Anti-primitivism and the Decline of the West
The Social Cost of Cultural Ignorance

This text states that the West obliterated primitive civilizations everywhere in the names of Christianity and progress, and that that was an act of cultural ignorance.

This text states that the West obliterated primitive civilizations everywhere in the names of Christianity and progress, and that that was an act of cultural ignorance. It states further that they were not exterminated - or better, absorbed - in the name of democracy, because the latter was for the white man only and was thought too exotic for the primitive to grasp, and that from a scholarly point of view, if the idea of progress has failed, it will eventually cause the failure of democracy. The author declares that this idea has to be dealt with on at least three levels, i.e., the Third World where there are almost no prospects; Russia and eastern Europe where success with a free market economy is dubious; and, finally, at home where, under democracy and diverse ethnic and religious groups, society seems unable to solve basic and vital issues.