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The west is a culture not a race. For example many Asian people are more western than many white Americans.
by ohnoitsahuman 2y ago
The west is a culture not a race. For example many Asian people are more western than many white Americans.
- 9dev 2y agoInnate… superiority? There are zero ways to interpret this that are okay if you have a sliver of moral integrity in you.
- Bancakes 2y agoQuick question, would you rather own a US/EU citizenship or any other? Why?
- 9dev 2y agoThat’s a cute setup there, but misses the point. The west—aka white people—don’t have any ”innate“ traits that make them superior to other humans. The entire foundation of our lives is built on the exploitation of others over hundreds of years. Suggesting that is the natural order of things is twisted bullshit, and we’ve heard it a hundred years before. It was wrong then, it is wrong now. Even alluring to that school of thought is wrong. And no amount of „admit you like being privileged“ changes that.
- jjk7 2y agoThat you have created a new category of people: 'white', that were historically not considered belonging to the same group does not subsume the history of western thinking; which arguably started in the middle east, was further developed by europeans, and is now fully multi-cultural. The west, as a culture, absorbs what is useful and discards the not useful.
- hyperold 2y agoNotice that you are just admitting the superiority of the west here, no weak culture with subpar technology or weak people can exploit or conquer others. And pretty much everyone has tried to exploit others as much as they possibly could, that's unfortunately just how humans are. Everyone has at least one objectively bad ancestor, no matter the race or culture.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> The west—aka white people This is the problem. Western culture isn't just white. Hell, the term 'white' is really a New World race. In the Old World, Europeans were enslaving each other and being enslaved by e.g. the Mamluks and Ottomans.
- 9dev 2y agoNo, but that’s what Karp implies when he talks of „the west“. Americans may not realise how close that is to NSDAP propaganda, but it is.
- animal_spirits 2y agoDo you have sources to backup your claim that Karp is only envisioning white people as part of the west? Is he a known white supremicist? I could not find such a claim.
- animal_spirits 2y agoI found he wrote this on his letter to shareholders… > “As Samuel Huntington has written, the rise of the West was not made possible ‘by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion ... but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.’ “He continued: ‘Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.’” Yikes.. https://bsky.app/profile/leahmcelrath.bsky.social/post/3lheu3ghhgk2s https://bsky.app/profile/leahmcelrath.bsky.social/post/3lheu...
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoWhat is the yikes? Martial superiority isn't exactly a groundbreaking metric by which to measure societies. It's also an essential one--sovereignty depends on it. That will be true as long as international relations are anarchic.
- animal_spirits 2y ago
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> There are zero ways to interpret this that are okay if you have a sliver of moral integrity in you I think democracies are innately superior, including morally, to autocracies. I think market-based economic systems are innately competitive against--and in their capacity to empower individual production, morally superior to--command economies.
- anon2549 2y agoIsn't it interesting, then, that Palantir is one of the many entities working to destroy democracy and bring on autocracy?
- pseudalopex 2y agoThe west is not innately democratic. And the world's largest democracy is in south Asia.
- gruez 2y agoUnder that logic can "the west" even mean anything? "White people"? You could argue it's full of immigrants, so it's not really white people.
- pseudalopex 2y agoSome common definitions of the west are white people, western European countries and their former colonies, and the US and their allies. Many such countries are democratic currently. None are democratic innately. Immigrants and white people are unrelated categories.
- gruez 2y ago>Many such countries are democratic currently. None are democratic innately. Okay, so your argument is that "the west" can only mean something "innate"? >Some common definitions of the west are white people Well hold on. I thought "the west" could only mean something "innate"? What makes makes the US "innately" white? The US is 30% non-white, after all.
- polotics 2y agoWell at least for pigs, cross-breeding is innately superior to consanguinity.... I don't think that is what Palantir's boss was getting at here though.
- portaouflop 2y ago“The west” is synonymous with white people, especially in this context
- mingus88 2y agoAnd there is a great diversity of white people in Europe with competing interests. It’s not so simple.
- portaouflop 2y agoSure but I don’t think Karp was talking about the finer details between European cultures when he said “West obvious innate superiority”
- zingababba 2y agoKarp is mixed race.
- portaouflop 2y agoYou can be mixed and a white supremacist
- michpoch 2y agoIt’s not. The West = Europe, US and their the allies. Japan is in the West and last time I checked they were still Asians.
- pseudalopex 2y agoIt depends on the context. A military analyst's west includes Japan probably. A white nationalist's west does not probably.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> A military analyst's west includes Japan probably. A white nationalist's west does not probably. I mean, no shit, the racist's definition of almost anything sociological is going to be racist.
- slg 2y agoPeople often use "racism" as a stand-in for all bigotry. You are correct that this technically isn't racist, but it is instead textbook xenophobia, so your comment is mostly just an annoying pedantic correction that doesn't actually address the underlying point being made about the bigotry of the original statement.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> it is instead textbook xenophobia, so your comment is mostly just an annoying pedantic correction We're in the midst of a backlash to reducing the word racism to a banal definition. Let's learn from it. Karp's statement is xenophobic, jingoistic and bigoted. It's worded to not offend racists, because we have a lot of them in government right now. But it's not racist per se, and will be found agreeable by many non-racists in a non-racist way.
- slg 2y agoQuite honestly I do not care about the feelings of anyone who self-identifies as xenophobic and is offended at being called racist or vice versa. Bigotry is bigotry and bigotry of any form shouldn't be tolerated, excused, or empowered.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- BobaFloutist 2y agoCulture is not innate, so it's pretty obvious that he was referring to race.
- hyperold 2y agoInnate in this context may just well refer to the fact that he strongly believes that values rated pretty high in the west like democracy are inherently good and they should be promoted to the rest of the world. Note that I don't personally agree with that, I strongly think everyone should be minding their own business. Truly superior ways are copied and emulated sooner or later anyway.
- pseudalopex 2y agoHe meant the west is superior in applying organized violence evidently.[1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42937959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42937959
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Culture is not innate This is true. I've seen folks--even smart ones--mis-use innate to mean fundamental.
- anothercoup 2y ago> The west is a culture not a race. It can be both depending on the context. A westerner is a european or a european descended person. > For example many Asian people are more western than many white Americans. What does this even mean? How can an asian person be more western than a white american. That's like saying a white american be more "eastern" than a chinese person. I've never heard an asian person say they are a westerner. There may be asian people who appreciate western culture more than some westerners, but that doesn't make them a westerner. No more than a white american who appreciates chinese culture more than the average chinese makes him a chinese person. Or are we talking about different things here?
- lxgr 2y agoWould you really not consider e.g. adoptive children to be part of the culture of their adoptive parents? > How can an asian person be more western than a white american. Very easily, since one is an ethnicity, while the other is a nationality/culture.
- anothercoup 2y ago> Would you really not consider e.g. adoptive children to be part of the culture of their adoptive parents? Sure. But culture isn't "innate". But being a westerner is innate. I could learn chinese, but that doesn't make me a chinese person. A chinese person could learn english but he is still "innately" chinese. > Very easily, since one is an ethnicity, while the other is a nationality/culture. I already acknowledged that. My point is what do you mean by a western person or a westerner. Anyone can partake in a culture. You can eat chinese food or indian food but that doesn't make you a chinese person or an indian person. Am I wrong here. Or is the term "west/westerner" used differently around the world.
- jjk7 2y agoWould a child of European descent born and raised in China be a 'westerner' in your eyes? What about a second generation child, still fully ethnically European?