QuoteReplyTopic: The Downfall of Western Societies ? Posted: 22-Aug-2006 at 11:49
It all depends on how many acres per person is wasted. If everyone today lived as Americans you would need about three planet earths to support that lifestyle. Generally though scientists believe that around 10 billion people is where the critical population is. We could reach this number with the current growth at around 2030 so yes we are very near it.
The beginning of a revolution is in reality the end of a belief - Le Bon
Destroy first and construction will look after itself - Mao
qoute-The main worry is not about Asia or whoever that rise to dominence in world politics and economy, but the depletion of natural resources.
We may all be dead from famine & diseases before we even decide who's calling the shot.
The Downfall of Western Societies .
The US will go on , when the world dries up from gobal warming , the US has the largest supply of fresh water in the world, the great lakes, 100 dollars a barrel?
i believe that docyabut might be correct, i mean, with this bird flue a recent threat, it is only possible that a strand of a virus would show up and we would not be able to stop it, or create a vaccine. that would truly be frightening.
Let's make one thing clear though; the rise of certain Asian economies does not necessarily cause a corresponding decline in Western economies, far from it. I believe the West can be just as strong without keeping the rest of the world on a short leash, it's just these years of dominance that has made us into control freaks, which causes us to suffer a neurosis of fear of what might happen when we can no longer influence every development abroad. Who knows, it might even work out for the best. Don't panic over economic fluctuations like those causing unemployment in Germany, these problems have come and gone since the advent of industrialism.
As for some "moral decline", this kind of bologs pours out of intellectuals of every age when they attempt to explain whatever developments they don't appreciate in one fell stroke of far-reaching generalization.
The West has always beein in peryl of decline. It was invaded since the beginning by the barbarians, and once in a while by middle easterns and also berbers. It lost lot of battles. It has suffered terrible dissasters like the Black Death that killed 1/3 of its population.
But the West always fight back.
Today, most of the people on the planet speak a western language (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French..), or write in Latin characters. Most wear Western clothes and use Western technologies. 1/3 are Christians, which is the religion of the West.
I really believe the West is thougher that people usually think. The weakness it always presents to the outsiders (and some insiders) is nothing more than an ilussion.
Actually, what we are living is the end of the West, but also of the East, and of the North-South division, too.
Today Japan has millions of non-Japaneses in its territory, Europe is receiving lots of people from overseas. There are millions of Europeans and Asians in Africa. The Americas are a melting pot of many peoples.
People fly all over the globe. A player scores in the U.S. and people jump to celebrate in China.
Languages are dying, and most people is becoming bilingual English-something.
The literatures are melting. Today, to know classics does not mean to know the Iliad, the Odissey and the Divine Comedy. One also needs to know something about the Tao-Te-King, the Vedas, the Sundiata, Garcia Marquez, and many other things.
History is becomming the record of the past of mankind.
In short, the age of the isolated civilizations is gone.
In that sense the Western Civilization is already death.
Actually, what we are living is the end of the West, but also of the East, and of the North-South division, too.
Today Japan has millions of non-Japaneses in its territory, Europe is receiving lots of people from overseas. There are millions of Europeans and Asians in Africa. The Americas are a melting pot of many peoples.
People fly all over the globe. A player scores in the U.S. and people jump to celebrate in China.
Languages are dying, and most people is becoming bilingual English-something.
The literatures are melting. Today, to know classics does not mean to know the Iliad, the Odissey and the Divine Comedy. One also needs to know something about the Tao-Te-King, the Vedas, the Sundiata, Garcia Marquez, and many other things.
History is becomming the record of the past of mankind.
In short, the age of the isolated civilizations is gone.
In that sense the Western Civilization is already death.
Long life to the Global civilization.
Pinguin
well the global civ you speak of might be just a system of western civ applied unjustly often forcefully on global scale to benefit the west. Trust me, if the people of this planet really can have the global civ they want, it would not be looking like the one you are looking at.
I believe people has to realize the West is not evil nor saint. You can't judge only the negative part of it and forget the possitives. I agree many people suffered with the expansion of the West, however, the legacy of that expansion is alive today throughout the world.
Some of the heritage is:
(1) Pick a map of the world you will notice that most people of Europe, the Americas, Subsaharan Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific speak one Indoeuropean language, particularly: Spanish, Portuguese, French or English. Besides, the lingua franca of the world is English.
