Why have we been taught to hate ourselves?
As I proudly enter the final lap of my four year history degree at Brock, I am confronted with a bleak yet inescapable reality of our post-secondary education: In the department of humanities and social sciences, we are not merely taught to be critical of our society and history, we are, in a sense, taught to hate ourselves.
It has become evident to me that in the name of "impartiality" when studying and analyzing important contemporary and historical issues we have lost any sense of objectivity. We have lost our capability to acknowledge the fact that Canada and Western nations treat individual life with higher value than any other civilization in the world and in history.
In my seminars, I find that negative statements about the "West" are given an easy pass while positive statements have to be laboriously defended. In our universities, we are socialized to believe that capitalism, Christianity and industrialization are dirty words. Yet these are some of the greatest accomplishments of the Western world because they have shaped, and have been shaped by, our ideas of self-determination, individual worth and progress.
Yet, as students, we are taught to hate Western influence on the world, which has been given terms such as "Westernization", "Cultural Imperialism" and my favourite, "McDonaldization". Meanwhile, we enjoy the benefits provided by these derogatory terms every living moment.We are taught that when we intervene in an oppressive war-torn country, it is for imperialistic purposes. We are taught that when we do not intervene in an oppressive war-torn country, it is because we are racists and so self-involved that if something does not benefit us directly, we will not partake in it - humanitarian purposes are clearly not enough (even though we have invented and coined this term).
When we use our military to attack an enemy nation, we are war-mongers. When a nation attacks us, it is because we 'had it coming'. We are taught that our societies are fundamentally segragationalist and prejudiced, and yet myriads of immigrants still flood our gates (can it be possible that this is because we treat them better than their own countries do?). We are embarrassed of our Christian heritage while we defend the integrity of radical and violent religious beliefs.
We have become socialized in a way that self-hate and anti-Western sentiments have become a badge of honour and self-righteousness. I am constantly astounded by students' anti-Western convictions. We are so easily swayed by figures like Michael Moore, who omit truths, twist realities and invent falsities about the Western condition and our moral sincerity. Easily they push their movies onto the big screen as naive eyes bulge in awe.
We are convinced that capitalism makes us into drone-like consumers led by our corporate masters while unwittingly we becoming drone-like consumers of 'Chomskyesque' mantras. We forget that war, poverty, slavery and imperialism are not Western innovations, and that liberalism, democracy and human rights are very much so.
Che Guevara T-shirts have reached such a high level of "cool" that it is only matched by generic anti-Bush or anti-flag paraphernalia. We scorn American flag-waving and do not realize that under Che's flag we would not enjoy this very freedom of expression.
I fear that students are taught a twisted truth about the world and inevitably grow to not appreciate our own country. Our country and its allies are not perfect. But if we were only presented with a true depiction of the rest of the worlds' regimes we would fall in admiration of nations accomplishments and standards.The evil in this world is not a by-product of so-called Western imperialism. Evil is innate and has always existed. Why is Bush-hate so popular while we give Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the genocidal Sudanese government a free pass? Our self-righteous enlightenment of "moral-relativity" has misconstrued our ability to discriminate between good and evil. Canada and Western society have shown us a model that allows for the greatest possible individual prosperity and social justice yet we are taught to hate it.
(printed in the Brock Press 10/31/06; written by myself)
It has become evident to me that in the name of "impartiality" when studying and analyzing important contemporary and historical issues we have lost any sense of objectivity. We have lost our capability to acknowledge the fact that Canada and Western nations treat individual life with higher value than any other civilization in the world and in history.
In my seminars, I find that negative statements about the "West" are given an easy pass while positive statements have to be laboriously defended. In our universities, we are socialized to believe that capitalism, Christianity and industrialization are dirty words. Yet these are some of the greatest accomplishments of the Western world because they have shaped, and have been shaped by, our ideas of self-determination, individual worth and progress.
Yet, as students, we are taught to hate Western influence on the world, which has been given terms such as "Westernization", "Cultural Imperialism" and my favourite, "McDonaldization". Meanwhile, we enjoy the benefits provided by these derogatory terms every living moment.We are taught that when we intervene in an oppressive war-torn country, it is for imperialistic purposes. We are taught that when we do not intervene in an oppressive war-torn country, it is because we are racists and so self-involved that if something does not benefit us directly, we will not partake in it - humanitarian purposes are clearly not enough (even though we have invented and coined this term).
When we use our military to attack an enemy nation, we are war-mongers. When a nation attacks us, it is because we 'had it coming'. We are taught that our societies are fundamentally segragationalist and prejudiced, and yet myriads of immigrants still flood our gates (can it be possible that this is because we treat them better than their own countries do?). We are embarrassed of our Christian heritage while we defend the integrity of radical and violent religious beliefs.
We have become socialized in a way that self-hate and anti-Western sentiments have become a badge of honour and self-righteousness. I am constantly astounded by students' anti-Western convictions. We are so easily swayed by figures like Michael Moore, who omit truths, twist realities and invent falsities about the Western condition and our moral sincerity. Easily they push their movies onto the big screen as naive eyes bulge in awe.
We are convinced that capitalism makes us into drone-like consumers led by our corporate masters while unwittingly we becoming drone-like consumers of 'Chomskyesque' mantras. We forget that war, poverty, slavery and imperialism are not Western innovations, and that liberalism, democracy and human rights are very much so.
Che Guevara T-shirts have reached such a high level of "cool" that it is only matched by generic anti-Bush or anti-flag paraphernalia. We scorn American flag-waving and do not realize that under Che's flag we would not enjoy this very freedom of expression.
I fear that students are taught a twisted truth about the world and inevitably grow to not appreciate our own country. Our country and its allies are not perfect. But if we were only presented with a true depiction of the rest of the worlds' regimes we would fall in admiration of nations accomplishments and standards.The evil in this world is not a by-product of so-called Western imperialism. Evil is innate and has always existed. Why is Bush-hate so popular while we give Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the genocidal Sudanese government a free pass? Our self-righteous enlightenment of "moral-relativity" has misconstrued our ability to discriminate between good and evil. Canada and Western society have shown us a model that allows for the greatest possible individual prosperity and social justice yet we are taught to hate it.
(printed in the Brock Press 10/31/06; written by myself)
posted by Cincanadus at
3/08/2007 08:25:00 PM
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