In this day and age it is almost considered a sin to be proud of Western Culture in America. From illegal immigration to English as the official language to the destruction of America that Multiculturalism is bestowing upon us - John Kenneth Press exposes the truth and gives us a new word and philosophy where Western Culture is proudly praised.

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Culturism: A Word, A Value, Our Future is not just a book, but more of a tome to culture and the rights of people to be free to celebrate their culture. The author John Kenneth Press brings forth a new word, Culturism, a rally cry to celebrate and be proud of your culture.

Rather than just read this book, I found I was actually studying it. I took pages of notes as I went along. The arguments within the book and points made will make you think. He's not as much telling you how to think, but presenting to you ideas that are compelling regarding appreciation of culture and its global impact on the success of civilizations.

America was founded on individual rights, but certainly our forefathers did not foresee that one day in the future individual rights would come to the point that they overrule that of society itself and could ultimately spell its destruction. Press presents us with views on culture through his experience as a teacher of US History, philosophy and psychology at the high school level for 8 years.

"Those who say that all restraints on the individual in the name of cultural health are un-American are wrong." - John Kenneth Press

Race and Culture

When discussing culture people instantly think of race.

Press discounts the notion that race has any part to play in academic success or any other important issue. This belief has been present in our education system for quite some time in the forms of Affirmative Action and "achievement gaps". regarding this, Press points out that it is truly culture that has this impact, not race.

Fifth graders in Taipei, Taiwan spend an average of 13 hours a week on homework; their peers in Minneapolis spend slightly more than four hours a week on homework. In Asian cultures not having completed one’s homework normally results in shame. ... Culturist explanations can account for some groups doing better than others without resorting to discussions of race. In fact, the multitudes of successful minority students from every background show that educational success has nothing to do with race.

And that's the crux of it right there. Culture does not see your race, but it has somehow been tied with it. Press points out teen pregnancy, crime rates, that eating of fatty food and the resultant shortened life expectancy really has nothing to do with race, but the culture that raised the child.

"Our culture is not the world's default. If we do not prize and protect our vision it will be replaced by something different." - John Kenneth Press

Illegal Immigration and Culture

Which brings us to our current situation regarding illegal immigration in this country. In particular focusing on Mexican illegal immigration, Press goes through a history of the southwest and Texas. He relates how Texas was taken. Press gives us a recount of how Texas was made a part of the United States. How Spain transfered these properties to Mexico, yet they had never been able to be settled due to fierce Indian populations and the distance from the heart of their country.

Having no luck getting Mexicans to settle in what was called “Tejas” en masse, Santa Anna said Anglos could settle in the area if they would swear allegiance to Mexico, learn Spanish and become Catholic. He was gambling that he could count on the Anglo’s loyalty and thus have the loyal population base so crucial to real ownership. This gamble failed.

The same thing is happening in portions of the United States now. We are asking people to come here and swear fealty to the United States, learn English and assimilate. Those Anglos who moved to Texas declaring loyalty were all full of lip service. Here is what happened:

Anglo-Americans poured in and quickly overwhelmed the tiny local Mexican population. By 1830 there were approximately 25,000 Americans residing in Texas and a mere 4,000 to 5,000 native Mexicans. This was anticipated. What was not anticipated, however, was how deeply culture is lodged in the human psyche. Anglo’s declarations could not instantly turn them into Mexicans. ... Legal status and cultural affiliation are very different things. Despite legally declaring their intention to learn Spanish, be Catholics and feel allegiance to the government in Mexico City, the Anglo settlers were never really Mexicans.

... The settlers expected a say in their government (not a Mexican tradition), public schools to be built (not a Mexican tradition), freedom of religion (not a Mexican tradition), laws in English (not a Mexican tradition) and protection from Indians (the Mexican Army could not control this area). ... Realizing the gamble was going sour, Mexico made the first anti-immigration laws in the hemisphere. They tried to stem the tide of disloyal Anglos. But again, demographics are more important than paper.

The Texans officially won the technical sovereignty that had been theirs all along in 1836. Much of the rest of the previously Mexican “owned” area was ceded following the Mexican-American war of 1845. Herein lays the claim that it was “stolen.”

The loss of the "Mexican land" of Texas to Anglos was clearly due to a cultural conflict. He refutes the "stolen land" argument by pointing out that the land was never really settled or controlled by Mexico. Could we have the same thing going on right now in Southern California? We are still allowing people with dual citizenship. Are we being overrun by a different culture that has feigned their allegiance and claims of assimilating? As Press says people's loyalty does not change due to a legal procedure.

