Is Latin America Western?

How nice to hear from the original author! You reason well and as you may have assessed from my earlier posts I agree with your conclusion.

Originally posted by goldenstar It is an other concept of civilisation, I tend to think the most objective criteria to call a nation civilised is not only technological advances and the best organisation to mass exterminate human beings, but moral and human values, like democracy and human rights for instance.

Actually it's less objective, as you cannot objectively measure the moral worth of any society without first imposing a subjective moral standard. I define civilization the way I do because material worth can be easily measured without pertaining to subjective notions of good and evil.

Originally posted by goldenstar Egypt and the rest of the Middle-East dominated by Greek dynasties quickly Hellenised themselves though, Carthage and Numidia were influenced by Greece as well. In the huge territory Rome conquered, the whole Mediterranea and surrounding areas, the locals have been Romanised and adopted the civilisation of their conquerants. This legacy is reflected by the Latin languages of Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, which were once Celtic speaking, not to mention Romania.

Conquerants? I figured you lived in France.

I don't disagree, but the scale of the contemporary Graeco-Roman influence is not comparable to that of modern Western civilization.

Originally posted by goldenstar Chinese are not adopting Western culture

Oh they are. They have adopted Western clothing styles, hair styles, entertainment, technology, even thoughts. Prior to Western influence no Chinese wore suits, they didn't watch movies or listen to pop music, they didn't have cars, railroads, TVs, computers, internet or skyscrapers of steel and concrete, neither did they think in terms of communism and capitalism. I'm not saying Western culture has replaced the Chinese one, but it has certainly pervaded their society and altered it beyond recognition to anyone who lived before the transformation took place. Most of this is also true for developed African and Middle Eastern countries, and those for whom it isn't true are considered backwards for that very reason.

Originally posted by goldenstar I still doubt you feel Middle-Easternised in every day life

You make a valid point here, but it doesn't have any impact on my arguments. Yes, the Middle East has made a lot of contributions to mankind and Western civilization is partly built on these advances, and you could say it would be justified if Westerners would feel a little "Middle Easternized", because in a way they are. However, the time when the civilizations of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent were amongst the world's most advanced is long gone and they represent a much older link in the chain of development, whereas Western civilization represents the latest. Also it wouldn't make sense to speak of being Middle Easternized as the Sumerians, Egyptians, Hittites etc. did not see themselves as all belonging to a single unitary Middle Eastern civilization, unlike modern Westerners who are highly conscious of their cultural identity whether they are in Britain, the US or Australia.

Sure, but I don't see how it impacts the issue at hand.

Hello.  I am the author of the piece, so I'll just respond to you.

I would say that even if Latin America didn't have the influx of immigrants from Europe in the past century or so (an influx that involves only certain specific countries, like Argentina, Chile, Brazil or Uruguay and to a lesser extent Venezuela) it would still be Western because the Spanish (and Portuguese in Brazil) made it Western when they conquered it and spread their culture.

Also, you're right about "rich, democracy" not necessarily equalling Western.  For example, Japan is a rich democracy, but it's certainly not Western. I would say that even though it's not rich  the Philippines is more Westernized than Japan, even if I wouldn't even call the Philippines Western.

And, indeed your nation is a multicultural one! Lots of Spanish, a good deal of Germanic (not Spanish Germanic) and a good deal of natives!

Western it has to be! But, the one thing that has always seperated your so called "latin America" is the accent upon Latin, or really Spanish! It seems, that amongst most other so called "Western nations", that English is a "second" language, but over the years, I seem to have noticed that in Latin America, there exists almost "no" second languages! That is, in most S.American nations, the only languages needed are either Spanish or Portugese!

How do I know this? Via beauty pageants! laugh!