swede said:
well I completly disagree with your perception of the west and that it has done more harm than good.
The west has influenced the world enormously and continue to do so with more and more countries developing by moving towards the western economic model.
The world has never been richer
There has never been less poor people in the world
The chance of dying in a war has never been smaller in the history of the world.
The number of wars are in steep decline and international law makes it ever harder for thug states. The west interferes and should in my opinion continue to do so.
The west developed through the acceptance of the physical sciences etc to reach a dominant position, and many actions followed that would be considered imoral today but it was hardly a peaceful happy world where others didnt do the same. The west was just stronger thus able to do good and bad on a much larger scale.
Just as the west was able to kill eachother on a much larger scale than in wars elsewhere,
If the historic actions of the west shall be subjected to moral evaluation of the present shouldnt the cultures they affected as well, many of which offered a life in abject poverty and stiffling oppression and terrible practises.
The only way I can really beleive the west has been a negative for the world is if we believe the average person everywhere on the globe lived far happier lives than now in the pre western-developement world. I dont.
Look- i am not saying that the west has done absolutely no good. But it is indisputable that it has been the largest source of depravity over the last 2000 odd years.
As far as happier lives go- you'd be surprised to hear that the UN did a survey about happiness ( where they asked people to rate their state of happiness in a scale of 1to 10) over the world not too long ago and countries such as States, Canada, Australia, Britain, etc. landed near the bottom half. Which country was surveyed to be the happiest ? Nigeria. Followed by Norway.
As per western economic influence, that is quintessential example of how people are brainwashed to believe that they are better off with artificially constructed demand.
Just turn on your tv and watch the brainwashing through advertisements. The western culture is the origin and flagbearer of artificially constructed demands- we dont NEED that SUV or that stupid ipod or that nice varnished couch made in victorian fashion.
Beyond food, shelter, means of transport and communication, we dont NEED anything else.
Yet the west creates artificial demands by making people 'feel' that they need stuff they really dont need.
Besides, what is the genesis of western economic systems ? Capitalism. And capitalism is based on exploitation. The riches of the west were built not on the back of fair trade, but on the backs of slavery and utter butchery.
And whats worse is that the capitalistic economic model is unsustainable. I can elaborate on that if required.
But the fact is, the west is rich at the expense of the rest of the world.And the west is protesting when the other countries are trying to climb up the ladder ( see the uproar with outsourcing).
There is a finite amount of resources on this planet and the west is far richer than the rest of the world due to disproportionate allocation of resources. That is the fundamental genesis of capitalism. And as long as capitalism exists, you cannot have the whole world getting richer ( income levels rise but that is irrelevant without taking into account inflation that is standard and an ever-present factor in a positive population growth model).
Many thing the west is a champion of today, such as human rights, originate in the east and was in practice in the east before the west went in and bolloxed that up.
Human rights was written by King Kurash and the next major ruler to adopt that was Emperor Ashoka.
Why dont you investigate stuff that never makes the news and see how the west maintains its position of economic superiority - backing utter nutcases like Saddam Hussein, Mabuto sese Seko ( sp?), Pinochet, etc. when it suits their purpose economically, irrespective of the harm they do. As long as the resources flow into the west, they dont give a toss.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Yes, the west has learnt a lot about how to become better civilized - thanks to the hippies.
But it has much left to prove and despite pretensions of moral superiority, it has none.
Just about the only good thing that has come from the west is mass propagation of education institutes for the public. Overall, that is a bit like applying a band aid after chopping up someone to small bits.
So how is the overall balance of influence from the west in anything but massively negetive overall ?