The Re-emergence of the West

A century has passed since Oswald Spengler wrote his Decline of the West. Prophesies may become self-fulfilling, therefore I opted for a more positive title. Admitted, the Decline of the West is the only belief the political left and right seem to have in common. A cultural pessimism dominates the media, and there are indications other geopolitical powers support such pessimism through social media propaganda as they know it weakens us.

It is true that the West doesn't seem to get rid of the pain of postmodernism, which halted our belief in progress. And as belief creates the actual fact, non-belief destroys the actual fact. Very few European leaders (one of them was the Belgian prime minister) have sufficiently pointed to the fact that economic welfare is in our hands and needs to be re-established. This requires a sacrifice from all of us. In his book Against the Tide, Roger Scruton points to the fact that anything worth pursuing, requires sacrifice. The Left and the Right however, believe the sacrifice should be brought by the political opponents at the other side.

Here is the truth, not generated by AI:

1)      1We will see more poverty entering Europe through migration. Whether that migration is legal or illegal, we may be able to slow it down a little, but we won’t be able to stop it.

2)      Some of us may open the door a little for humanitarian reasons, but the imported poverty is not an enrichment in the economic sense. Our economy falters and our integration capability is too limited. As a result of this, we will need to work harder for less money. Being human can be costly; don't deny it if you claim to be human.

3)      We will face more mental risks in life. Loss of jobs is the most bearable one of these risks.

4)      We will be more exposed to safety threats, be it physical threats, environmental threats, technological threats. Some of the upcoming threats we don’t know yet.

The re-emergence of the West will depend on our willingness to bring sacrifices. Clinging on to old certainties, such as untouched pension schemes, company cars, sickness compensations, four holiday trips/year, not-in-my-back-yard veto's against the industry etc… will only make the insecurity worse for the generations after us. It will turn us into a prey for other more autocratically led geopolitical powers. 

Picture: Prometheus statue at Rockefeller Centre, NYC 2015 ©Wim Lahaye