enough by now. They haven’t. There’s something about ancient traditions, even the bad ones, that keep us coming back.

Traditionally people the world over have lived in little tribes, marked by readily identifiable characteristics – geographical, ethnic, religious similarities. Frequently, the little tribes would war with their neighbors. These wars are often the basis for reported history, as if human beings have nothing better to do than to kill each other. I remember reading Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present some years ago and being surprised the old man didn’t concentrate exclusively on martial conflict throughout his sweeping narrative of the rise and todder of the modern West.

The end of the modern West (as we knew it) are interesting times. There seems to be a mad rush to intermingle many if not all of those little warring tribes together within the societies of modern, civilized nations. This could have never sounded like a good idea to the sane but there have been a multitude of reasons and excuses given for doing so. Lately, the organizers are dropping their pretexts – “we’re just doing it, damn it!” In fact, they seem to be on the cusp of revealing a dark, sinister truth behind their endeavors – the outright genocide of white, European peoples, maybe. Some are already shouting this but they are, as yet, radicals not confirmed by the mainline lunatics. None of this will end well.

Tribes imported from the third world are praised for their savagery towards the native hosts. Of course, it can’t be called savagery – that would be racist. Just praise them and let them loot, rape, kill, and burn at will. The natives are told they are inherently evil. It is implied that they deserve to be looted, raped, killed, and burned. But, that is not racist.

One could easily look at history for direction in the future and see a war brewing. A lot of the white folks are not buying their own extermination, just because. A lot of them are armed – many heavily. A lot of them are beginning to itch for a fight. Lest the fools forget, no one has ever done war like the West. Also, history shows over and over that this type of ethnomasochism has occurred before. It never ends that well for either side, especially for the invaders. If it comes to blows this time perhaps we should, after the canon smoke clears, take account of who initiated the pogrom …er… program. Perhaps those instigators deserve special retribution.

Yet, through all this, hope shines on – and is tied to other ancient traditions to boot.

Early this morning the West, despite all the inherent evils, celebrated another milestone of civilized progress. While lesser men blew themselves up and beheaded each other over “disrespect” and other bullsh!t, the Men of the West successfully orbited another spacecraft around the planet Jupiter.

Little Juno the science probe arrived at the fifth planet in the wee hours to begin a years-long mission to record magnetic, mass, gravitational, weather, and other information about the gas giant. I wrote another because the probe Galileo did a similar job over twenty years ago.

Juno will scan deep into the swirling clouds of Jupiter, tracking wind and weather phenomenon. Think of it as an interstellar political science project – observing the hot air and wind of a gas-bag. Therein lies the ancient connection: Jupiter (the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Zeus) was the king of the gods. To conceal his identity and motives he wore about him a cloak of clouds through which none could see. Except Juno, his wife (Hera), could see through the clouds; she alone could fathom Jupiter’s demeanor. Modern science imitates ancient art.

The moral of this story, great people, is that even as we fight off the hoards and hounds of Hades, we advance. There is great hope for the future.

Concept art (now reality) of Juno in orbit. NASA.