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The West is at the stage where it is starting to resemble a post-Christian culture, wherein it enjoys no special cultural or economic pre-eminence in the world. Secularists will obviously rejoice this until the sequelae become too overwhelming to ignore.
Short of some revolutionary event or revival, this will continue until a new cycle in the rise and fall of cultures begins and what we vaguely refer to as "the Western nations" are given a chance to rebuild based on a more substantial values foundation than what we have at present.
I think one synecdoche for the decline of the west is how beauty standards have changed across the world.
Up until the end of the 20th century, western women enjoyed a special privilege in media, fashion and at the level of popular discourse. Contrary to what some may think, this was not undergirded phylogenetically, because women of non-western racial origin also displayed these characteristics (at least to some degree) when they endeavored to adopt western cultural standards.
It was an intangible property that was impossible to define in empirical terms and transcended racial differences. It was more a cultural accident of sorts that women of European phylogeny were at the epicenter of this phenomenon.
That special status now seems to have gone, not because of political deliberation for inclusiveness, but because western women no longer seem to possess these axiomatic characteristics that set them apart from other cultural groups. Something in the intangible realm has changed. I personally believe that it can only be fully understood, if at all, in a transcendental context.
The sad truth is the west will be wiped out. The west is the west because the people, because Caucasian people! The ideas, culture, values, architecture, beliefs, customs, languages, inventions, and countries all became what they were because of "white" people. The same reason Africa, the Middle East and China are the way they are because of the people that live in these areas. Race is not just "skin deep" it's MUCH more than your skin color. White people (which are the reason why the west is the west) are declining in population. White people have low birth rates, and mass immigration is abundate. Eventually whites will become minorites in THEIR OWN NATIVE countries. These immigrants have a different culture and usually stick with is. So there is a demographic decline that is happening and because of the mass immigration these western countries will loose what made them western.
Another things is that the west doesn't want to be the west anymore. We have no pride in our heritage. We are not taught about the great liberal art ideas (not liberal politically). We do not have any clue about our peoples heritage. We do not study what made the west great because they were mainly white males which created the west. By studying just white males is racist. We give into EVERY other culture but our own. We are loosing our religion, our heritage, our values and our culture.
The west has changed the world greatly and without it the world would be VASTLY different for the worst. Say good bye to your computer, Internet, cars, planes, boats, heaters, and many great cities. It is TRULY a DEEP sadness to see the west falling apart, to a point that is probably irepairable. I hope something will be done tho.
The sad truth is the west will be wiped out. The west is the west because the people, because Caucasian people! The ideas, culture, values, architecture, beliefs, customs, languages, inventions, and countries all became what they were because of "white" people. The same reason Africa, the Middle East and China are the way they are because of the people that live in these areas. Race is not just "skin deep" it's MUCH more than your skin color. White people (which are the reason why the west is the west) are declining in population. White people have low birth rates, and mass immigration is abundate. Eventually whites will become minorites in THEIR OWN NATIVE countries. These immigrants have a different culture and usually stick with is. So there is a demographic decline that is happening and because of the mass immigration these western countries will loose what made them western.
Another things is that the west doesn't want to be the west anymore. We have no pride in our heritage. We are not taught about the great liberal art ideas (not liberal politically). We do not have any clue about our peoples heritage. We do not study what made the west great because they were mainly white males which created the west. By studying just white males is racist. We give into EVERY other culture but our own. We are loosing our religion, our heritage, our values and our culture.
The west has changed the world greatly and without it the world would be VASTLY different for the worst. Say good bye to your computer, Internet, cars, planes, boats, heaters, and many great cities. It is TRULY a DEEP sadness to see the west falling apart, to a point that is probably irepairable. I hope something will be done tho.
I think it's more to do with the customs and cultural decisions that Europeans and European descendants adopted during the course of their development. Hereditary factors do play some role in this, but not nearly as much as some would like to think.