(2) The most spread writing system in the world is alphabetic, and in there the most important is the Latin script.
(3) Modern science and engineering was developed by the West. Even today, most of the knowledge come from the West.
(4) Modern arts, including music (both classical and pop), painting (classical and abstract), drawing (traditional, cartoons, anime), architecture (traditional, modern), literature, theatre and movies, are all mainly western based.
(5) Christian religion, in all its forms: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, etc., is the more widespread religion in the planet. And Jesus is more famous than the Beatles.
(6) Military strategies, formations and technology were mainly developed in the West.
(7) Most of the most outstanding achievements of the 20th century, the conquest of the pole, flying, the deepest immersion, the conquest of space and the landing on the moon were done by Westerners, and also the most remarkable achievements in Physics and Mathematics.
Some merits have the west after all, and that's why its influence is feel worldwide, and will be perceived in the centuries to come.
Yes. But the syndrome of the fall of the West is part of Western mentality since its beginning. The west has always beeing falling down, during Greek times, Rome, during the Black Death, WWI and WWII, etc. The West has always being in the edge, close to collapse. However, somehow it has managed to survive.
I believe it will continue to do so. That's just faith.
Yet the beatles infamously said they were more popular.
(1) Pick a map of the world you will notice that most people of Europe,
the Americas, Subsaharan Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the
Pacific speak one Indoeuropean language, particularly: Spanish,
Portuguese, French or English. Besides, the lingua franca of the world
is English.
Leaving all the Arabs, 1.3 billion people in South Asia, 1.6 billion in East Asia, all of Russia and all of South East Asia, not speaking a European language.
(2) The most spread writing system in the world is alphabetic, and in there the most important is the Latin script.
Which explains why over half the world doesn't use latin script.
1/3 are Christians, which is the religion of the West.
Actually Christianity is middle eastern.
Yes. But the syndrome of the fall of the West is part of Western
mentality since its beginning. The west has always beeing falling down,
during Greek times, Rome, during the Black Death, WWI and WWII, etc.
The West has always being in the edge, close to collapse. However,
somehow it has managed to survive.
(1) Pick a map of the world you will notice that most people of Europe,
the Americas, Subsaharan Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the
Pacific speak one Indoeuropean language, particularly: Spanish,
Portuguese, French or English. Besides, the lingua franca of the world
is English.
Leaving
all the Arabs, 1.3 billion people in South Asia, 1.6 billion in East
Asia, all of Russia and all of South East Asia, not speaking a European
language.
But the point made, that virtually the entire New World is
linguistically the child of four European languages, hold true. English
is the language of commerce, and we live in a capitalist world.
Originally posted by Omar al Hashim
1/3 are Christians, which is the religion of the West.
Actually Christianity is middle eastern.
Middle Eastern in origin, though truly modern Christianity has been
adapted to Western culture. As early as the split in the Roman Empire,
Catholicism moved away from the more mystical, eastern focus of the
religion towards a more legalistic focus typical of the West Roman
tradition of law and social order.
Originally posted by Omar al Hashim
Yes. But the syndrome of the fall of the West is part of Western
mentality since its beginning. The west has always beeing falling down,
during Greek times, Rome, during the Black Death, WWI and WWII, etc.
The West has always being in the edge, close to collapse. However,
somehow it has managed to survive.
The roman empire being the exampe in case.
The institution of a centralised Empire in the West under the command
of Italians may have vanished in the 5th century, but truly Rome
survived in a number of forms. Byzantium stayed alive for another
thousand years and contributed its learning and culture back into the
West, Roman theological organisation persists to this day, Roman law
persists in all European nations aside from England (and even there it
has considerable influence), Roman urbanisation and public works
continued after Roman imperial power ended and provided the impetus for
further progress in many nations of the former Western Empire.
Rome only ever fell as a political entity, she was a mere component of
Western civilisation, not its total embodiment. The West continued
after Rome, built upon its strengths and came back stronger than ever
once it recovered from the barbarian attacks.
Originally posted by Omar al Hashim
And Jesus is more famous than the Beatles
Yet the beatles infamously said they were more popular.
Let's wait a couple of thousand years and see what their popularity is like then .
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