What is Kumbayism?

Kumbayism is the system of thought according to which the word “Peace” has the same meaning to all humans.

Kumbayism is centered on the belief of common dreams for all humanity—dreams of self-determination on their own lands, their ancestral lands, living there in happiness and prosperity, undisturbed by invaders from the outside.

Kumbayism purports to “embrace diversity”, while in reality denying the fundamental differences of thoughts and values among human beings.

Kumbayism denies ideological imperialism; it holds frugality to be the natural desire of all humans, and explains global supremacism away through the profit motive (“Iraqi oil” and so forth). That people should have a non-materialistic drive to subjugate the whole world constitutes kumbayological heresy.

Kumbayism is, therefore, to believe all conflicts to be solvable through negotiations and material concessions; to believe all conflicts are rooted in “legitimate grievances”; and to believe hip-hop dances could hold the key to permanent peace.

Kumbayism is to regard every word from the President of the USA as a cynical move toward reaching his goal of “stealing foreign oil”, while not even giving consideration to the idea that Osama bin Laden’s references to the “oppression of the Palestinians” as the source of his grievances with the USA might be nothing more than a cynical move on his part. Because OBL is a frugal resistance fighter living in a cave, hiding away from the money-driven Western imperialists.

Kumbayism is to exalt Mohandas Gandhi’s non-violent resistance against British rule in India, while putting him next to Hassan Nasrallah, who gladly sent his own son to die on a suicide mission, and who derides the other side’s “love of life and hatred of death” (his words), just because both are deemed by the kumbayistas to be resistance fighters against money-driven Western colonialism.

Resistance fighters, both the non-violent and the non-non-violent kind, side by side. From Zombietime.

The opposite of Kumbayism is Jingoism, which the former decry as “leading the world to the brink”, while not considering that, in certain situations, it is kumbayism that is doing just that, and also while completely ignoring the jingoism of the other side, or explaining it away as “resistance to Western colonialism”.

Kumbayism is advertised as a “reality-based view”, supposedly free of irrationality and magical thinking, yet its adherents display extraordinary faith in the magical capability of pieces of paper (those of signed peace treaties) to restrain their signers from violating them.

Kumbayism is advertised as a New Paradigm for our age, free of the shackles of Oldthink, yet its adherents think the 19th- and 20th-century concepts of race struggle and class warfare are still relevant to our age. The sight of almond-eyed Muslims murdering almond-eyed Buddhists in Thailand is no more welcome in their eyes than the sight of Jupiter’s moons through Galileo’s telescope was to the geocentrists of his day.

Kumbayism involves decrying war as the most horrible thing possible, while harboring sympathy, if not outrightly giving support, to the most jingoistic ideologies ever known to man. To quote George Orwell (hat tip: commenter Peacekeeper on LGF):

I am interested in the psychological processes by which pacifists who have started out with an alleged horror of violence end up with a marked tendency to be fascinated by the success and power of Nazism.

Kumbayism demands the expunging of the word, “Evil” from the dictionary, claiming everything can be explained through rational, scientific, material causes; yet they do not even begin to attempt to explain such things as a whole society having a norm of raising children on a culture of death, or the sheer diabolical enthusiasm of the same to kill the women and children of the enemy (G-d forbid).

Kumbayism, even if its adherents are given the benefit of doubt as to their sincerity, undermines the prospect of world peace by failing to consider all the facts—especially the facts about human nature. With such enemies as confront us today, the best result of the application of kumbayism could be a ten-year truce. For lasting peace, a different approach is necessary.