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South Korea has given up on talking to the North
(www.economist.com)
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this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Jesus. And people think I exaggerate when I call the West a death cult
Well yes, you are definitely exaggerating if you are suggesting that half the planet is a 'death cult'. Maybe if you want to say that the foreign policy establishment in certain countries is, then it would be a more reasonable statement.
I don't think that "the West" is even a useful term.
I think you overestimate your importance, try 14% of the planet instead.
This is unrelated to the very poignant graphic but I like your username
I love weird infographic maps. Wonder why the areas have been chosen to be portrayed that way. There's more border control between EU and USA than EU and LATAM.
Western world is a weird concept anyway. All the different blues in wikipedia's map are closer to a global community and a common culture than the map above.
Even Africa and India are more connected to the rest of the world, maybe only some of those Asian countries, heavily authoritarian either by religion or just totalitarianism, are the exception
... Look at the map again.
You're right, sorry about that! It does! I removed my comment.
Do you like the Imperial North better?
Maybe "The US and its allies"?
I mean Japan is typically included as part of The West, and it is to the east of China. Cuba is in the western hemisphere, but it is Marxist-Leninist. I don't think directional terms of the globe make as much sense in the 21st century as they did in the premodern world.
The term "The West" is not to mean something geographical but rather countries that value the Western culture. That's why the US, Australia, New Zealand and even more notably Israel, Japan and South Korea are fitted into that category. Even though none of these countries are European they all follow along with western traditions or have been westernised in some way or another. If you look at maps of policy decision taking and such (there is even a community dedicated for this in Reddit and I think also here called /alwaysthesamemap) you will see how most of the time "The International Community" is the set of Europe plus the aforementioned countries.
That is also why the term "Global South" doesn't really need to be taken literally since for example colonised States such as Hawai'i, or imperialized countries such as Mexico or certain parts of northern Africa are technically above the equator. It is more a symbolic allegorical representation of the people on top (the ruling classes) and the ones below (the oppressed masses).
Lol, news flash. Western white people are not half the planet. Never have been. They are a significant minority.
You don't get to decide if the West is a useful term. You have to listen to the global majority on that. And they demonstrate it's utility by using it.
The foreign policy establishment is tiny. There are millions of people screaming at their TVs, lynching black people, shooting protestors, buying guns, watching and producing military propaganda movies, watching and producing TV shows about hero white people killing Asiatic hordes, celebrating the European genocide against indigenous people, calling water protectors terrorists, baying for the blood of Iranians, Russians, Chinese... Millions who thinks dropping nukes on population centers was the best course of action. That vacation in Vietnam and marvel at how backwards they are and don't think Kissinger is that bad.
It's not like you and your family and friends and countrymen are just normal people who weren't raised for 20 years on genocidal indoctrination by your parents, grandparents, teachers, books, TVs, movies, politicians, historians, memorials, and religions. You just don't think you were.
It's not the foreign policy establishment. It's the entire European project for the last 600 years. You don't get out of it by just saying "it's only the power elite". If the US had a popular revolt, I guarantee you that it would result in major mass killings of the marginalized, because despite your fantasy, the majority of Americans are part of the death cult.