I have a more simplistic solution and that is for Americans to butt the hell out of other countries business, substantially reduce their military budget and put their own house in order with free healthcare, free education, clean up the enviroment, set a minimum wage and put an end to homelessness, drug abuse and poverty.
In the meantime stop masquerading as the leader of the free world, the greatest country on earth and elect politicians this November that have the peoples interests at heart, not big corporations, lobbyists and the greedy billionaire donor class.
Brilliant. At one of the various debates: which civilization is superior, East or West, a jocular Brit pointed out that the debates were conducted in the West and that being superior seems inordinately important to Westerners. It is a hysterical need.
They always degenerate to Sectarianism, somehow making Islam East and the rest, West….. Keeping it in house.
There are many miles and millions free of the Monotheisms and their Messianic, hierarchic common ground. And many subdued faith systems hopefully dormant needing not to be the biggest and the best.
“Reason not the need” says King Lear, in that famous Anglo Saxon Poem. No no reason the need, it is everything. Western Culture produces and makes sufficient the shallow human: they love to shop, need to shop. Their religions make no demand on this empty psyche, we after all useless sinners, so the reasoning not the need is not just the world that permits Barack Obama, or Donald Trump or Kamala to live like a King, (I pick on Barack because he hath a brain, his blindness is the deeper mystery) and speak like one, but means that challenging the system that made him a King means that I will never be King myself, the existential,the essential, American dream. That Kings needing subjects is the need they’d rather not reason.
This culture is the least free, and by default the least democratic of them all, the ones I have encountered.Hence the obsessive advertising. By all means the Global South ignore the global “other,” though, as a member, I will continue to wonder why, not the what which you have covered so well. Thank you
Many nights I have wondered about the obsessive need of Westerners to feel superior to others. This intense, continuous desire to be 'better' is considered a pathology in psychology, specifically a narcissistic personality disorder, rooted in a deep form of insecurity.
In my country, the Netherlands, one politician after another organizes town halls to discuss the superiority of the West, and in particular, the 'white race'. Thierry Baudet and Geert Wilders are notorious examples. As you mentioned, these meetings are indeed only attended by Westerners, so preaching to the choir that you are superior, only to receive agreement that indeed you are, seems like a form of cheating, to say the least.
I ascribe this obsessive need to continuously seek confirmation of their superiority to the constant search for 'narcissistic supply' (Google it), on which the Westerner survives.
Who are you referring to? The ones failing solidarity with the Global South or the ones seeking it from the Global North. My article makes a case that both sides need to do some growing up, I guess.
.Sorry! Just blown away by your common sense solutions for global insanity. Mutual respect is the essential first step no ideology seems capable of mastering.
Karim, how do you define the western left? Because politically, I'm not sure that there is one, especially if you mean Democrats in the USA or Labour in Britain. They don't represent the oppressed in their own countries, let alone Palestine.
However there are many who are struggling in the west, and many who are still truly left who don't buy into the notions you refer to: anti-China, racist, etc. I think there are more who actually are left, but who don't have a voice politically.
How do we harness this energy? A few things we can do:
- amplify the voices of oppressed people everywhere
- boycott
- speak out
- don't conflate what's called the political left with those who truly are left, but not represented politically
I don't regard parties like the Democrats in the U.S. or Labour in the UK as representatives of the left; I view them as fundamentally right-wing.
I talk about the people in the West who genuinely identify as left-wing, yet fall into the traps I've discussed in my article. In my experience, I have yet to see Western leftists genuinely embrace internationalism by forming alliances and actively supporting anti-colonial and resistance movements, such as Hezbollah. In the end, all they do is talk among each other and listen to each other. This might seem like a generalization, but the essence of my argument is that true resistance will likely emerge from outside the imperial core. Time and again, Western leftists, including in my own country, the Netherlands, have failed to meet these challenges.
I agree, that is a problem. It's hard to understand what people mean these days when they talk about the left. The group you're referring to can be mostly white and middle class, I think.
The problem is predominantly with white individuals, yes, but it isn't strictly a middle-class issue—it's a cross-class problem within the West. There are a few outliers, but generally, when you look at the many countries that constitute the West, the absence of international solidarity with people of the Global South or support for resistance movements is glaringly evident. This lack of engagement stands out like a sore thumb.
Karim, you speak to my heart. Thank you.
Thank you for that comment, Amani.
True.
I have a more simplistic solution and that is for Americans to butt the hell out of other countries business, substantially reduce their military budget and put their own house in order with free healthcare, free education, clean up the enviroment, set a minimum wage and put an end to homelessness, drug abuse and poverty.
