"Western Values" Explained
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- Опубліковано 13 січ 2022
- Mr. Beat attempts to define "Western Values," but by doing so, realizes it's a problematic phrase.
Produced by Matt Beat. All images and video by Matt Beat, used under fair use guidelines, or found in the public domain.
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Music by Bad Snacks and Trash Planet.
A special thanks to Define American and Gutsy Media for their support creating this video.
Sources/additional reading:
www.spectator.co.uk/article/i...
Civilization: The West and the Rest by Neil Ferguson
Why the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity by Rodney Stark
www.colorado.edu/center/benso...
www.sciencedaily.com/terms/we...
www.jstor.org/stable/1154499
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• What is "The West" (the @CogitoEdu video)
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#westernvalues #thewest #history #defineamerican
You might be thinking, I should already know what “The West” means. After all, I spent at least hundreds of hours studying for overpriced Western Civilization classes I took in college. And yet, years later I still found myself Googling what “The West” actually was. Is it a reference to the Western Hemisphere? No, not really. It basically is a reference to Europe or any part of the world that has historically been heavily influenced by Europe. For that reason, The West is often expanded to the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.
Now remember, the opposite of west is east, so at one point there had to be a divide.
The divide between West and East we see today has its roots in the cultural and religious divide of the Roman Empire. For example, folks in the western portion of the Roman Empire often spoke Latin, while folks in the eastern portion of it often spoke Greek. Later, the divide became more evident when the western portion no longer was a thing yet the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, continued on. And then, in 1054, there was the East-West Schism, aka The Great Schism, which was the first major split of Christianity. After it, there were now two denominations in Christianity, the Catholic Church in the west and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East. This split, combined with the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam throughout Western Asia and Northern Africa, made it so that Western Christianity developed a more separate identity...oh, and VALUES (supposedly) .
When European explorers began to travel the globe to conquer and colonize foreign lands, they brought these values with them. And missionaries followed them who eventually were successful at converting millions to Christianity. Or I should say, WESTERN Christianity. So where these ideas were not heavily influenced were presumably not “The West.”
If you’ve got 9 minutes, I strongly recommend my friend Dom’s video called “What is ‘the West’” over on his channel Cogito. He goes into it deeper than I just did.
Ok, now that we established what “The West” is, let’s now attempt to define “Western Values.”
Are they simply the values that people who live in The West have? Well no, not really.
Should we no longer use the phrase "Western values?"
Also, my cat of 19 years, Ellie, who I refer to in this video, died on New Year's Eve, after I filmed this. I dedicate this video to her.
And now I need to find a new cat producer.
No
Hay mr beat great vid can u talk about Native Americans just an idea that’s all
No
We should phase out the phrase
Western Values is a dumb phrase, if you wanna refer to liberty and democracy then refer to liberty and democracy, no reason to try and make it geopolitical
One aspect of this that you didn't touch on, is that there are a lot of ideas and values that originated in "The West" that usually aren't considered "Western Values" Nazism and Communism both originated in Europe, but they are not usually considered a part of "Western Values".
Good point. Additionally, western values have improved over time. Things like racism are no longer considered acceptable.
Very good point indeed
“The West” is such a self-defined term so as to be essentially meaningless-like you say, there’s clearly a cherry-picking of those values and heritages…if we wanted to place a stronger definitional line, I’d put it as those places directly influenced by the Roman Empire-basically, Europe and North Africa and the Middle East
The Roman Empire was arguably the most influential power in world history for mainly obvious reasons (extent of landmass and adoption and spread of Christianity) but think about all those indirect and symbolic outcomes, like the Reformation and colonialism and imperialism and even liberal democracy (the “Founding Fathers” after all modeled a fair bit of the federal government on the Roman Repulbic and even the political theories of Polybius)…but that’s just my take, if I had to put some actual meaning behind a mostly empty catechism
@@warlordofbritannia I don't agree that the Roman Empire was in fact a part of Western Civilisation, the way Roman society operated would be so alien to us today or even people living in Western Europe 1000 years ago as to make it effectively entirely its own "classical" civilisation, one from which the west, the Islamic world and the orthodox world have sprouted from. It is much easier to see a common culture that today forms the modern west deriving from the Carolingian Empire, one that was Christian, Feudal and decentralised in the way power was vestiged in a way that the Roman Empire was not.
@@hpsauce1078
Eh, I guess I get your point…but the Carolingian Empire derived their legitimacy by aping Rome-crowned by the Pope of the ROMAN Catholic Church in ROME, their empire becoming thus known as the Holy ROMAN Empire…a friend of mine wrote his capstone thesis on how on the Karlings, with help from the Pope, basically assumed the mantle of Rome in order to cement their legitimacy, especially at a time when the Byzantines and Papacy were on poor terms and the Basileus was actually a woman…
My favorite northern value is penguin
WAIT A SECOND
Lol
very clever
why not a moose?
Brother?
Using the phrase "western values", which is clearly undefined, is really great for politicians, as whomever is listening can easily insert whatever values THEY like and thus feel that the politician is fighting for THEIR values (regardless of which they are).
Phrase "western values" is mainly overused by nazis and fasists now. Commies call it "traditional values" but they mean the same thing. Funny is that leader of the most "traditional values" and anti immigrant party here in Czechia is immigrant from Japan. 😀
Greed profiteering and theft form the basis of western civilisation
Politics defined
People are always listing what Western values they have in mind whenever they talk about them, so even though the list of possible values to be included in the term Western values is rather long, the term is not meaningless.
@@jongoodwin5936 point is white man success was build on stolen loot in the name of Jesus, they commit unspeakable atrocities ,made tons of evil earn tons of gold, made women and children suffer in hell to become successful countries, white man talk about human rights is like Ron Jeremy said we should not objectify women.
“No one has to own values.” That’s so well put.
Everyone has values but they have to respect each other value
@@enggurux3986 what about Nazis?
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish nazis killed 6 million jews USA and Uk killed 4million Muslims whats the difference
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish Those are values made out of politics, not values made by culture and traditions.
Values still originate in a certain place, time, and culture. Some can arise independently of each other, such as prohibitions on stealing or murdering, but some values are so specific that they could only arise in a certain place first and then be adopted by a second culture only because that second culture came into contact with the first culture which developed those values.
Western values: $5 cowboy hats!
Northeastern values: $1 ice scrapers!
Midwestern values: $10 farming overalls!
Southern values: $2 grits!
Got em!
Excuse me. Ice scrapers are NORTHERN values. :)
Pacific Northwestern values: $6 craft beer!
Midwestern Values: Would rather draw 25 than calling it soda instead of pop
Northwestern values: $15 flannels
During my college days I was disillusioned with organized religion, but gave the originators the legitimacy of their experience. I felt all had encountered something beyond their description and could only fit their experience within their social and psychological milieu. One of the most fundamental ideas I found in all religions is, "Life is hard, help each other."
