What do you think are some better terms for this split in the Earth than east and west?
NameExplain
As Portuguese guy I say, you a can totaly split the globe into two pieces with Spain.
silveryuno
In my youth, Russia and eastern Europe as the Soviet Union were cald "the East".
When I hear "Orient", I don't think of China or Japan, but the arabic world.
Ther are two movie-genres named Western and Eastern. A Western is in the territory of the US and is in the 19th century. An Eastern takes place in China and Japan, with roughly the same time. So, if you want to get rid of the terms "East" and "West", you will have to rename these two genres as well.
HalfEye
It’s very telling when the “West” is deemed cohesive, while the “East” isn’t so much. Basically, this “Eastern and Western Worlds” is itself a “Western-centric” concept. The issue lies in this dichotomy’s more contemporary implications of pride and ethnocentrism (and racism and classism).
lewatoaofair
Saying that Peru is culturally Greco-Roman inspired but Turkey is not is a bit of a stretch...
benni_at
I remember your history podcast a few years ago where you said "THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST, WE LIVE ON A BLOODY CIRCLE". I still think about that quote today and it makes me laugh each time
MocheBenMaimon
After the end of World War II, the world was split into two: East and West. This marked the beginning of the era known as the Cold War. *Hnnngghh…*
balaam_
01:40 Fun fact: In the Russian language, the term Middle East is vary rarely used. Instead Syria, Iran, Iraq and all those countries are referred to as Near East (Ближний восток, Blizhniy vostok)
robert_wigh
I find the term "Western World" quite useful for describing the areas of the planet with more European influence (mainly Europe, the Americas, and Oceania) but I find the term "Eastern World" less useful. When people talk about "the East" they usually mean Asia or a specific part of it such as East Asia.
Mia
To explain why we have the terms Near East, Far East, and Middle East but a giant chunk of Asia that doesn't fall under any of these terms, that's due to the meanings of the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" shifting over time. Originally, the "Near East" basically referred to the lands of the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans, while "Far East" had the same meaning as today, and "Middle East" was everything in-between. It could include everything from Iraq to Myanmar. So, India was often included within the label of "Middle East." However, by the 1930s it was sometimes used interchangeably with "Near East, " and during WWII the British called their forces in West Asia and Egypt the "Middle East Command, " after which the current usage for Middle East became most common (and "Near East" stopped being applied to the Balkans after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, while also shifting westward so that places as far east as Iran were sometimes included).
SomasAcademy
Just an aside: in Spanish speaking countries, the words "occidental" and "oriental" are quite common and a proper way to say "eastern" and "western", with occidental not being outdated and oriental with no negative connotations.
triccele
My country's state media listed japan as a western country one time. I'm from a central european country. And it's name literally means "eastern realm".
valentinmitterbauer
Let’s also not forget that most Greek texts were preserved by Arabic scholars during the Islamic scholars during the Islamic golden age, so even certain “non Greek” places like Iran, Iraq, etc. have classical Greek influences.
Personally, I would say classifying the world into “colonizers” and “colonized” is far more useful, though even that is technically flawed since there nations that were *both* (such as America, China, most Arabic speaking nations, etc.)
prettypic
This is what I have always been saying, there is no concept of "Western world" and "Eastern world" currently, which is exactly what each one represents, the Western world commonly refers to Greco-Roman Christian values but I have seen U. S. Citizens say that Japan belongs more to the Western world than iberoamerica, the same thing that the Eastern world China and India do not share the same culture there are many cultures within the world. India and within Asia
sanexpreso
I always found the 'Western world' concept dumb. I often wondered why nobody talked about how dumb it is; thankfully, you did. The Earth is so diverse that dividing it into arbitrary categories will never make sense.
Moses_Caesar_Augustus
Me Agreee...
Let's split the World as North & South ! 🥸🧐😤
shyamraa
It's not always a literal "east" "west" divide. Different contexts use these terms differently. There are geographic divides, but this is more about geopolitical and cultural divides. Japan and South Korea are usually considered "western" countries but not "in the west". Because they have a political and economic system aligned with the traditional western world. This is just what happens when you have layers of heritage in different parts of the world.
ToofaniZindagi
The thing about using the greco-roman inspired world to refer to the west is that the arabs were extremely inspired by the greeks, with modern arabic musical traditions even having their origins in ancient greece, not to mention the huge philisophical and even theological influences.
The persians, egyptians, and ethiopians all also have a very strong greek influence
matertua
Good point on that “influenced by Greece/rome” argument. Probably every “western” country sees itself as a “kind of continuation” of the Roman Empire.
For example, in my country (Brazil) the narrative used in school years is: Rome, fall of Rome and Middle Ages, renaiscence and explorations, colonization, Atlantic slavetrade, the napolionic wars and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family in Rio, independence, Imperial years, republic and then “modern history”
Looking at what is chosen to be thought, we can see clearly that they teach a line of evolution from Rome.
Ramondenner
Not only did the Mesopotamians come up with the ideals that the Greek later adopted, but after the fall of the roman empire many of the Greek writings, philosophies and Ideas were largely forgotten, to be rediscovered, translated and explained by the Arabs to later be translated into Latin from Arabic. So yeah, western.