This episode also shows us that it is hard to fill territory with a foreign population and still control it. That war and secession can result from such attempts is the lasting lesson of the Alamo. Those that do not learn the culturist lessons of the past may be condemned to repeat them.

The same comes when discussing the English language in this country. We are actively hamstringing ourselves by not requiring people to fit into our culture and to go for decades living in separate cultural enclaves within our country.

This is just a small example of what Press confronts head on in this book.

"If other cultures occupy your land, your values occupy that much less space. They have moved closer to disappearance." - John Kenneth Press

Heroes, Multiculturalism and Pride in Western Culture

Press covers the heroes of western culture. People like Achilles, Aristotle and George Washington. he holds them up to the light and examines how their actions formed the basis of western culture.

He systematically destroys Multiculturalism for the sham that it is. Multiculturalism presents the absolute counter-productiveness of allowing an unlimited number of cultures within one nation. My favorite destructive point made by Press is that the all accepting multiculturalists, must then support headhunting cannibals being allowed to reside and continue their practice within the United States. For them not to do so is imposing a cultural judgment on them, which is exactly what they are saying they are against.

"Those dedicated to celebrating diversity, without qualifications, must praise human sacrifice, drug use, head hunting, slavery and female genital mutilation." - John Kenneth Press

Individual Rights, Religion and Culture

Isn't it un-American though to present culture as more important than individual rights? Press addresses this reaction that some may have.

Many modern American’s first reaction to the suggestion of culturism might be to call it “un-American.” Many people mistakenly believe that America has always been defined by a dedication to unmitigated individual liberty and rights. Failures to live up to this dedication are treated as aberrations. In earlier times, however, the view of America was not so individualistic and rights-oriented.

Not shying away from things Press goes after the impact of religion on culture and growth. He compares Catholic based societies and Protestant based societies.

"Our having adopted the multiculturalist creed that our culture is not special may be dangerous." - John Kenneth Press

Lands, Heads, the New Sanctuary Movement And Diversity

While we sit back, other countries are moving ahead with spreading their culture and beliefs. The Catholic church is helping the infiltration of our country regardless of cultural conflict. Meanwhile other groups are calling for diversity, saying that it reaps tremendous rewards. Press covers these attacks on our culture and nation.

Other cultures already know that control of land and heads are weapons of competition. The Catholic churches’ support for open borders and high birth rates in the United States is an overt attempt to gain more land and heads. Mexico is supplying education materials to our students that argue that young American’s loyalties should be to institutions south of our border. Islamic nations are setting up mosques and lobbying for greater immigration from Muslim countries. China lobbies for one-sided trade deals. We need to know that cultures compete and disappear. We need to know that lands and heads constitute the battlegrounds for cultural survival.

America and western culture are being assaulted from all sides. Increasingly people are ignoring the impacts and just assume that things will continue on as they always have been in this country with no differences. People put their heads in the sand while western culture continues its decline into obscurity. We are losing our cultural beliefs without a shot being fired. Worse yet, there are people in this country who are actively working towards this without even realizing it. These people need to get a copy of this book and read it!

Without pride; without remembering that we are a noble experiment that can fail; without consciously reinforcing our cultural underpinnings; without a strong economy; without protecting our lands from those who are indifferent or antagonistic to our culture; our civilizations share of heads and lands can recede.

"Logically, to argue that diversity within countries is an unqualified good, one would need to show that its presence always brings benefits and that a lack of diversity necessarily causes problems." - John Kenneth Press

In Closing

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. I consider myself to be well read and a thinker, but some of the ideas and things of note that Press brings up I had not considered. The wider scheme and historical perspective of our culture - and that of other countries - really has made me look at things differently and to understand them a bit more.

I haven't even scratched the surface of what John Kenneth Press covers in this book. From cultural displays by animal groups to culture in nature, psychology, philosophy and world history, Press walks us through the history of cultures and how we can appreciate ours while respecting others.

Buy Culturism: A Word, A Value, Our Future

About John Kenneth Press
John Press is currently a doctoral student at NYU studying the History of Education. He holds a Master’s degree from UCLA, an administrative credential, and two teaching credentials. He taught U.S. history, philosophy and psychology at the high school level for eight years and has traveled over much of the globe.

The Culturism Webpage

In the interest of full disclosure I have not met John Kenneth Press and was not paid for this review.