The problem with that is that "help" means different things to different people.
For example in some cultures it is socially expected to discipline ALL children not just your own.
So you tell me how you would feel with a complete stranger disciplining your child in public for misbehaving?
@@ViperXMambo Being helpful is an intention in someone's mind. You can do something helpful with negative results. That doesn't mean you weren't trying to help. How that help looks like will be different from culture to culture, but the intention will be the same.
Keep in mind that *religion is a kind of law* , and all law does is ensure the survival of a group. That's why you make rules when you want to keep a group.
Yeah did the Muslims help the berbers in North Africa? They believe they did. By exterminating and outbreeding them post conquest because many refused to convert. No, that all value systems and religions are the same, and yes, some are better. I’m not so sure the Incas would like modern Peru would they?
We live in a sad world where people put labels the wrong way for their gains or convenience. Basically, I think it is geopolitical branding and marketing.
I like how in this video, Mr. Beat was saying that we should say that people have values and what kind instead of saying "western values" or "eastern values" because nobody knows what "western values" and "eastern values" are. This way of thinking, as in generalizing and lumping a whole lot of things into one thing, also leads to a lot of confusion, for example, many Americans that I've seen go on to think that Asia is one country and one people, which is absurd.
Also, I really want to question this idea of individualism = west and collectivism = east. It seems like scholars in the past labeled it that way but to me, it just never made any sense. People all around the world just seem to have been brainwashed in schools to accept this idea. I think it is only generally valid; each country and people show varying degrees of these qualities.
Now lets all just say, democracy is a democracy, nazism is nazism, communism is communism, socialism is socialism, nationalism is nationalism, etc, instead of saying stuff like democracy is a western value and communism is an eastern value...(which the latter is just wrong) hmm... if anybody wants to label something they should be more specific like saying Confucianism is an East Asian value or more like an ideology, originating from Spring and Autumn period China and its influences were strong in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
(10 mo old video but I'm here still commenting... LOL)
You are absolutely right. I have been so confused about this stereotype collectiveness and vice versa. Honestly, Chrisranity is a dominant religion in west and it promotes collectiveness.
🤔
The term "Western civilization" has become more of an association to developed nations. By definition, it should include most of Latin America, a region clearly with huge influence of Europe (lenguage, religion, architecture, moral values and such), but almost everything i read about "Western civilization", only applies to North America, Australia, New Zealand and of course Europe.
Latin America should be included in Western Civilization, but imo, Western Civilization should be split into four subcategories: European (including Canada and Oceania), Slavic, American, and Latin American. To say that the same civilizational structure exists across America, Peru, Denmark, and Russia is ridiculous.
And you could even add a hybrid/“adopted” fifth western civilization of the East Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan).
Japan and South Korea are pretty western now as well.
Well then what about Japan, China, and Singapore then?
@@iammrbeat Wasn't Japan heavily westernized after the Perry Expedition?
@@lukewillson2176 Yes and No, there was indeed a very strong western influence in Japan but most of the Japanese values didn't change to western ones, most of the values thst did change were political and not social, for example Japan and other Eastern countries still are very group based, the reverse of the west more individual perspective, the group needs is more important than the individual needs, it's is much more hierarchical with strict lines that have to be followed depending on the person's place in the social hierarchy, its not based in liberty but in compliance, which leaded to the events of Japan in WW2 and some say it is what is guiding the path of China right now, Compliance under the authority of the government. And as those societies aren't based in the individual, liberty is not a very strong sentiment, for example in Japan if someone is a suspect of a crime they will be considered gulty until proven otherwise, having a 99% conviction rate. Also Japan and Singapore have voted for the same political party since they have democracy in their country, many consider this undemocratic, I wouldn't consider east Asia a part of the western world in any way, altrough they had a very strong influence from the US (I'd say that only in a linguistic basis English influenced Jpanese and Korean in a way similar to how French influenced English, the amount of Loanwords is very surprising and large). Most of their cultural and societal values are much older and are founded in confusionism and other Eastern philosophies like Legalism or some eastern rites of Buddhism.
I think the main argument for any honest person to stop using that name, is that it dumbs down so much political discourse it is counter productive to take something new out of an argument.
And also stop calling things you don't like "fascism"or "communism" or "socialism" while we're at it. :)
@Safwaan Exactly. It is just meaningless words lazily thrown around in political discourse. Like Mr. Beat said, the same goes with fascism, communism, socialism, leftism, liberalism, conservatism etc. They just get equated with "good" or "bad" and fail to really describe concepts meaningfully. Or just get abused enough to actually contradict their original meanings. i.e. "liberals want to take away guns" is said in discourse but makes no sense.
This leads to total conceptual disintegration. Where does it stop? Must every non-essential characteristic be named to describe something and how will you causally integrate them? So now instead of saying: I am a socialist. You say: I am a 30 year old person from manitoba who plays the flute, is for a 4 hour work day, wants that elon musk gives 6 billion to africa and that our national healthcare expenditure is raised by 6.5 percent.
@@gch5559 I mean, if that is what they truly believe, then yes? Things are to be discussed point by point, a single word can't describe your political view, people are more complex than that.
Ofcourse a single word can contain an immense amount of information. More importantly it integrates it into a unit. Which sees the connection between its parts. This idea can become absurd very quickly when you think about it. I would like to show you its absurdity by looking at another concept. Dog. If someone said: “you mentioned you have a pet, what kind of pet is it?” Would you say its a four legged animal with hair all over its body and a good capability of smelling? Or would you say a dog? Your argument against it would amount to saying: “Well some dogs have three legs” But this is not relevant. And if it is you can state it as such. My dog has three legs. And for the same regard a socialist can say: “I am a socialist but I am against the minimum wage increase proposed” Disintegration is a waste of time, energy, unfeasable for a human to do consistently and destructive for it ignores the reality that there are uniting characteristics among concretes and abstractions.
I think the reason we call these values "western values" is that there is not other word for them collectively and that theses values are protected by law in western contries, but theses values are shared by different people all around the world and not all people in western society share them.
Good point
These values are shared throughout the world, precisely because of Western colonialism and the impression the West left on the entire globe, which Mr Beat conveniently ignores in this extremely oversimplified and very biased video
Just came across this video after 10 months and it's a massive breath of fresh air. I applaud you for making such a well presented video to represent these messages.
I'm not so sure. While the people he cites feel odd, he also feels odd. As though it's one extremist criticizing other extremists. Also I don't think most people would claim Western values eg individualism, equality, rule of law, etc would necessarily only occur in the West. Nor is a reformist movement in Saudi Arabia necessarily a defeater of Western values being unique to the west (not saying this either). Because reformist movements in Saudi Arabia could be influenced by Western values.
