A retrograde force is any human attitude, behaviour, comportment, appearance or style that impedes the progress or advancement of society. If retrograde forces become widespread, then an entire people regresses towards a less civilised state, and if such forces become widely accepted throughout a culture, then civilisation gives way to barbarism. The term is attributed to Winston Churchill who wrote about his observations of the regressive tendencies of a culture, during his time in Sudan in the 1898, of which he stated, “No stronger retrograde force exists in the world”. Definition of retrograde, as an adjective: * Moving or tending backward; retiring; retreating * Inverted or reversed * Having an opposite direction of motion Definition of retrograde, as a verb: * To moving or seem to move backward * To decline; degenerate; deteriorate Winston Churchill’s observations of retrograde forces “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.” “The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. “The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. “Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.” “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.” Note: Retrograde forces can exist in all societies, in all people of all races and all religions, and are not necessarily linked to any specific culture, but can be correlated to certain regressive ideologies. Examples of retrograde forces Retrograde forces may include, but are not limited to, the following characteristics: * belief in male supremacy * practice of male domination or machismo * subjugation or suppression of women * treatment of women as second class citizens * justification for honour killings * endorsement of the practice of polygamy * sanction of arranged marriages or child marriages * discouragement of the pursuit of higher education * denial of education to women * rejection of reason or enlightenment * contempt for democracy and institutions * scorn for the common good; disregard for the law * desensitisation of fellow feelings for humanity * pursut of fundamentalism, extremism, sectarianism, Jihad * tendency towards destructiveness, violence, anarchy or terrorism * violence towards those who reject or denigrate retrograde forces * adulation of those most possessed by retrograde forces Retrograde forces such as these lead to societies which are essentially backward looking and embrace rudimentary patterns of existence, rather than developing, improving or making more efficient the deficiencies within their culture. They do not have the insatiable curiosity to explore and discover, which is the hallmark of advanced cultures. Advanced or progressive cultures all embrace the four pillars of civilisation: democracy, markets, technology and reason. Retrograde cultures only embrace two of the four pillars, only markets and technology. They lack the fellow feelings for humanity which democracy requires, and prefer blind dogma instead of reason. Concerns about retrograde forces Ever since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, westerners have always assumed and concluded that mankind would continue to advance technically and progress morally and intelligently from one generation to the next. However, by the end of the 20th century, people began to worry that man’s progressive development may be short-lived and that the growing retrograde forces will spread through out the world, transmitted primarily by uncontrolled immigration from the third-world towards the developed world. Forbes Magazine posed the question: "Why has immigration increased the poverty rate?" and then answered it by saying: “They (the immigrants) are unlikely to do well in the knowledge economy” (due to their retrograde cultures). At the dawn of the 21st century, leaders in the western world are extremely concerned about the rising tide of retrograde forces in cultures all over the world, but especially in the developed world and the implications which this may have on the future of mankind. The consequences may not only retard man’s further development, but may actually lead to the downfall of civilisation. Growing resistance to retrograde forces * 2004. France enacted a law banning the Islamic headscarf and other conspicuous religious symbols from public schools, to curtail a growing retrograde sub-culture. * 2005. A Canadian MP tried to have the rapper 50 Cent banned in 2005 because his lyrics promoted gun crime. * 2008. The British Government has repeatedly tried to ban the rapper Snoop Dogg after an airport brawl in 2006 left seven police officers with minor injuries. * 2008. France’s highest court refused to grant French citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears a burkha, on the grounds that her retrograde practices were incompatible with French gender equality and secularism laws. * 2009. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to extended applause in Versailles, at a joint session of France's two houses of parliament, called for a ban on wearing 'In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity. The burkha is not a religious sign; it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.' * 2009. Dutch Minister, Geert Wilders, has tried to introduce a ban on veils and burkha, calling the head-dress 'a medieval symbol, a symbol against women'. * 2009. French Socialist leader, Ségolène Royal, withdrew a public subsidy to rapper Orelsan whose work boasts of the sexual torture he planned for an unfaithful girlfriend. * 2009. The Mayor of Daytona, Florida, told rapper Eminem he would not be welcome back after a concert in 2001 because of alleged drug references and profanity.