COLUMN. To win the cultural and intellectual battle, Europe must staunchly defend its model, writes the economist in his column, dismantling the narrative of a 'declining' continent.
You’re talking as if the pillaging was limited to the 1500s. What about the outsourcing of labor and waste and the privileged access to materials and goods we continue to enjoy, which make our lives so damn cushy?
Also lest we forget the US was a European colony, built on violently stolen land. I’d say that was pretty damn profitable until it went perhaps now fully haywire. Something about boomerang effects.
The US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico etc all former European colonies but all independent for long enough to be responsible for their own actions.
What we do tend to forget are the non-European colonization. Arabs have a general free pass a colonizing, from Western Sahara to Curdistan. Turks also. Russian, Chinese… same. Colonization was not a European invention nor exclusive.
Pointing fingers at others doesn’t really make for a solid defense, to me. I’m just really tired of the European superiority complex, and refusal to take responsibility for its messes. Just think it should be thought about more honestly, and acted on, if we want to be the good example for the rest of the world as people here are saying we should… You might have noticed how other countries forever have our hypocrisy to point at when they do their authoritarian crap. Anyway, trumpeting our awesomeness to me seems deeply insulting to the backs on whom our wealth has been and is built.
I think you’re the one with a superiority complex and an eurocentrism view, as you seem to believe that European colonization is somehow exceptional and that Europe is the sole responsible and willing participant in the capitalist system that runs the world today. I really have nothing else to discuss if that really is your belief.
You’re talking as if the pillaging was limited to the 1500s. What about the outsourcing of labor and waste and the privileged access to materials and goods we continue to enjoy, which make our lives so damn cushy? Also lest we forget the US was a European colony, built on violently stolen land. I’d say that was pretty damn profitable until it went perhaps now fully haywire. Something about boomerang effects.
The US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico etc all former European colonies but all independent for long enough to be responsible for their own actions.
What we do tend to forget are the non-European colonization. Arabs have a general free pass a colonizing, from Western Sahara to Curdistan. Turks also. Russian, Chinese… same. Colonization was not a European invention nor exclusive.
Pointing fingers at others doesn’t really make for a solid defense, to me. I’m just really tired of the European superiority complex, and refusal to take responsibility for its messes. Just think it should be thought about more honestly, and acted on, if we want to be the good example for the rest of the world as people here are saying we should… You might have noticed how other countries forever have our hypocrisy to point at when they do their authoritarian crap. Anyway, trumpeting our awesomeness to me seems deeply insulting to the backs on whom our wealth has been and is built.
I think you’re the one with a superiority complex and an eurocentrism view, as you seem to believe that European colonization is somehow exceptional and that Europe is the sole responsible and willing participant in the capitalist system that runs the world today. I really have nothing else to discuss if that really is your belief.