@@peterc.1419 I think you're trying to make the point that Mr beat was trying to make in the video. The term "western values" is a convoluted phrase that is used to weaponize a common set of ideals around the world.
@@markpace7788 I actually disagree with this. For me "Mr Beat" comes across as the people who weaponize Western traditions. He answers polemics with his own polemics. I find PragerU odd and I find him odd too.
@@peterc.1419 interesting. I'm not familiar with Prager u, but from what I remember watching this video I felt like he took a pretty middle ground stance of trying to unite people behind humanity rather than east vs west
@@markpace7788 He cites people from PragerU. I'm not American and I think this is an American vs American thing. PragerU is like a more republican like thinktank pushing out pro-rep views.
I don't know about humanity. Right now in Ukraine Russian humans are treating Ukrainian humans worse than they'd treat their dogs or cars. I'm not sure that appealing to such things can unite people. After all why should one value another human because he is human? Seems speciest, no?
Another thing is that while many of us who defend Ukraine actually speak of Western values, people like the guy from Fox will also cite Western values but appears to be more Russia friendly.
Yes the concepts can be convoluted but I think there is someting to Western values or traditions or norms or what one wishes to call them. Still I find the guys from PragerU distasteful and odd, as though something is not right about what they're saying and I get the same feeling about Mr Beat as though he has his own agenda behind this, as do they. Thank you.
Personally I really think (as you alluded to near the end) that maybe we should do away with the label “western values”. I love liberty and democracy and all that, but assigning them as specifically “western” is basically just justification for xenophobia
You hit the nail on the head. Although I'd say I didn't "allude." I was pretty straightforward. ;)
@@iammrbeat Its like saying theres "Eastern Values". Because that doesnt exist either. Theres no east, no west. its just traditional values vs new progressive values.
Lol denying that these Values are specifically western is what's truly xenophobic. It's amazing how ignorant of how the world really works and how sheltered from it Americans truly are
Also, the whole Occident-Orient distinction has no clear definition.
Is Russia Western? How about Turkey? The Caucasus region? South Africa? Israel? Lebanon? You'll get different answers for all of them depending on who you ask.
even that is not true, colonialism for hundreds of year then Germany, Italian and Spanish fascism was from the West and they werent big fan of liberty and democracy
I think we see something similar happening in US in particular. When we talk of nice welcoming people, we often monopolize them to midwesterners or southerners. This is despite most people throughout the country also being welcoming and kind. This leads to a culture war of the "Coastal Elites" vs us "good" people. It can happen in the other direction as well, with people on the coasts viewing anyone from different socioeconomic or geographic status as "backwards" or "stupid".
Yes, I see this a lot
(...nice welcoming people, we often monopolize them to midwesterners or southerners.) say what? Sorry, my impression from the media, family experiences, and personal experiences is that they are highly intolerant of anyone different. The police go out of their way to abuse people with out-of-state plates, and anyone new is ostracized, for decades sometimes. The only friendly people are the waitresses and librarians. Or maybe your own relatives.
Here is one example: When I was 5, my parents took my sister 7, and my brother 1, and I, to Illinois to visit his parents via a road trip. While we were there, my parents saw a great lawn (a relative's, I believe), and inquired where they bought the seed. My dad wrote down what it was and where it was sold. So my parents drove to the place to buy the seed to take home and plant. The business owner saw the California plates and refused to sell them any seed.
My sister is a truck driver. If she goes anywhere in the South, she gets propositioned left and right, with quite a bit in the Midwest as well. I don't categorize that as "friendly". And things get stolen out of her truck, the mechanics rip her off. They even sold her tires that had been recalled because they caused many deaths, which exploded before she was 200 miles away, busting up her fender.
She has driven to every state except Hawaii, several times. She says it is Canadians that are friendly, even the police. The American boarder guards at the US-Canadian boarder are the worst. They will dump everything you own out of your truck onto the ground, go through everything including your underwear, make all sorts of threats, and walk away.
@@ChessMasterNate I know about the US border patrol on Canadian side. I was coming in from Canada on I-29 from Winnipeg and they pretty much strip searched my car even taking out the interior panels to look for narcotics. I let them do their thing as I took everything out of my pockets and they pat me down. Then I waited as I could hear them tear my car apart to only find nothing. Then YOU have to gather all your stuff and go about your way. It seemed excessive. On top of that apparently there was a phone device from Verizon that they kept since I didn't even know about it. A drug sniffing dog would have been way easier.
@@PadenGamer San Diego.
New Jersey people not welcoming
Some asian values or eastern values I see growing up are "Harmony", "Respect", "Patience", "Empathy", "Compassion", "Order", "Structure". Also I think there's linguistic barriers in analyzing values. Even though we may seemingly share the same concept of "democracy" or "capitalism". But if you really dig deep into how 民主 (democracy in Chinese), 自由 (freedom in Chinese), 市场 (market in Chinese), constructed in different social and linguistic manners, their origin and developmental phases/processes are still different from western countries and there are enormous nuances. I don't really think western values that seemingly not limited to deriving/existing/perpetuating only in the west but also in the east are exactly the same considering all the nuances.
Empathy and compassion as eastern values?? The east has the most human rights violations and oppressive governments in the whole world. The East has the most rigorous/strict discipline cultures around. Respect, patience, structure etc are things you’ll find in African cultures aswell, they value ethnic and family structure and respect their elders and people in authority, talking back is a taboo. Those values aren’t just found in the East.
@@sweetlemonade6925 you're right
@@sweetlemonade6925 The communist idea come from europe, so most the true eastern values are not being in force
China's values have been replaced by CCP values. Their language was even updated with words like "love" having their meaning slightly changed to fit the communist narrative.
中庸
8:40 isn’t that white man’s burden? Because honestly feels pretty disturbing when people say “Western values are far superior”. Lots of times reminds me of the gross imperialism committed by European countries throughout history to conquer, colonize, and subjugate their fellow human beings in other lands. And then of course what America did during the late 19th century and until this day, especially with its Cold War policy such as the banana wars and containment with regime change.
I do think we shouldn’t use that term anymore as it has a dangerous connotation to it. And it’s kinda disrespectful to people who aren’t “western”
I mean people need to stop this stereotypes. Even east itself dont have one culture
@@Sara-gl2mgcultural groups exist in co existence, but we do have cultural values here in Asia that are quite similar to one another which are rooted in collectivism and conservatism which has existed for years due to having a massive population.
As opposed to the western values of individual freedom as a source of ability. we seek ours through groups such as ethnic ties and familial relations. And you see this trend from Korean to Iranian to indian and to southeast Asian cultures and circles which are rooted in our own philosophy, ethnic groups and religion.
