As individuals, all human beings are equally worthy of being treated with dignity. But all cultures are not equal. The West is the best, and we have spent far too much time denying this, and far too much time letting our nation be wrecked from within by those who want to undo what makes the Western world unique.
Cultural relativism is both one of the most hypocritical and most dangerous ideas in the Western world today.
Hypocritical, because those who espouse it don’t actually live by it.
Dangerous, because it has simultaneously destroyed our confidence in our own civilizational values, and emboldened those who want to destroy the West.
Politicians like Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh believe the Western world is something to apologize for. They believe the West is ‘genocidal.’ They believe non-Western cultures have much to teach the West, and that the West should be ‘humble’ and ‘learn.’
This is an incredibly dangerous and misguided belief.
Cultural relativism is simply wrong.
While each individual human being should be treated as equally worthy of human dignity, every culture is not equal.
Civilization vs Barbarism
Much of the world still runs on a barbaric belief system.
That is simply a fact.
Much of the world disdains democracy, disdains human rights, disdains the rule of law, opposes scientific inquiry, opposes women’s rights, opposes any limits whatsoever on the power of the state – or the ‘strongman’ who has unfettered power, and opposes the very idea that the individual can have any rights separate from the group.
The West – with it’s focus on the free exchange of both goods and ideas, and with it’s focus on tilting the balance of power more towards the individual rather than government/religious authority – stands out.
And the Western way of doing things has simply proven to be far more successful.
Western countries are richer, more technologically advanced, freer, and more powerful militarily – when they choose to be – than non-Western countries.
The Western way of doing things has also proven to be quite exportable. Countries like South Korea and Japan are very ‘western’ in many ways while still retaining many of their traditional cultural aspects.
Communist China experienced a surge of wealth and influence when they started to move more towards Western capitalism, and they are now stagnating as they move back towards Maoist communism.
Germany – which while a ‘Western’ nation sought to overturn the ‘Anglo-American’ Western order – flourished after their defeat by the Allies as they had human rights and democracy ‘imposed’ on them in Western Germany, an ‘imposition’ that was quite beneficial to Germany. The same is true of Japan, where they had the Western system ‘imposed’ on them and then proceeded to benefit from that imposition.
And South Korea – which was saved by the West – and North Korea – which was not, are the best examples of this. Two genetically identical peoples, one which embraced Western values, and one which did not, have gone in shockingly different directions, with the superiority of Western democracy and capitalism evident to all but the most insane tankies.
Jealousy and irrationality
Unfortunately, the obvious superiority of Western civilization does not lead all countries to seek to learn from the West. Rather, many choose the path of irrationality and rage out at the strength of the West while refusing to adopt the Western way of doing things.
Russia is a key example of this. Russia repeatedly refuses to embrace individual rights and democracy, and then lashes out at their inability to maintain the level of economic strength and technological advancement of the Western world. Russia remained an empire when empires were falling in Europe, then switched to Communism, and now is some sort of weird neo-imperialist fascist state that mixes far-left Soviet nostalgia and far-right state-imposed religious orthodoxy.
Russia seems to define itself as anti-Western, and so it goes with whatever ideology is most against what the West stands for. This results in Russia repeatedly falling behind economically, yet never seeming to connect the dots between their inability to catch up to the West and their refusal to fully embrace Western civilization.
The same is true in much of the Middle East.
Israel – with almost no natural resources and surrounded by hostile nations – managed to build a hyper-advanced first world nation with incredible economic power, cultural power, and military power. It’s neighbours, with far more territory and far larger populations, failed to do the same.
Yet, rather than learn from Israel – a nation that is a prime exemplar of Western civilization – Israel’s neighbours – and Israel’s pathetic critics around the world – choose to embrace anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to dismiss Israel’s success.
You’ll also notice that India’s Hindu Civilization – which had significant influence on the West, and which is likely to the next rising superpower, is also disdained by many of those who hate the Western world. India and the West have proven highly compatible especially recently, and India’s success also makes it a target for those who hate genuine civilizational success and progress.
And this is the problem we face in Canada today.
Politicians like Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and their ilk have perpetuate a narrative of Western malfeasance, have pushed the idea that the West is no different or no better than other parts of the world, and have even attacked the very legitimacy of Canada as a nation.
Yet, Trudeau and Singh both choose to live in a Western country, seek power over that country, and enjoy the human rights, freedom, and technological advancements of that country, even as they demonize it and undermine it from within.
And now, we see the consequences.
Our streets are filled with rabid anti-Semitic, anti-Western, anti-Canadian individuals who believe the entire Western world is evil, and who would – if given the power to do so – turn Canada into a barbaric, primitive, savage nightmare.
Yes, those words are harsh, but what else can be said about those who – while living freely in an advanced Western nation – promote barbaric Hamas savages?
“Glorification of #PFLP, Hezbollah & Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists & the PFLP terror group spotted at a “Ceasefire Now” rally today in #Winnipeg.
Samidoun, a Canadian not-for-profit with overt ties to the PFLP terror group, promoted this rally on its “Calendar of Resistance.”
Min. @DLeBlancNB& @Safety_Canada must add Samidoun to #Canada’s list of terrorist entities. #cdnpoli”
Glorification of #PFLP, Hezbollah & Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists & the PFLP terror group spotted at a "Ceasefire Now" rally today in #Winnipeg.
Samidoun, a Canadian not-for-profit with overt ties to the PFLP terror group, promoted this rally on its "Calendar of… pic.twitter.com/BxxrAg24Jv
— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) November 13, 2023
Our universities have become barely-concealed bastions of the enemies of the West, used to incubate anti-Western sentiment and corrode our society from within.
This cannot continue.
To turn the tide against the barbaric anti-Western, anti-Semitic, and anti-Canadian mobs that are emboldened and are slithering through the streets of our cities, we must reassert the primacy of Western Civilization.
We must explain why Western Civilization is unique, why it is more successful, and why human flourishing depends on it.
As we face a rising threat from radical Islamists and from hostile anti-Western regimes, cultural relativism is not only a mistaken belief, but it’s a belief that empowers our enemies at our expense.
To save our civilization we must first and foremost believe in it and have the courage and strength to stand up for it.
The West is the best, and it’s time we started to say so.
Spencer Fernando
