As Westerners, are you proud of centuries of global hegemony?

[MerakSahibi]

What gave you the upper hand were the Age of Exploration and the geographical discoveries. Before that, Turks dominated much of Eurasia. Extremely brave yet barbaric pirates discovered the American continent; the natives were devastated by diseases, and the survivors were forced to work under brutal conditions until they died. Then you turned your eyes toward Africa, exploited its underground resources, and imported countless slaves. India was not enough — you even brought the mighty Chinese Empire to its knees. In the lands you conquered, you gave places names like New Zealand, New York, New Hampshire, and New Jersey, as if the whole world revolved around England.

At the same time, you built the Enlightenment, positive science, and so-called universal values. You carried out the Industrial Revolution; production and technology revolved around you. The birth of capitalism was your creation, and modernization came to be seen as synonymous with Westernization. Your ideologies ending in “-ism” shape the lives of people all around the world, and I am writing this damned text in your language.

But in a dynamic world, the sun is no longer moving from east to west across the Atlantic — it is shifting toward the Pacific, and the Chinese are beginning to take your place.

Anyway, back to the point: yes, are you proud of it?

Yes, I am proud of being a Western white person

No, on the contrary, I am ashamed of it

No, the concept of “Westernness” is far too reductionist. I only belong to my own ethnicity

We Americans are not really aware of what is happening in the rest of the world. I just learned about these things from what you wrote

I am one of the other people

[goaded]

I'm not sure you have your facts straight.

"Extremely brave yet barbaric pirates discovered the American continent;" OK

"the natives were devastated by diseases," Yes.

"and the survivors were forced to work under brutal conditions until they died." I don't think so.

"Then you turned your eyes toward Africa," arguably, but that was before most of the continent had been explored by Europeans.

"exploited its underground resources," Not really, that's more a modern thing, and China's doing it quite well.

"and imported countless slaves." Oh, hell, yes.

Am I proud? A bit. I'm proud that Britain managed to dominate a very large part of the world at a time when everyone was trying to do so. I'm proud that they managed to defeat all attempted invasions since 1066. I'm more proud that it stopped slavery a generation or two before America did. I'm proud that they stood up to fascists in the 1930's. I'm proud that it limited the power of monarchs with the Magna Carta. I'm proud that the king made an excellent speech in Congress just the other day.

At the same time, I acknowledge that, historically, the British brought violence when they came, they arguably invented concentration camps, they embraced slavery until they didn't, they didn't welcome people from the empire even though they'd been invited, and today's government labels groups as terrorists even though they've done nothing to terrorize citizens, and don't stand up against genocide in Gaza and Lebanon.

It's complicated!

"My country, right or wrong!" is Jingoism. Patriotism is “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

[lightbulb27]

Well at times yes. I think we brought some degree of stability and good, like we used to give food to poor countries, and contributed to stability that broought human population up to 8 billion with many of them doing well.

We brought "human rights" to areas where it wasn't and there's places that still don't have it. I wonder why people like you aren't noticing or complaining about such places in the middle east or africa. you know, where there are slaves and people beheaded and some tossed off buildings for being gay? That doesn't happen in west.

So some day we can go back to the world folks like yourself love and enjoy so much, pure misery and suffering of starvation, rule by brute force, miserable values... like those in Gaza that produced the animals that slaughtered women... it wasn't rape, that was slaughter. That's what israel has done in return but before that they at least provided some water an such.

Or maybe the world will get better under china as they grow in power and impose their standard upon the world. you will love that, you should go to china... where your every move is recorded and watch. you get out of line, you'll be dealt with, possibly turned into an organ doner. You screw up, you are hanged. And you don't complain or you get killed and silenced.

Those are generally opposite western values, where you have freedom. But not for long... it's not free... nor cheap.

[Anonymous]

Invading Turks had their greatest conquest in 1453 with the fall of constantinople and the colonisation of Christian lands in asia minor and southern Europe. In 1453 Columbus would rediscover the Americas 40 years after Scandinavians would abandon it and the sge of exploration began.