What puzzles me about "Western values" is how much they contradict a huge part of the political history of the West. If democracy is a Western value, were Bourbon France and Habsburg Spain not Western? Was Rome Western when it was a kingdom or only became Western when they kicked out Tarquinius? What about the Greek city-states that weren't democracies? Nowadays we have the Vatican City, is it Western? Partially, if we measure it with that list of values. So I think the so-called Western values are inconsistent with reality and confusing.
Also, Greco-Roman civilisation and empires had almost nothing to do with North European civilisation, whilst a huge amount with the middle-east. I hate how fellow North Europeans claim cultural heritage to the founding of Demoracy as they see it as a "European" invention, as if at the time Ancient Greeks would be highly offended to be even compared with Northern Europeans.
Then you don’t understand them.
Western but not Western values.
@@chemicalfrankie1030 I mean lots of judeo Christian values are contradictory to western values of separation of church and state, religious tolerance, and general enlightenment ideals
@@sirllamaiii9708 Monarchy is Christian, what's your point?
When I say "western values/culture" I mean classic liberalism and individualism. I often use it in contrast with Chinese culture (which I'm from). I started doing this when discussing parenting/childhood stuff and it went on from there.
It is true that overall, Europe and North America is more individualist than East Asia. But even that is a massive oversimplification. For example that's not true for Eastern Europe, and I'm not so sure about indigenous people of America either. But in my case, neither of these values are better, both have advantages and disadvantages. For example during covid, East Asia ended up much better because they often wore masks while the USA mostly didn't. Which is an advantage to the East Asian collectivist mindset.
@@gamermapper Oh, really? How it is not true for Eastern Europe? And what exactly this Eastern Europe is in your opinion?
As a fellow Chinese person that’s lived in America for 30 years I call bullshit. As my parents immigrated here for liberalism which the power brokers in America hates. The longer I live in America the more it strives to become China. A woman in South Carolina was jailed for her speech and a journalist in Texas was jailed for reporting what a cop told her off the record.
Hope you realize India created a caste system thanks to their religion and they look down upon the poor. Not all religions are equal.
@@theholypopechodeii4367 Incorrect. It's a selfish religion that only focuses on you.
three pillars of western culture
1. greek philosophy (love for knowledge)
2. roman law (extremely harsh but also equal for all, in the ideal)
3. christian morality (kindness, mercy, charity...)
A lot of the inconsistencies come from the clash between the 2 and 3
And what about the Enlightenment?
@@4cps777 it was Renaissance 2.0 where they actually do a lot of building up on the prior knowledge instead of just rediscovering the classical antique (greeks and romans)
that’s why we don’t take all the aspects of roman law, and emphasize rather does the punishment fit the crime.
Ok but none of what you listed in parentheses is exclusively Western. That's the point here. The issue with believing these are exclusively Western is an implication that Non-Western cultures are inherently inferior. From there it's only a few degrees away from treating anyone not from the West as less than human. “No one has to own values.”
@@mantrajojo4163 Wut?
Just because I own a toy car doesn't mean I am the only person on planet earth to own a toy car.
Just because western culture is built out of 1,2,3 doesn't mean other cultures can't have them. Chinese have law, they have philosophy, they have morality.
One can argue europeans have roman law, greek philosophy and christian morality and chinese don't but it doesn't matter anyway.
Roman law was extremely harsh but so was most every ancient law system.
Japanese are hard working, germans are hard working, being hardworking is a german thing but it isn't exclusively a german thing. Hovewer when you list german stereotypes you include hard work.
Therefore western culture is built on 1,2,3, and these are the western values but they can and are shared with others.
I believe some values today _are_ exclusively Western. Governments that will consistently uphold the civil liberties of its residents and will go against the majority to protect its minorities from discrimination are always culturally western.
I'm Indonesian. Indonesia is supposed to have a secular government, yet recently our legislature passed a law that bans sex outside of marriage to protect Islamic values, and thus imposing their values on a sizable minority who aren't even part of their religion and on moderate Muslims who wanted no such law. Hell, a lot of Muslims (mostly from the middle class and secular intellectuals) are also against the law.
The legislature also passed a law that makes it illegal to insult government institutions and its officials, while conveniently leaving out what "insult" actually means. It's deliberately written ambiguously to make it easier to punish critics if the government wanted to.
We also have law that makes it illegal to blaspheme. It's technically written to protect all recognized religions, but somehow people are only punished if they blaspheme Islam, particularly if they're a religious minority. We have Imams that have openly called for the removal or forcible conversions of Christians, Hindus, and indigenous animists yet nothing has ever happened to those people.
Sh-t like these will never fly in the west. Hell, y'all in America couldn't even put a Bible quote for a public school motto in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming without someone making a fuss about it.
Thanks for posting Patrick. I visited Sumatra years ago.
You Indonesians are so ignorant of the world. And this comment proves it. Go kiss Putin’s pen1s or something.
My favorite northwestern value- loving nature
My favorite southern value- sweet tea with lemon
My favorite western value- the beach boys
and yes, I value you too Mr Beat
William, this was an awesome comment.
My favourite north-western value is sockeye salmon.
“We don’t want to lose our values, but let’s force others to live with our values…” so western
I mean the west knows best. We have been dominating the world for 500 years. As well as having almost every single nation in the world copy us.
#freedom
@@612osiris okay what’s your point ?
So Terran.
Why not?
You deliver excellent content to your audience. It's very interesting material. All of your effort put into creating this video is much appreciated. I'm truly grateful for your help!
Nothing excellent about it, just pure postmodern keftist propaganda.
As an American of (white) New Zealand parents (ie, a 'Western' country in the global South), my favorite 'Southern' value is environmentalism. Capitalism has done a lot to increase the wealth of many people in the world, but history has shown that it's come at the cost of devastating the environment, which is something that non-Western cultures have long recognized.
Nonsense. "Environmentalism" is a purely western invention, it is something non-western culture never recognised. They never had economic growth to recognise it in the first place.
There is nothing in the private ownership of the means of production that requires destroying the environment, though.
@@justinnamuco9096 It doesn't have to be an essential requirement, to be an outcome.
@@justinnamuco9096 You cannot "destroy" the environment. It will exist for a billion years yet. All that happens is we may exhaust some easy to get minerals or oil.
I guess you think in the bronze age, they "destroyed" the environment when they mined bronze. Nonsense.
It is a requirement of production (specifically manufacturing) to use the earth's bounty (resources), whether privately owned or public.
Without it you'd have no "things", no phone, no car, no infrastrucure, no 21st century society.
You’re Canadian. You live in Canada. You’re confusing the two countries.
Here in our country, while studying sociology and history, rarely do we use the term "Western values" and would much prefer using terms such as Europe/an, and America/n influences. We also use the term the "West" in a more geographic sense, so it talks about Europe, the Americas, and Australia and New Zealand.
