The Decline of the West?

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[southafricanizationofsociety]

Oswald Spengler: “Really? You don’t even utter my name!”

[mia]

Pride (& arrogance) always comes before the fall. #TickTock

[joelgrosschmidt]

The lion may be proud, strong, and noble. But the rat and the roach will be around far after it is gone.

[dranirbanpal]

I'm surprised the printing press was not mentioned.

[connerwilson]

I can't agree with the last point. Evidence has shown, as Ha-Joon Chang points out, that a work ethic is developed only after the economy has developed and industrialized. Thus, a work ethic is more of a result of industrialization rather than a cause.

[inaede]

1. Competition
2. Scientific revolution
3. Citizenship based on property ownership and representation
4. Modern medicine
5. Consumer society - textile
6. Work ethic

[UPandComingNow]

Decadence is the key to the decline, typified by millions living off the state and politicians playing to them and invading hordes, overspending, a house divided even in respect to foreign enemies.

[nikunashi]

London hasn't changed then, underwhelming and unsanitary.

[thearchitect]

I definitely do agree with this Harvard historian, although I'm an Easterner myself living in the West. I think one key, overarching element to this comparative history of the West vs. the "rest" was that because everyone else was living in such opulence and relative ease, there was no real reason to colonize and compete. I actually feel sorry for the masses of Medieval Europeans, who were exploited by their version of the elite 1 percent, similar to ours today here in America, while seeking riches of Asia, Africa and the Americas. One crucial rivalry was between the monarchy and the Christian church to dominate the hearts and minds of the lay people, in addition to the competitiveness of European civilizations. But let's not forget that prior to the scientific revolution and the Renaissance of Europe, which I totally agree took place and was absolutely necessary to propel Europe into the future, the Islamic Golden Age was the predecessor for all of this new knowledge flowing throughout Europe during the "Age of Enlightenment", particularly after the two centuries of Crusades. You cannot analyze European history by taking it out of context with the rest of the world. I'm not sure if the West itself is actually in decline, because many of its institutions will still be upheld by future generations of migrants from Africa and Asia. However, changes in demographics are a real problem. Europeans are aging quickly and their younger generations are simply not having enough children to preserve their culture, and many younger Europeans are leaving their homelands for better opportunities abroad. We truly do live in a multi-polar world, and if civilizations do not adapt with the changing times, they will certainly get left behind...

[shaunrosenberg]

Population is the problem. Asia and Africa are going crazy while people in Europe are refusing to have kids and have to deal with shrinking populations.

[RealShamanX]

What we're experiencing right now is not a 'decline', but rather a coordinated take-down of our civilization and a transfer of power and wealth. Better start acquiring assets outside of the dollar system whose value will survive this transfer.

[Austria]

The work ethic came from the Benedictines before the Protestant Revolution.

[fennomanzoomer]

"Pseudoscience of race"
Race in itself isn't pseudoscience. The way racialism was addressed in the video might be, but in reality the concept isn't.

[SuperGreatSphinx]

"The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.

We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love.

There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.

The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality.

There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God."

- Saint Teresa of Calcutta

[someone-wixl]

the fall of Cordoba and Andalus was a huge turning point
lets be real here

[DocUnsane]

Did you listen to what he was talking about at all?

He was listing things that made the west dominant over the last 500 years....

[simontmn]

The obvious question is what had previously given rise to the start conditions ca 1400 where 6 "killer apps" arose in short succession in Western Europe. The most plausible theory I've seen is the Catholic church's radical outbreeding programme, with a contribution from Manorialism - for centuries, only couples of proven probity would be granted manorial land by the lord or reeve and be able to marry and raise children.

[Alliwantedwasapepsi]

The Romans? The Vikings? etc. We learnt a lot from being everyone's punching bag, built up armies and ran tribes against one another. I don't think it had an awful lot to do with the city of Manchester.

[thijsjong]

1. Competition. between cities, nations, cooperations, guilds, failed monopolies
2 scientific revolution
3 citizenship representation of property owners leading into democracy.
4 medicine
5 consumer society
6 Work ethic.

[rosesprog]

It's greed, Europeans traveled the world for the riches they could plunder and profit from, unfortunately they also had a superiority complex that allowed for the worst genocides in humanity's history to be perpetrated in the name of god, king and country. Superiority? Okay but on the material side only, kindness and humanity were certainly not part of the equation.