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Notes -
I’ve always put this somewhat before that. Around the start of the 20th century the idea that the West as a civilization was good and right and its ideas were good and right we’re already declining. Vietnam was more unveiling than the change itself. You can look to almost any institution you care to name, and in the 19th century they were self-confident, willing to impose themselves, and seen as obviously right and good, and the way forward is to impose those values and ideas on the world. Western Christians in 1840 were trying to impose Christianity on colonies. Now those colonies are more orthodox than Western churches who now apologize for ever taking Christianity seriously. In the past, it was self evident that imposing western ideas on the rest of the world was making the world better. Today, we have teach-ins to make sure that no one thinks that democracy, human rights, free trade, or science are better than tribal authoritarian governments that put women in tents and refuse to let them speak.
I submit that Western civilization is old and has various serious philosophical illnesses. Most of them are not fatal if treated in time. But I don’t think they will be.
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