But all in all, we don't make it much of a big deal, so we just use these terms when referring to historical or cultural influences, and attach which nation first thought about it, regardless of its location.
where are you from? i’m american and “western values” is definitely hyped up
@@rafangille its name mean whispering in portuguese
Which makes more sense really as Values and Customs are transferable and can be valued lol by anyone.
Sociology is a branch of Bourgeois values to pump Capitalist ideology into the Middle Class's.
Sugar coated as nice Capitalism!
if u used West in geographic sense you can't include Australia because it's Easter than China
I think we need to rethink how we use the label “western values”. Good values and principles of responsibility and justice aren’t exclusive to just the west, they exist everywhere’s (including throughout the East). The values and principles that America is based on, exist from the power of individuals. Individuals who espouse these values can come from the West (i.e. Booker T. Washington) or the East (Malala Yousafzai). Great video as always Mr. Beat!
The West and the East both have their share of great people and those who believe in American values. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in the West and Mahatma Gandhi in the East.
It is incredibly disingenuous to pretend that all humans believe in human rights liberal democracy and liberal freedoms most in the Islamic world are fanatically opposed to this. Even if they weren't they would still be western values because they originated in the west. Depriving westerners of this great legacy would be like saying we should no longer use the phrase "Indian numerals"
@@abrahamlincoln937 Those people are not related at all.
@@abrahamlincoln937 True stuff!
Interesting proposition! Highlighting how various GROUPS of people, organizations, entire communities, have influenced American culture may add a stronger edge to your argument too. It seems like only highlighting individuals (from either Western or Eastern backgrounds), only upholds the concept of individualism. Which is a true staple of “Western” thinking, culture, and of course values. As the US (or any country) was not formed and shaped by solely individuals it’s intriguing how we are often taught more about influential individuals than influential groups of people… at least that’s the way it seems for me.
As a Latin American I'd say "Western" is much more annoying than many terms Americans think might be offensive.
I thought it was supposed to mean greco-roman culture like the video explains but it's often used to exclude Greece, Italy, Spain or LatAm.
It seems a man from Reykjavík is and especially *looks* more Western then a man from Athens.
At least when used by English people it almost always seems to be a euphemism for "People like us. Normal. Standard. White"
Agreed, particularly funny considering some people claim greco-roman heritage while excluding modern Greeks lol
America is a country. I’m American and I don’t find “western” annoying or offensive. It seems that you jealous of and America obsessed Latinos do though.
Mr. Beats, I'm going to use the term "Human Values" from now on in class. This will be a change after 42 years of teaching in Kansas.
Well put! Especially the part regarding Western values as coded language in many aspects. I never really gave it thought but I can see how using “Western” instead of other terms can obscure certain positions or potential action that ppl may want to keep discrete. Great video
The hypocrites who use western values as coded language are a tiny minority. The beliefs of these people are antithetical to everything I believe.
I agree with Sage. Also, thank you Alec!
The term you're looking for is "dog whistle"
@@sagebias2251 There is no code but in your mind, no whistle but from your obsession. Everyone knows who the West is and what those values are as shown here. Listed often. Those values have no race or nationality except in your world. The fact they developed in Europe is a fact of history and has no bearing on their superiority or goodness for humanity except in those who hold racism and expose their inward hatred in their expressions of whistles and codes.
It definitely can be used in place of any other more "explicit" language for "unmarketable" ideologies. However, this isn't to say most people that use "Western values" ascribe to said ideologies. Its important to recognize when someone is encoding their speech and knowing when they're wearing a veil.
“Western Values” is a marketing slogan, nothing more, nothing less. As shown by the video, the comments, and everyone’s common sense, values transcend. The divisions in our world arise around implementation choices, priorities, and variations of risk tolerance, not from the oversimplified shit we are told like “they hate freedom”. That’s just stupid.
Islamists do preach that they don't care about freedom sometimes.
Excelent video! It sheds light on a topic that had been making noise for me. It is incredible the way the media have to make up racism and xenophobia with beautiful words.
I'm inclined to say my favorite eastern value is _concern for the well-being of others,_ something the west seems to have a disturbing shortage of in recent years.
The red scare began with factory workers going on strike because they were literally being worked to death. Contrary to the owner's excuses, cutting their hours in half _increased_ their productivity, because they had more energy, meaning that while they were working they could work faster and smarter, getting more done with less and making fewer mistakes. It turns out people are better at their jobs when they're allowed to exist outside their jobs.
Never heard of China’s 996?
@@Adsper2000 Those are the hours those factory workers were working. The east definitely isn't perfect at concern for the wellbeing of others.
How east is that value? Surely not as far east as east asian collectivism...
Yeah thats why the east is overworked af ?if they would be concerned for the others they wouldnt do it
@@That1HotMF those with money and power are abusing people's concern for others' wellbeing to exploit the poor for... really, no meaningful benefit whatsoever, since employees are more productive and therefore business are more profitable when they have lives outside of work, and even if it did increase profits there are diminishing returns on wealth once you're over the threshold of being able to afford food, clothing, housing, transportation, and hygiene. If they didn't have that concern for others, their concern for others couldn't be abused. In the US, corporate culture appeals to personal gain, to the "American dream", the idea of becoming one of those wealthy few who have so much more than they need that gain means nothing to them and yet continuing to increase profits is their only goal. In Asia, the same goal is achieved by telling people that if they don't work themselves to death they're being selfish, not pulling their weight, failing to contribute to society - or at least to their employer's success.
The same awful ends are achieved both by appealing to self-destructive greed and to good intentions. That the good intentions are also exploited doesn't in any way implyv they don't exist. In fact, they have to exist for exploiting them to be effective.
As a Muslim, I would like to say thank you , thank you for being consistent, thank you for seeing things the way they are, and most importantly thank you for fighting ignorance .
a fan from Kuwait 🇰🇼
This comment had a profoundly positive impact on me. Thank you.
We really expect from you the same thing. To fight ignorance. To not regard women homosexual beings and people who criticise Mohamed as garbage and sinners. To stop enforcing young women to cover even their toes. To support freedom in all it's aspects. Of course my comment isn't targeting you but the majority of your country and the neighboring ones. You must understand you live at 2022
@@thanospetros2507 I understand what you’re trying to say but your comment makes you sound like a complete asshole.
@@thanospetros2507 Islam doesn't have a monopoly on sexism, homophobia, and religious intolerance. I deal with a lot of Evangelicals and it's not like they're free of those forms of hate. Accusing some guy on youtube of being hateful because of a heavily politicized generalization about a faith with billions of members kind of makes you look like an asshole.
