Western Civilization Is Worth Defending

https://www.spencerfernando.com/2017/03/16/western-civilization-worth-defending/

CultureSpencerFernandoMarch 16, 20170

The Western World Must Regain Confidence In Our Civilization

The western world is experiencing a crisis of confidence.

Our pride in the accomplishments of our civilization is being replaced with doubt and shame.
We are expected to praise every other civilization in the world, while denigrating our own.
This trend puts our future at severe risk, because if we lose sight of the ideas and principles that gave us our freedom, that freedom could be lost.

Individual Liberty

No civilization is perfect, and the west is no exception. Terrible crimes have been committed throughout history by every group of people on Earth, and the west has certainly not lived up to our principles at all times.

With that said, there is no denying that the west has been the strongest defender of Individual Liberty that the world has ever seen, and this has led to Western nations being the most innovative, advanced, and free societies the world has ever known.

This is something we should take pride in, and it is something we must defend.

We are in a competition

It is tempting to think that Western Civilization has triumphed and we can stop defending it, but that is not the case. Collectivist ideologies that reject the rights of individuals still have immense power in our world. Radical Islamists want to see Western Civilization destroyed, as they despise our belief in individual freedom, the equality of men and women, and freedom of religion.

Unfortunately, there are many people within our own society who attack any effort to show pride in the achievements of the West. They throw out the attacks of “racist,” “oppressor,” and “colonizer,” to anyone who says something positive about what the societies the West has built. Those attacks have shamed many people into silence.

The irony of course is that Western Civilization has proved far more open to dissent and questioning than any civilization ever seen, yet those attacking the West from within never seem grateful or even aware of that.

There is a strange double standard that the West is held to. On the one hand, we aren’t supposed to show pride in Western Civilization, despite its awe-inspiring successes. On the other hand, we are supposed to praise every achievement of every other civilization, elevating them above our own.

Another hypocrisy is the idea that we can only talk about the West in a critical way – denouncing every crime or injustice – but the moment we talk about the crimes committed by other civilizations we get shouted down for being somehow “prejudiced.”
For example, do you ever wonder why you hear so little about the Arab Slave trade? Wouldn’t quite fit the anti-Western narrative.

Western Civilization has produced superior results

We live in a time where saying the truth is much more controversial than it should be. It is simply a fact that Western Civilization has produced superior results. Societies based on Individual Liberty are better than those based on other concepts.

Whether we look at wealth, security, technological advancement, freedom, openness, and democracy, countries based upon Western civilization come out on top.

Life is better in the West.

It’s better to be a woman in the West.
It’s better to be a man in the West.
It’s better to be straight in the West
It’s better to be gay in the West.
It’s better to be an ethnic minority in the West.
It’s better to be a religious minority in the West.
It’s better to be a freethinker in the West.

Sensing the pattern here?

It’s not politically correct to say those things, but they are undeniable facts.

Western Civilization produces superior results.

People vote with their feet

Those who doubt whether Western Civilization is really the best should ask themselves these two questions: Why do tens of millions of people risk their lives every year to live in the Western World? Why aren’t millions of people from Western countries trying to flee the other way?
People vote with their feet. Just as the endless stream of people fleeing Cuba to get to Miami demonstrates the superiority of the United States vs Cuba, so does the endless stream of people fleeing countries based on collectivism and oppressive extremism to get the West show the superiority of our civilization.

The West must regain our confidence

Civilizations are not equal, and the flow of global migration shows that beyond any doubt. Those who take pride in what our civilization has achieved must have the confidence to speak out for our core values.

There are many people – even in the West – who do not believe the core ideas of our civilization are worth defending.

Here’s the danger in that: If we begin to see ourselves as “just one of many equally good Civilizations,” we will not have the strength to defend our values when they come under attack. And if that happens, we will lose that which has secured our liberty.

There is no guarantee that Western Civilization will endure. Civilizations have fallen before, and they often fall from the inside. To avoid that, we must regain our pride in being part of Western Civilization, and stand up courageously for the ideas we have been blessed to inherit.
That doesn’t mean ignoring the mistakes and injustices of the past, but it does mean putting them in perspective along with the incredible societies that have been built on the foundation of Western Culture and Western Ideas.

We must cast aside shame and regain our confidence. We must always remember that the Western World is worth saving, and Western Civilization is worth defending.


Spencer Fernando