Fischer-Fan

Historically the best way to bring down Empires is from within. there are currently attacks on the cultures of nearly all Western nations at the moment. The attacks are in the following ways.

-Human induced global warming - using spurious 'scientific evidence' the third world is laying a guilt trip upon industrialised nations in an effort to curb productivity.

-Bringing back Communism - the public welfare (dole), public healthcare, baby bonuses etc are very much Communistic in there very nature.

-Destruction of western family values - being replaced by more and more bureaucracy/legislation and kleading to a reduction in individual responsibility.

-Changing economic structures - previous generations existed on one wage, today's require at least two resulting in declines in both working marriages and birth rates. Children of working families today are being raised by government employees or strangers. Capitalism = evil, Socialism/liberalism = good.

-Free trade, force western companies to compete with companies operating under lower morals/laws. This is like the virtual use of slave labour and results in job losses.

-Decline in western nationalisms - speaks for itself. Who even knows all the words to Advance Australia fair anymore?

-Guilt for being Western - other cultures are often given priority over local western cultures.

-Decline of Christianity, rise of Atheism - I'm an atheist myself but I recognise that the West was built largely on Christian values and morals.

-Multicultralism - not only allow other tribes to settle peacefully upon lands once earmarked for your children and your childrens children but also allow there cultures to overide existing ones.

-The age of man-shame - child molestation, family violence etc which all corresponds with the rise of feminism.

There are others and obviously I could go a lot more indepth but I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Am I paranoid? Is the decline of the West natural progression or is something more sinister involved? Who else believes that the west is declining?

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Gumshoe Mystery

I think you spend too much time watching politics. I don't believe in the so called myth of the death of something is a bad thing or a good thing. It is just the natural thing. I prefer to think of it as a change not death.

Those not willing to change are doomed to be stuck in the past. So relax and enjoy what is going on in the world. Good or bad, it is happening . I prefer to just go with the flow.

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YumYum

Was this intentional? I don't think it was, it was instead just a byproduct of the industrial age.

I have never been against lending a hand to those in need and that is a different thing than communism.

This has occurred, however I don't think its because anyone sabatoged anything. It has occurred because we are becoming desensitised to things like divorce, which was once a rare thing and today is a regular thing.

Overall I do think you make some good points, but I disagree that these breakdowns are all happening as a result of someone intentionally wanting to hurt the west.

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Chessic-Adventures

I think all generations have felt this to some extent, especially all those since the end of the Great War. I'm sure they were rueing the demise of Western culture back around the 1920s as much as they were around the turn of the 2000 millennium. Likewise, I am sure people of the East are incessantly bickering about the intrusive influence of Western culture on their own.

The increasing acceleration of "globalisation" in the modern era has probably left us all feeling that way. The changes that have occurred in a single decade of my life far exceed the changes that took place over my father's entire lifespan. Similarly, large, influential cultures are unable to remain insular and prescriptive as a greater coupling between business and culture emerges and cultural developments become closer linked to the demands of the marketplace.

Fischer-Fan

thanks everyone for your thoughts. to continue building on my thread, the real question as far as i see it is how will the west compete economically in a globalised world? modern empires usually dominate economics through population size and manufacturing, usually on a huge scale. the big question is how will the west maintain its economic competiveness.

previously the economics of the west was essentially focused on trade between europe, north america and it was a rather closed system where ideologically different nations did not associate economically. then 2 billion people (china and india) effectively entered the workforce and they were willing to work for significantly less than the western middle class. this in turn led to western nations accepting lower wages to remain competive or risk their jobs being outsourced.

because capitalism essentially attempts to operate from where ever they can achieve the highest capital return for the least investment we are now watching businesses and jobs moving internationally, usually eastern countries. this brings affluence to the east and helps to balance the affluence of both east and west.

mostly these eastern countries have industrialised and are now educating more higher skilled people per year than the western nations. this is good for the world and raises standards of living for people around the world, but how can the west hope to compete economically when goods can be made on mass scale at cheaper prices than the west?

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Patzer see check, patzer give check! - Bobby Fischer