@Pro Semite I think you are making a mistake saying that there is no dissent in those countries, many of these countries are not structured in the way that minority opinion would be well-represented. Additionally, your statement is conveniently ignoring Muslims in liberal democratic countries who do not support the governments of repressive nations.
That's a vedio that worth to be shared and spreaded among a much peeple as possible..it's a well documented hard research for the matters and I aplaud you for that.
8:03 But not modern science. The Arabs, Chinese, and Indians followed completely different methods than the basic scientific method that started with Galileo.
I agree with some of your points, the west does not have a monopoly on all these values. That being said there are certain values that the west definitely emphasises over others. For example the west is very much individualistic in its outlook due the englighment while the East is much more collectivist in its thinking due to the influence eastern philosophies such Buddhism and confuciansim. This explains why the cultures of Western Europe and east ask all while having common values, place certain emphasis on certain values.
Agreed
I personally believe Buddhism and it's values are far more human, scientific and better than Christian values especially when it comes to minorities, racism, women rights, universal brotherhood and peace
What is "East"?
Well sure, that’s a difference in values, but where it gets complicated is which is better? Values are a point on a continuum that changes. We are taught individualism is the most important thing, but we have very high rates of depression and social problems because of it. 50 years ago women were supposed to be married, having kids, and supporting their husbands 24/7. That’s def a collectivist value, and now we flipped and that’s oppression. But even now, some women want that and feel that’s how it should be. Good and bad are based on how everyone feels, if eastern countries feel fine with a collectivist culture, selling them on western culture isn’t easy because they don’t see the need, and western culture def flip flopped on many issues so it’s not even consistent. Western values both enslaved and then freed the slaves, they’re both western lol point is, it’s not simple to attribute values to one group, and in seeing which is better, it’s hard because if people don’t mind a lifestyle, it’s hard to say it’s bad. Always remember arranged marriages have better outcomes than self chosen ones, because you’re taking a decision off the table. Decisions aren’t always good.
@@slayerpianoman individualism trumps collectivism every single day of the year.
My favorite Western values: "your specific groups caused everyone's problems, and we had nothing to do with it"
My favorite Eastern values: "six parts sulfur to six parts saltpeter to one part birthwort herb"
My favorite Southern values: "because my ancient book says so"
My favorite Northern values: "Raid, pillage, and conquer"
Ah yes.
Northern Values=Vikings
Eastern values:"If you don't have kids all thirty generations of your ancestors will stone you in hell"
And a word from today’s sponsor, Raid: Northern Values
My favorite American values: “WHERE’S THE MF OIL?!?!”
My favorite French values: “4pm start a revolution”
My favorite Antarctican values:
*protests in penguin*
I did not know, There are northern values too. Will love to research about them 😂
16:33 my favourite western value is democracy.
16:36 my favourite eastern value is democracy.
16:38 my favourite southern value is democracy.
16:41 my favourite north-western value is democracy.
As you can see, I love democracy. I love the republic.
my favorite western values: hypocrisy, sugercoating evil things
As an Asian, I would argue that the reason why the western values are prevalent because of extreme colonialism. When the colonialists left, we took the best aspects of their culture (Parliamentary system, democracy) and infused it with our values (respect for elders etc).
I would say the biggest difference between western and Eastern values would be that the former focuses on respect for self while the latter focuses on respect for others
Well another aspect is the west (mostly the US and UK, but that's mostly what people think of when they think of the west) won world War 2 and the cold War (which was basically the second great schism) and as a result, had a great influence in the 3rd world (a reminder that 3rd world originally referred to non aligned nations during the cold war) and rebuilding failed Eastern bloc states
@I believe What you say while it is true that the USSR and China played a great role in defeating the axis, it's undeniable that their victory came much due from aid from the US. the US weakened the nazis in the battle of bulge, but Stalin insisted that the soviets defeat the nazis. It's pretty obvious how the US defeated Japan, but in case I still need to, the atomic bomb. Also the US gave a crapload of military aid to China and the ussr. Also its worth noting although more Germans and Japanese died from China and ussr, the soviets and Chinese had more fatalities than any other country.
As for the cold war, my point was as the Victors, the western powers had influenced the 3rd world as the leading world power by the end of it
@I believe What you say my whole point was it was the western powers that led the war to victory. The battle of the bulge was commanded by Eisenhower that led to the defeat of nazis in the western front before they retreated and finally surrendered in the east. As for Japan, the atomic bomb absolutely resulted in Japan's surrender, and although fear of a soviet invasion was also a factor in their surrender, it's questionable that such a fear would have continued if the US hadn't already weakened them so severely through air raids (considering they attacked the US navy head on, I'm assuming not)
How about your respect for women or LGBT? You can't say you respect others if you're bothered by what two consenting people of the same sex do in bed and like to insult and discriminate them.
@@dennisengelen2517 Personally, I couldn't care less and attitudes are slowly changing around here. But you do have to remember that a lot of anti LGBT sentiment in the east was originally due to influence from christian missionaries.
First, my condolences on the loss of your cat.
Secondly, define your definitions. For instance, Maslow (as I understand it) said all people need security/safety. I have never met a person who said they want to feel unsafe. They might like the thrill of danger like extreme sports or something but no one that I have met wants to live in a state of not knowing if their physical needs will be met or if they will be beaten or killed at any given moment. HOWEVER, how that safety is achieved is different from person to person and from group (culture) to group (culture). When I lived in Portland, OR in the 1990s, I held low level jobs and as such ran across a lot of people who, like myself, did not value the benefits of mid to higher level positions enough to pursue them (still don't, but anyway). Many of these people were squatters. They lived in abandoned houses. Their "families" were whoever was their at that moment. They were very nomadic. Most of the ones I met were brilliant philosophers, mathematicians and artists. However, they defined safety differently than the sedentary culture that surrounded them. Freedom was paramount. Being tied to a place or job was unsafe because it would limit their freedom. The very things that the sedentary culture saw as signs of freedom, "owning" (paying a mortgage on) your own home so you are free from the threat of homelessness (not really, but it's easier to believe you are), "owning your own vehicle" so you can go where ever you want, (except you can't because you need a steady job to pay for the car and it's maintenance) were seen as threats and limitations to the squatters. The dominant culture strove to gentrify neighborhoods in order to help these "poor" (in the sense of being pathetic) people who knew no other life than living on the streets without seeking to understand that it IS possible for a directly opposite value system to be just as valid.
I agree that declaring some a value to be "western" or "eastern" can cause opposition. However, it is equally dangerous to say "Well, we all agree that we want freedom therefore 'deep down' we all want the same thing." I have seen this lead to people who define the terms commonly used in these lists of values one way forcing, compelling, or coercing those who use a completely different definition to live according to their values. Thus the "Deep down all humans have the same values" has the same "We must 'help' these poor confused people who think that what they hold as important matters understand that what we hold as important is really what matters" effect as saying "We must spread Western values". The only difference is the "X culture's values" recognizes that there are people who value different ways of living than "X culture" while the "All humans value the same things" denies the humanity of anyone who does not value the things on that list as they are defined by the speaker.