Ottoman and muslim arab power was largely built on wealth from the silk road, that is goods going east and going west but due to European countries on the Atlantic coast development of advanced ship technologies that allowed them to sail out into the Atlantic in all sorts of weather and navigate they gained an advantage not just in sailing to the Americas but in sailing around the horn of Africa to india, china or Japan (Portuguese) or around southern America (spainish). It was these trade routes that sealed the decline of the ottoman empire in power in the 16th century and allowed the spainish and Portuguese to field huge navies to defeat the ottomans in the Mediterranean and in the red sea and gulf of iran with vast humiliating defeats in the battle of lepanto and seige of Vienna.

Then in WW1 the Turks lost the war and were conquered.

[MerakSahibi]

You should come up with your own sentences not ai, neighbor

[Opinion Owner]

You will always know who your masters are.

[OneViewpoint]

It wasn't just England. Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and Italy all got in on the land grab in the New World and/or Africa and the Middle East and Asia and Australia. The Brits were definitely not shy about it though.

Proud of it? Well there were some achievements. Primarily economic. But there were also some heinous acts.

• Slavery of Africans and native peoples.
• Genocide of native peoples.
• Economic slavery of European immigrants.
• The spread of disease.
• Constant wars.
• Plundering of natural resources without compensation.

It wasn't some beautiful renaissance where everyone lived happily ever after. It was brutal and bloody conquest in the competition for wealth and power.

[Levin]

Yeah, it's all my fault.

As the saying goes, you never picked cotton, and I never owned any slaves.

Every region and empire had its hand in conquest and slaughter. 'tis but an unfortunate time in the age of efficiency, when Europe became very good at it. If the shoe was on the other foot, I'm fairly sure the same thing would have happened, and it may have even been worse.

But guilt is a nice way to destroy a person and a country. And the ends have been achieved. Most Western countries have been destroyed now. Like you say, we also gave the world most of the invention. Literally pretty much all of it, originated in Western Europe.

Continue with the resentment and the victim consciousness.

It is all my fault. Except it wasn't. You have no idea what my ancestors went through.

[MerakSahibi]

There is a poet in our tradition who says: “Some are Hindus, some are cannibals, some are some other kind of calamity!” It seems your country has had its share of that calamity as well. Just like the Palestinians whose lands were occupied by Jews. You resemble the Ottomans after the Second Siege of Vienna, weakened and in decline.

But it was not us who made you ashamed of yourselves — it was the Americans. Think of it this way: in the Ottoman Empire, only Muslims (the core subjects of the state) were allowed to ride horses freely in the cities. Today, only Americans can legally arm themselves freely; second-class Europeans do not have that right, because “America First.”

In America, when people see a veteran, they stand in respect, whereas many European men keep insisting on “world peace.”

[Levin]

It's also worth bearing in mind that the history of England has always been bloody and battle soaked. How many times were we invaded, how many civil wars were there; I mean think of 20th century European history alone. Google how many years England has been at war with France (it's 700 years apparently!).

[jshm2]

LOL, there is no such thing as "Western" what you mean is "American, and then everyone else"

As for the hegemony... when have white people improved anything? If it's good, then you know it was stolen from someone else by them and rebranded.

[strateguy632]

I am proud of trump bringing peace to the middle east now, by defunding Iran and hezbollah and houthi and hammas as well as Abraham accords 2019, instead of hegemony.

[indissoluble]

You're not very smart, but you are Muslim so that explains it. You think hadith is science...

[exitseven]

Ask yourself this, if Western values are so bad, why does the rest of the world want to emulate it?

[MerakSahibi]

To be rich

[exitseven]

BINGO!

[Mike_Hum]

Of course! Liberal (not to be concerned with current commie leftists) democracies have improved the lives of humans 1000 fold. It’s not even a debate.

[Ariesman81Nshiiit]

Yep

👍🏻

[Dargil]

The United States was made great because of two things. The capitalist system and Liberty.

[Pterodon]

I’m very proud and patriotic. What matters is today. I wasn’t around back then but I do live in the present

[Anonymous]

Yep certainly am!

[MerakSahibi]

Where are you from? Please vote

[Snakeyes7]

We are the hegemonic ones? Don't make me laugh.