The western civilization or the consumerist culture is based upon inciting the lower centers of the people. These are Lust, Anger, Greed, False Attachment and Arrogance. How can a civilization which incites the basic instincts in a man rather than motivate him to adopt higher values such as peace, harmony, forgiveness, tolerance, love and compassion, can be called a civilization? The talk of human rights and democracy by the west is just a façade to hide its real motives of controlling and exploiting the resources of the other civilizations, including the human resource. This is the root cause of the present turmoil and crisis.
By Dr. Sawraj Singh
The standard and Poor’s downgrades America from AAA to AA+, for the first time in 95 years, Now the American ratings are behind fourteen countries, mostly the European countries but also is behind Canada. The Dow Jones falls more than 4% in one day, the biggest drop in the last 3 years. A man angry over immigration and multiculturalism kills close to 100 people in Norway. The violence in London is spreading to the rest of England. It is clearly taking racial overtones. Are these just isolated incidents or are signs of the deepening crisis and the impending collapse of the western civilization?
The deepening economic crisis of the western capitalism is not only an economic crisis but is a global crisis which has social, cultural and moral aspects also. For the last two centuries, the world has been living under a myth of the western civilization which in reality is the consumerist culture of the western capitalism. The consumerist culture can not be called a civilization because it has dehumanized man and reduced him to a consumer.
Now the myth has exploded and we can see the real face of the western capitalism which has brought Chaos and anarchy to the world.
The western civilization or the consumerist culture is based upon inciting the lower centers of the people. These are Lust, Anger, Greed, False Attachment and Arrogance. How can a civilization which incites the basic instincts in a man rather than motivate him to adopt higher values such as peace, harmony, forgiveness, tolerance, love and compassion, can be called a civilization? The talk of human rights and democracy by the west is just a façade to hide its real motives of controlling and exploiting the resources of the other civilizations, including the human resource. This is the root cause of the present turmoil and crisis.
The production under the western capitalism is not for fulfilling the needs of the society but is only motivated by the desire to make more profit. Similarly, the immigration was intended to exploit the labor of the other countries to maximize the profit of the western capitalists.
All these actions have now come back to haunt the western societies. Now, they find themselves in a state of Chaos, Anarchy and Impending collapse. The question is, will the western civilization survive this crisis? I feel the answer is a big No. The western consumerist culture will not survive without making fundamental changes in it. Instead of Chaos and Anarchy, we need peace and tranquility. Instead of Conquering nature, we have to learn to live in harmony with nature. Instead of hate we have to promote love. Instead of vengeance we have to promote forgiveness and instead of arrogance and extravagance we have to promote compassion, humility and moderation.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected] or 509-962-3652.