A culture that values conformity will say that they value freedom of expression because conformity is necessary to create a safe environment for that expression. A culture that values "family" and defines it as those you are legally related to will look completely different than a culture that values "family" and defines it as those you happen to find yourself among who respect what you have to contribute to the community, etc., etc. Maslow was probably right. (I have heard arguments against his order but none that said there is no hierarchy of needs). However, we must not take that commonality to mean that the things/principles each group values as a way to meet those needs will be the same.
(Yes, there was drug use among the squatters but anyone who thinks it doesn't happen among sedentary cultures is fooling themselves and the means of measuring which groups it is more prevalent in are usually skewed in favor of the culture of those doing the research.)
You always make me think. Somehow I missed this video when it dropped - I’ve been traveling a lot this year - and I will say, that travel certainly opens your eyes to what other cultures value. Yep, we’re all a lot more the same than we’d like to think. (Except the Dutch - they ride bicycles EVERYWHERE. Hence, they’re a great deal, uh, less, uh, heavy than us Americans.) 😂
my least favorite AMERICAN value is cars
"rule of law" is my favourite western value that's a completely general human concept. And queuing, the British think that making an orderly queue to receive some good or service is simply impossible elsewhere, or that nobody in the UK would ever cheat the queue (some people do and often enough)
Part of the reason "Western values" is used is that "Western civilization" is too obviously cheuvenistic. It's a front for calling the East (AKA Orient) and brown people are too barbaric to allow in "Western" (AKA white) spaces. Furthermore, if they said "enlightenment values" instead, then they couldn't cloak their religious bigotry.
BTW, Niall Ferguson is not the originator of his arguments. He's just expanding on modernization theory, a long defunct theory of why the West became hegemonic.
There's nothing chauvnistic about that term though
Conspiratorial drivel.
It’s also very “us Vs them”
As a Hungarian these “western values” means nothing to me…As we were influenced by both “eastern” and “western” values its hard to say what belongs where.We kind of have our own.
I'd say your values there are pretty similar to the rest of the world
@@iammrbeat maybe we value paprika a bit more than the rest
@@migaloo364 Yes and no.Hungary is in the middle.Our past we used to have our own religion and tradition and it was more “eastern” and we carried that with us along with the “western” and christian values.
@@migaloo364 Eastern Europe is often considered it's own thing from Western Europe. They didn't really take to colonizing like Western Europe did (unless there are some exceptions I don't know about). Southeast Europe in particular was apart of the Ottoman Empire at some point, which was Islam, shaping the region a bit differently from the rest of Europe. The Cold War really caused Eastern Europe to be different from Western Europe because it was under Soviet Rule. Even today Eastern and Western Europe do differ on a few things, like Eastern Europe still isn't big on LGBTQ+ rights like western Europe is.
@@migaloo364 I'll have to look up the port of Tianjin. In terms of colonization nobody here talks about Austria-Hungary.
this reminds me of the argument i had with a friend when i said western europe referring to the actual, geographical western europe. she was confused and disagreed, saying that, in all honesty, she classified western europe to be "the rich countries and the ones english people go on holidays to". i was then floored, as i still am
Japan might be my favorite Western European country.
Facebook memes are considered bad. But that kind of meaningless humor is underrepresented and is incredibly refreshing. This channel has the best comments
The "west" also holds on to some values that I wouldn't describe as positive but those are conveniently left out of the whole western values paradigm. Materialism is a pretty bad value to hold in my opinion but it's extremely common in "western" society.
As someone not from the West materialism/hedonism IS usually what we mean when we refer to Western values.
@@user-xb5eo2bm1n you’re not wrong. As I see it, America is the whore of Babylon.
I value you Mr. Beat! Thank you from an elementary school teacher in Washington state. I’m always brushing up on my US history with your videos for teaching my 5th graders. I like the value of respecting the diverse cultures of the world!
In Hong Kong we call those stuffs “universal values” to emphasise that even non western people can aspire to those values.
A quote that sums up the concept here and I sure you would know who said it and appreciate it: "If you can convince the lowest white man that he is better than the best black man, he won't notice you picking his pockets. Hell, you give him someone to look down on and he will empty his pockets for you." I would love to hear you cite who said that.
The "values" that are common among many Western nations are, for the large part, shared with many people in other parts of the world. However, for the most part, those values do not seem to be shared by those in power in non-western countries. I'd like to point out the "slippery slope" logical fallacy in the video - "we all know where this leads." I think the biggest issue with "Western Values" is simply that there is no single agreed upon definition which complicates asserting some notion of superiority. Furthermore, terms that many agree would be part of the Western value system - like freedom of speech -- are not universally agreed upon either (Europe does not see hate speech as protected but America does). And, like you pointed out, some term are even contradictory. I think it would be more fair to compare the values of the government of Western and non-Western countries instead of the governed.
You mean that Colonialism didn't sell Western values to its victims?????
@@sentientflower7891 Well colonialism brought brutal autocratic oppression and a lot of those countries are dictatorships now so maybe we did sell something lol
@@miguelpereira9859 We did. But it certainly were not many of the core values we still uphold to his day for example in most of Europe. People often fail to distinguish between what one ( state ) does at home ( home region / continent aso. vs. in some far off place that’s essentially just a tool to further one’s interests.
And also the difference between an esteemed ideal and how one chooses to implement said ideal. Case in point; the freedom of choosing where one wants to live only extends to one’s citizens. This is not a western value but the principle remains. Despite a theoretical truth that’s established everywhere, there are contradicting international arrangements, based on practical concerns.
While the USA doesn't ban hate speech, it still bans copyright infringement, which isn't seen as something against free speech for them. So even the US definition of free speech could be questioned as not perfect.
Suggesting that your values are in some way superior and must be imposed or spread to other people is a slippery slope. The values of a government is temporary, fleeting, and values themselves are not something strictly abided by all the time with no real metric of how much value one shows over the coarse of a public figures career for example. The difference between the USA and China government is Authoritarianism, which is an ideology not a value that Chinese people believe that you must have a singular party or ruler.
Freedom of speech being one sticking point between them is never truly free and there are still limits on it that we perceive as necessary because of the harm it may cause. E.g. hate speech against individuals or groups of people or whistleblowers that highlight unconstitutional practices
My favorite definition of the West comes from Senator McCain at the Munich Security Conference:
From the ashes of the most awful calamity [WWII] was born what we call „the West“.
A new and different and better kind of world order. One not based on blood and soil nationalism or spheres of influence or conquest of the weak by the strong but rather on universal values, rule of law, open commerce and respect for the national sovereignty and independence.