If it so happened that Native American racial groups were in the right place in the right time to be influenced by the same epistemological and ethical traditions that reigned in Europe as it developed, they would probably be the ones with cultural, economic and scientific pre-eminence in the world. If the habitus theory of aesthetics is true, they would even visually resemble people of European descent during the economic heyday of the West as they exercise cultural pre-eminence across the world.
Discussion largely based on historical precedents, or patterns from history. I have seen comments that we are at the end of an age.
Like walking upright and making tools with hands, hunting and gathering, and agriculture, the global spread of industrialization, and all that implies, is indeed a game-changer.
Yes, the so-called "west" (you haven't really defined it) had a two-hundred year head start, but that's a mere pittance in historical terms.
I think it's more to do with the customs and cultural decisions that Europeans and European descendants adopted during the course of their development. Hereditary factors do play some role in this, but not nearly as much as some would like to think.
If it so happened that Native American racial groups were in the right place in the right time to be influenced by the same epistemological and ethical traditions that reigned in Europe as it developed, they would probably be the ones with cultural, economic and scientific pre-eminence in the world. If the habitus theory of aesthetics is true, they would even visually resemble people of European descent during the economic heyday of the West as they exercise cultural pre-eminence across the world.
How do you think it is that culture can change racial appearances?
Last edited by Grigoriachel; 04-13-2016 at 04:03 PM..
How do you think it is that culture can change racial appearances?
Things such as skin color obviously don't change, but you may be surprised just how much of our physical appearance is determined by acquired tendencies. At the most basic level, changing your habitual patterns of thinking and other schemata can change the posture of every muscle group in the body, altering your physical appearance over time. There are also a number of more complicated ideas like 'self-organization' and 'self-assembly' which I won't cover here.
Some (subtle) examples of this might be the difference between an actor in and out of character, or intergenerational variations in physical appearance.
The idea is that, if someone really knows what they're doing, they can teach others to not only be more magnetic or charismatic in personality, but to change their appearance as well.
A more interesting idea (a conjecture), though, is whether common schemata, attitudes and beliefs can bring about similarities in appearance that can't be accounted for by phylogeny.
Things such as skin color obviously don't change, but you may be surprised just how much of our physical appearance is determined by acquired tendencies. At the most basic level, changing your habitual patterns of thinking and other schemata can change the posture of every muscle group in the body, altering your physical appearance over time. There are also a number of more complicated ideas like 'self-organization' and 'self-assembly' which I won't cover here.
Some (subtle) examples of this might be the difference between an actor in and out of character, or intergenerational variations in physical appearance.
The idea is that, if someone really knows what they're doing, they can teach others to not only be more magnetic or charismatic in personality, but to change their appearance as well.
A more interesting idea (a conjecture), though, is whether common schemata, attitudes and beliefs can bring about similarities in appearance that can't be accounted for by phylogeny.
Yet westernized Asians still look Asian, westernized Arabs still look Arab ...
Yet westernized Asians still look Asian, westernized Arabs still look Arab ...
Assuming the conjecture above is actually correct, if you can find 2nd+ generation migrants who fully assume western habitual tendencies, sensibilities, mannerisms, social dispositions, cultural quirks, belief systems, personal taste etc., right down to the root of their thought processes (ie. a vanishing minority), you'll find someone who'll likely resemble a westerner.
Try looking a generation or two into the past, maybe the 1990s at the latest, when this thing we vaguely refer to as "western culture" still had some kind of magnetic pre-eminence. You may find more examples back then than today.
Many of these 'tendencies' may be influenced by heredity which might complicate this conjecture. Other than that, you may have a point. You do sometimes come across people of color who at least act very western. And among them you might find a handful that are a bit more Caucasoid-looking than their parents.
Based on that alone, though, it's questionable just how big an effect that is. Maybe it's a mere matter of sample size in order to see more convincing examples.
Last edited by Grigoriachel; 04-13-2016 at 05:54 PM..
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