The West's cultural crisis | Professor Bill Durodie

In this important lecture, Professor Bill Durodie argues that the
real threat to Western civilisation isn’t external—it’s internal.
We are not in a clash of civilisations but a crisis of culture.


Loss of Shared Culture – Tradition has been discarded, but
nothing has replaced it. Fragmentation replaces continuity. From
Resilience to Fragility – A society that once rebuilt after the
Blitz now responds to crises with run, hide, tell. Flattening of
Meaning – Culture is reduced to checklists, identity to
performance, and history to a crime scene. Managerialism Over
Meaning – Bureaucrats and data rule over wisdom and creativity;
even art is state-funded into irrelevance.


 


Western civilisation’s problem isn’t external enemies—it’s
self-doubt. Until the West believes in itself again, no defence
will be enough. This is not a cultural war but a cultural vacuum.
It is not a debate over competing ideas but a surrender of ideas
altogether. We do not need to defend Western civilization from
outsiders—we need to recover it from ourselves.