Is our civilization worth keeping alive? This sounds like a ridiculous question. Of course it is worth saving we would say. In fact, most of us don’t even see the need to protect our civilization. We are nestled in the belief that it will last forever. America is strong, powerful. It is the land of the “free.”

In reality, no civilization lasts forever. Where is the Greek or Roman civilization? Actually, the only people who have survived, though they were dispersed from their land for about 2,000 years, are the Jewish people. Once again they have their land, their language, their own form of government, their military—all of which are needed to protect a country.

Gloria Z. Greenfield is passionate about making people aware of the chipping away of our American culture and western civilization. A producer and director of powerful documentaries, her latest film, “The Fight of Our Lives: Defeating the Ideological War Against the West” shines a light on all the little variances that are happening throughout our country that are turning minds slowly away from what our foundation fathers established. The Zionist Organization of America recently sponsored the showing of this film at Congregation Ohev Shalom. A little over 100 people were in attendance.

As I watched, I was reminded of Nikita Krushchev, who in the early 1960s proclaimed that “We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within.” Most of us remember him pounding his shoe on the table. But his words were prophetic, yet probably forgotten. The term “politically correct,” which many think is a good thing now, originated in the Soviet Union. If someone said something that wasn’t politically correct, something you weren’t allowed to say, you were imprisoned.

Greenfield spend a multitude of hours interviewing university professors, scholars and journalists—spending as much as 90 minutes to three hours talking with each person to create “The Fight of Our Lives.” The result is a 60-minute dialogue about what is happening all across the United States on college campuses, in the workplace, in social media, and the news. It’s a lot to take in and it isn’t good news, although there are glimmers of hope.

Scholars spoke of the change on college campuses. Students are, for the most part, no longer taught how to think, but what to think. An example of how far things have gotten, at the University of Virginia—the school Thomas Jefferson founded—he can’t be quoted because he once had slaves. We all have read about the removal of statues of Civil War leaders who are part of our brief history.

Jake Suster, former president of the UCF Knights for Israel and a CAMERA Fellow, attended the viewing and had this to say of the documentary, “We all really enjoyed it. As college students we felt like this movie was a must watch and that was a huge reason why we would take the time from our summer to come out to the event. At the same time, it’s important for us students to keep in mind that we are very fortunate that we don’t have the anti-Israel rhetoric that other campuses face like San Fran College. I always made sure our members knew how good we have it here in Orlando, when not too far away you have USF and the toxic environment that Zionists face there and we should never take it for granted. We know that there’s always the possibility that UCF could become an anti-Semitic campus for Jewish students and that’s why we strive to be as active on campus as possible. This is definitely a film I could see us showing at a future event for our members.”

Even in the middle and high schools across America students are taught from questionable textbooks. Religion has played an important part in the history of the world. You can’t ignore it. However, there are those who are up in arms that there is not a balance. The topic was brought up in the Q&A after the film. One side professes there is too much focus on Islam and not any attention given to the role of Judaism and Christianity. In the 10th grade book this is true. However, the “other side” expresses that it isn’t as bad as it seems. Judaism and Christianity were the focus of world history back in seventh grade. All three religions are taught, just years apart. The point is, small changes affect children’s view of things as they learn. A very good example is the history of the American Indians. What did we all learn about the American Indians? That’s another ball of wax that if we begin to melt it, we discover the “white man” isn’t so great.

Freedom of speech? Not if it offends someone—and lots of people are easily offended these days.

College campuses also receive large sums of money from China and Islamic countries—all with strings attached. How can freedom of speech survive?

Not all cultures are equal, and yet many embrace multiculturalism. If the next generation doesn’t know what the American culture is, they won’t be able to defend it.

Do we want our way of life to continue or do we want to globalize? A globalized world will not bring peace. As much as Holocaust education has been taught throughout the world, it has not contained anti-Semitism. In fact, anti-Semitism is growing as well as persecution of Christians.

“We need to understand that this is a nontraditional war, an ideological war to demoralize the West,” said Greenfield. Are we going to see things as they are or as someone wants us to see things? Greenfield referenced the child’s story of the emperor’s robes. Remember the tale by Hans Christian Andersen? Two weavers make the emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent—while in reality, they make no clothes at all. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his new “clothes”, no one dares to say that they do not see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid.

Greenfield asked the audience, “Will we say that the emperor has no clothes or be the idiot who keeps quiet?”

If you have an opportunity to see this film, take the time. It might be good to watch it several times because there is so much information to digest.