Western civilisation

[Tom 1]

This is maybe the best (short) article I’ve found on the legacy of the expansion of Western culture:
The West Has Done Bad Things… But So Has Every Other Culture

Just wondering what other people think about this.

 

[Sarah G]

It is what it is, good and bad in everything, it's a fallen world.

 

[timewerx]

There are plusses and minuses. I might be partial to a non-Western woman to be my wife (less likely to divorce, less complicated, etc).

But I prefer to have Western neighbors (for having good manners, courtesy, and mostly less noise problems).

 

[SolomonVII]

This is maybe the best (short) article I’ve found on the legacy of the expansion of Western culture:
The West Has Done Bad Things… But So Has Every Other Culture

Just wondering what other people think about this.

I fully agree with the little article. There is nothing particularly unique about the evil of the West. Nothing in the violence of Western domination and conquest is unprecedented as far as oppression of other people goes.

But what is unprecedented is the unique outlook that the West has brought to the world, and Western ideals that have been able to transcend even the worst of the evils.

For one example, there is nothing particularly unique about slavery. Slavery like in the American South was the norm for nearly all societies since before the dawn of history. What is unique about the West is not the evil of slavery, but that the ideals of the American Constitution in effect destroyed the very concept of slavery as a legitimate enterprise, and the whole world has now signed on.

The irony is that the ability to be self-critical that has led to so many questioning the legitimacy of Western civilization is in itself a unique Western concept. It has developed out of the fact that the Crucifixion teaches us that we once killed God and let the criminal go free. The reason that we can see that we are so often the culprits is because of our Western heritage. To the extent that Western civilization is erased, so too will that self-criticism be erased from future generations, and society will opt back into scapegoating rather than self-criticism as the norm.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

For one example, there is nothing particularly unique about slavery. Slavery like in the American South was the norm for nearly all societies since before the dawn of history. What is unique about the West is not the evil of slavery, but that the ideals of the American Constitution in effect destroyed the very concept of slavery as a legitimate enterprise, and the whole world has now signed on.

Actually at was the rise of the feudal system of Middle Ages that made it possible to have a functioning economy without slavery.

 

[SolomonVII]

Actually at was the rise of the feudal system of Middle Ages that made it possible to have a functioning economy without slavery.

Serfdom was a nominal step up from outright ownership of another person. To be a liege to a vassal ironically was a benefit to the lord because it meant that the vassal was responsible for his own upkeep, while at the same time providing the lord with the bulk of the fruits of his labor. This was in no ways an easy life, but in no way was it as soul-destroying as either slavery or welfare for that matter, and the resentment and/or sense of entitlements that come with being provided for by your superiors.

Either way, the main point is that there was nothing particularly unusual or unique about slavery in the United States. It was the normal state of affairs for the bulk of human history. It is only from a position of wilfull ignorance that anti-western post-modernists can blame slavery on Western civilization and the capitalist system of free enterprise.