@Cr3ami Very True. Let’s not forget that Brazil was founded by the Portuguese and their laws are based upon Portuguese common law. For most other SA countries it was Spanish common law. I often wonder as well why they are not “western” yet have the same sort of “western” style culture (Christianity, similar rule of law etc..)
I wrote something about Western work culture. It was based on the Protestant Ethic by Max Weber. That might interest you. In short it means you don't get into heaven unless you work for it. So, especially protestant influenced countries share a strict work ethic. The more successful you are in your eternal life, the better you are as a person. Thus, you are doing "good" in the world and have a place in heaven. I assume that especially Northern Europe and Northern America are influenced by this because they all have significant numbers of protestant citizens.
Now, because Southern Europe is mostly Catholic this Ethic did not spread to South America. But there are no clear borders. It blurs.
SW-User
Rule of Law. Freedom of Religion. Democratic institutions. Private property.
@SW-User Freedom of Religion yes. But also think how our laws are set up. They are clearly set up to coincide with Christianity. In other words things like polygamy and things that would be common in say Islamic culture are illegal. The places in which people live. North America and Western Europe tend to live in private homes. Western cultures tends to put a higher value on materials more so than say East Asian culture.
@SW-User That's not true though is it? Private property is not a universal western value. Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin ardently spoke out against it. So did the Owenites in England and James Connolly in Ireland.
@XenonRush Democracy, for one, in that the people should be participating in their governance at some level. Relatively liberal rights and freedoms, a strong emphasis on the rule of law and political/ethical equality of individuals.
All definitely share the period of enlightenment when the secularization between state and church occurred. This is the basis for a free and open discourse, which is also again a precondition to express oneself. As I think. But due to economic inequality democracy got undermined in the last decade. Either the inequality is a reason for religious fundamentalism or it is another step away from an open society.
@SW-User Unfortunately, that was what I quietly referred to. I think there is a link to inequality, racial and economical. Look at the scandinavian countries. They do not have such a thing. And they are the most egalitarian countries in the world (egalitarian unequal to socialistic!)
As I read a couple of weeks ago, 50% of Americans (in 2010) are poorer than the average of the people in the old Democratic German Republic (DDR) in 1989!). Inflation included.. That worries me because the US is still the riches country in the world.
SW-User
@Cr3ami When wealth is so concentrated at the top (and more to come thanks to Trump and his minions) this can happen.
@SW-User I think that is not what originally was meant by the saying "From a dishwasher to a millionaire". I mean if you are white, male and educated you don't have a problem. But that thought is pretty disgusting.
Heather Heyer was murdered by a Neo-Nazi in Charlottesville. Yet your ilk and your pos president are too busy whining about Antifa. Antifa has never killed anyone. The KKK and Neo-Nazis have. Your orange blowhard removed them from the terror list.
If there is a "western" culture, it is probably some amalgam of Judeo-Christian spirituality, European enlightenment thought, and various strains of imperialism. That is hardly "western" anymore in that it's been exported through imperialism and globalism.
@SW-User but that means nothing. I can find Papa Roach fans anywhere. The idea of western culture is an artificial construct created to bolster Eurocentrism
SW-User
@basilfawlty89 that's how it started things change as time goes on
@XenonRush It was also poverty in Europe at that time. Bad climate, burning witches and starvation. Many just couldn't bear to live in Europe anymore. Also Japan colonized a lot until WWII. But I agree, Europe went to the extremes. Very interesting... I guess Africa for example was not so developed at that time. I just thought. It was also kind of an accident that columbus found africa. He wanted to sail to India in the first place.
@Cr3ami There were African civilizations that existed during the 6th though 15th centuries, and not just in Egypt or North Africa. Although Dna and modern technology indicate that there was some movement from parts of Africa into Spain, Italy, Greece, the Mediterranean.
The point is Western Civilization vastly borrowed from those civilizations and areas. The very religion most people practice in Europe is a Near Eastern religion (Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism), our alphabet is Phoenician traced back(Phoenician->Greek->Latin), our number system is Arabic.
What about indigenous Americans? Mesoamericans and South Americans such as Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, etc. were far-western geographically and in Latin America those people still exist and the general culture is a blend of European, Indigenous, African and to a smaller extent Near Eastern. Why is Latin America not counted as western? Latin America shares a religion with much of Europe (Catholicism) and the main language of trade is a European one.
Ultimately - "western" is usually a weasel word for "white".