In the meantime stop masquerading as the leader of the free world, the greatest country on earth and elect politicians this November that have the peoples interests at heart, not big corporations, lobbyists and the greedy billionaire donor class.
Amen.
Brilliant. At one of the various debates: which civilization is superior, East or West, a jocular Brit pointed out that the debates were conducted in the West and that being superior seems inordinately important to Westerners. It is a hysterical need.
They always degenerate to Sectarianism, somehow making Islam East and the rest, West….. Keeping it in house.
There are many miles and millions free of the Monotheisms and their Messianic, hierarchic common ground. And many subdued faith systems hopefully dormant needing not to be the biggest and the best.
“Reason not the need” says King Lear, in that famous Anglo Saxon Poem. No no reason the need, it is everything. Western Culture produces and makes sufficient the shallow human: they love to shop, need to shop. Their religions make no demand on this empty psyche, we after all useless sinners, so the reasoning not the need is not just the world that permits Barack Obama, or Donald Trump or Kamala to live like a King, (I pick on Barack because he hath a brain, his blindness is the deeper mystery) and speak like one, but means that challenging the system that made him a King means that I will never be King myself, the existential,the essential, American dream. That Kings needing subjects is the need they’d rather not reason.
This culture is the least free, and by default the least democratic of them all, the ones I have encountered.Hence the obsessive advertising. By all means the Global South ignore the global “other,” though, as a member, I will continue to wonder why, not the what which you have covered so well. Thank you
Great comment, Dikrane. I could not agree more.
Many nights I have wondered about the obsessive need of Westerners to feel superior to others. This intense, continuous desire to be 'better' is considered a pathology in psychology, specifically a narcissistic personality disorder, rooted in a deep form of insecurity.
In my country, the Netherlands, one politician after another organizes town halls to discuss the superiority of the West, and in particular, the 'white race'. Thierry Baudet and Geert Wilders are notorious examples. As you mentioned, these meetings are indeed only attended by Westerners, so preaching to the choir that you are superior, only to receive agreement that indeed you are, seems like a form of cheating, to say the least.
I ascribe this obsessive need to continuously seek confirmation of their superiority to the constant search for 'narcissistic supply' (Google it), on which the Westerner survives.
https://youtu.be/5nuHEzrB53E?si=dHN191iuY0QakpqG
Well said!
A clear and thoughtful analysis.
Spot on!
“…global solidarity based on mutual respect…”. You mean “grow up?”
Who are you referring to? The ones failing solidarity with the Global South or the ones seeking it from the Global North. My article makes a case that both sides need to do some growing up, I guess.
.Sorry! Just blown away by your common sense solutions for global insanity. Mutual respect is the essential first step no ideology seems capable of mastering.
Karim, how do you define the western left? Because politically, I'm not sure that there is one, especially if you mean Democrats in the USA or Labour in Britain. They don't represent the oppressed in their own countries, let alone Palestine.
However there are many who are struggling in the west, and many who are still truly left who don't buy into the notions you refer to: anti-China, racist, etc. I think there are more who actually are left, but who don't have a voice politically.
How do we harness this energy? A few things we can do:
- amplify the voices of oppressed people everywhere
- boycott
- speak out
- don't conflate what's called the political left with those who truly are left, but not represented politically
Thanks for posting.
I don't regard parties like the Democrats in the U.S. or Labour in the UK as representatives of the left; I view them as fundamentally right-wing.
I talk about the people in the West who genuinely identify as left-wing, yet fall into the traps I've discussed in my article. In my experience, I have yet to see Western leftists genuinely embrace internationalism by forming alliances and actively supporting anti-colonial and resistance movements, such as Hezbollah. In the end, all they do is talk among each other and listen to each other. This might seem like a generalization, but the essence of my argument is that true resistance will likely emerge from outside the imperial core. Time and again, Western leftists, including in my own country, the Netherlands, have failed to meet these challenges.
I agree, that is a problem. It's hard to understand what people mean these days when they talk about the left. The group you're referring to can be mostly white and middle class, I think.
The problem is predominantly with white individuals, yes, but it isn't strictly a middle-class issue—it's a cross-class problem within the West. There are a few outliers, but generally, when you look at the many countries that constitute the West, the absence of international solidarity with people of the Global South or support for resistance movements is glaringly evident. This lack of engagement stands out like a sore thumb.
It amazes me how many people believe what they read in publications like the New York Times.
Yup it's Westerners, but it is rooted in European white supremacy. That others internalize it, yes that is true.
Good piece but you are leaving out their demonization of Russia.
Can’t focus on everything. Cuba, Venezuela….There are so many more.