James Bowman analyzes the history and decline of honor at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. He argues that the concept of honor has been found in all cultures throughout history. However, contemporary Western civilization dismisses the concept as obsolete, due to the erosion of values. Mr. Bowman recommends that the West needs to recover the concept of "honor" in order to meet the challenges of today.
James Bowman is a movie critic for American Spectator. He got his first bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA. He then went to England for two decades and got his second bachelor's and an advanced degree from Pembroke College. He became a teacher at Westminster School and later became the head of general studies. In 1989, he returned to the United States to write for the American Spectator.
Bio
James Bowman
James Bowman is a movie critic for American Spectator. He got his first bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA. He then went to England for two decades and got his second bachelor's and an advanced degree from Pembroke College. He became a teacher at Westminster School and later became the head of general studies. In 1989, he returned to the United States to write for the American Spectator.
John O'Sullivan
John O'Sullivan is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He is also editor-at-large of National Review where he served as editor-in-chief for nine years. He was editor of the distinguished foreign policy quarterly, the National Interest, from 2003 to 2005 and editor-in-chief of United Press International from 2000 to 2003.
From 1998 to 2000 he was an editorial consultant to Hollinger International Inc. and a leading member of the team that created the National Post, the first national newspaper in Canada that reached a circulation of more than 350,000 within a few months of its launch.
I was disturbed by a number of aspects of Bowman's speech. One was his statement that feminism is a major cause of a weakened honor culture in the west (the idea being that honor codes had attributed different roles to men and women, and that once women declared themselves equal to men, this honor culture began to break down). The second was his seeming assumption that activists who protested the Vietnam War had not done their duty since they had refused to fight for their country.
On the contrary, I strongly believe that these two examples demonstrate precisely the opposite: groups who have behaved with honor and courage. In the first case, women had the honor and dignity to stand up for themselves and demand equal treatment. And in the second case, the American people had the honor and the conviction to stand up to their government and demand that it be held accountable for an unjust war in Vietnam.