‘Occidentophobia’: The Elephant in the Room

The West” is regularly seen as some combination of loss of moral values, imperialism and drone attacks — a description reminiscent of the Star Trek Borg species that assimilates into and then destroys other cultures. Many struggle with recognizing their own “Western” identity and few seem to associate “the West” with its grand cultural heritage, which reaches far back to Plato’s The Republic but also includes Baroque music, Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” and the environmental movement. Even though many Western Muslims that I have met encountered Western culture and history during their grade school and university education, these encounters appear to be frequently tinged with an unnecessary denigration of Western culture.

Source: ‘Occidentophobia’: The Elephant in the Room

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