Indeed the entire idea of the West is that it’s open to any person or any nation that honors and upholds these values.
wow
Fascinating!
by that definition most western countries are not actually so
Long live Senator McCain's legacy
@@christianweibrecht6555 The question is not if they are so but do they aspire to be so.
This is a great video. It has provoked a new way to think about things for me.
I had to look up 'rule of law' because it seems pretty recent to our 21st century vocabulary, though it's been articulated in famous quotes and was codified in an 18th century French text, "The Spirit of Law".
As a person who's living in Eastern Europe, I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. We are technically "west" but not really.
Don't worry. Unless you're still living in Eastern Europe, you are still had a Western Values. In fact, Russia has already adopts Western Values since Peter the Great(or Pyotr I Romanov). And yes. 1682 marks the beginning of the Westernisation of Russia.
@@TheStarcoMarco what about now? Hehe.
@@TheStarcoMarco so is Turkey western too? Let's go even farther, did Deng Xiaoping made China a western country?
Nomadic of East European formed Asian countries, many of are looking like Mix East European
Overtime I've moved away from using the term Western values however I think mr. Beat kind of noted something that I agree with and that is these are Enlightenment values. These are values that became prominent during the European Enlightenment. And I think that as they exist around the world today they predominantly do not exclusively extend from Enlightenment philosophy. The problem with using the term Western, is that whether or not these values were from Europe Africa Asia South America Etc is totally incidental and not an essential part of these values they are irrelevant. These values are simply in line with The Human Condition so we should expect to see versions of these values pop up from time to time in different parts of the world.
I can't wait for Mr. Beat to travel to China to tell them how they value individualism
Yeah the whole video is retarded man.
I study so much history this guy is missing so many points and I can't believe he actually used that Muslim lady as a source about Muslims having the same value as Western values which is not true at all.
Western values come from Christianity and Roman culture and Roman law and Greek philosophy with Germanic/German culture. The idea of property rights is a very European thing the Chinese didn't have property rights nowhere near the same at least. Property rights in Europe comes from the Germans we're not even the king himself has the right to take somebody's property away. But to be fair there were concepts of property rights in ancient Roman Greece but it wasn't the same as the Germans though.
When I have time maybe next weekend hopefully my friend and I are going to make a counter video about this because it's just anti-historical and just ridiculous.
He just said you would understand the term Western even means and why it came to be. Just a little hint it was a name given on to us and we eventually took it and ran with it.
Bet some will probably going to call me white supremacist even though I'm freaking Puerto Rican, but what ever I'm just sick of this woke take on stuff.
@@landsknecht8654 You're absolutely correct, when you make that video send me a link I was looking all over UA-cam for someone to refute these idiotic claims
@@bean835 yeah give me like a week or two I'm going to see if I can pump this video out because I'm editing four or five videos I made already about chainmail alone. I made a little series about chain-mail on what it is and where it comes from, there is a lot of misunderstandings about it; it's a much better armor than people think.
Anyways give me a week or two I would love to discuss what western civilization is and what Western values are and I'm going to compare them to other cultures.
Like I said Western is not just a term we just came out of our as5 it was a name given to Europeans and sometimes Persians too, because people trade in the Silk Road and Europe was the furthest west civilization was and thus the term "Western people" was a name given to us.
@@landsknecht8654 Sounds great good luck with your video
I'm glad Saudi is adopting these values..The ones we had were horrible
Ah, like so many debates now this centers on semantics. “Western values” has been an easy albeit admittedly imperfect shorthand. How about “enlightenment values” as a substitute? It is more descriptive than “values”, acknowledges the origin of the collection of said values as popularly spread in recent centuries, and sheds the difficulties surrounding the labeling of region.
Personally I'd say that the whole East-West dichotomy is much older and has it's origins in the Persian Wars, when the Greek city-states (polis) united to fight the Persian Empire under Darius and Xerxes. Other than that this was a very great and informative video Mr. Beat. Keep up the good work. 👍😉
Very good point
Crash Course did a great video on this topic. I'll link it here:
ua-cam.com/video/Q-mkVSasZIM/v-deo.html&feature=share
That is what I think
Ironically, Persia was the very first "superpower" in world history, and thus the model for all the powerful, cosmopolitan nation-states that followed it. We wouldn't have such "modern" concepts as multiculturalism and religious tolerance if it had not been for Darius and Xerxes. In a way, the Greeks and other subsequent imperialists carried on the Persian legacy more than they replaced it.
I would be careful with equating every west-east divide in history with this contrast: Since most of these values are so universal and spread all across the globe, a lot of the discourse today has its roots more in colonialism, the cold war and the war on terror. Personally, i think western values are a non-helpful social construct, and are more used as the ideology behind these conflicts. (Excuse my english- not my first language)
Universal human rights is the best term in my opinion, it doesn't matter where good ideas originate or are being followed. It matters if they are good ideas.
i totally value you! what i think matters not, but only to me and therefore does not need to be mentioned here ... but also does not hurt to mention that you are a beautiful - beautiful person and i appreciate your videos and the illumination that you bring forth! mahalo nui for your clarity!
As a member of the military, I've traveled to Russia, Greece, Japan, and the Middle East; I can honestly say that I think that "Western Values" doesn't actually exist and it's only used as a way to describe that a person or type of people are better somehow than others. Seeing how most people in those countries I've mentioned above live their lives, it's really not that different from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, and/or England.
Thank you Mr. Beat for a great video and another wonderful use of history and knowledge.
Oh really, when was last time people had died for leaving religion in sweden
@@subhuman3408 What the hell are you talking about?
@@nicksoapdish157 There is value of "death to apostasy" in many muslim countries. İs it better than western value.
@@subhuman3408 If you travel all over the world, every country has rules and laws that other people who are not from that country don't agree with. That has nothing to do with Northern, Eastern, Western, and/or Southern "values". Every country I've been to has laws and rules I don't agree with. Unfortunately I can't tell countries how to run their nations; it's simple common sense.
@@nicksoapdish157 Just read your original comment, you will understand the contradiction
Had really never even thought much about this verbiage, but I have heard it all the time my whole life. It's sort of a sneaky 'otherizer' we all accept. Thanks for the vid!
You put it well, Forrest. I hadn't thought of it until a couple years back
Thats in the direction of some real enlightenment.
And obviously ‘race’ on the level of a concept is racist, a basis for division. If one were to say ‘the west is the best’ it would better be said tongue in cheek with a wink and a smile.
I can't agree more. Thank you for helping me understand what it is I've been uncomfortable with.
Oh no! There are people featuring in this video who think their culture and values are better than everyone else's. This must be the first time in human history that ever happened.
I believe we definitely should phase out the phrase Western values in this context because all it does is try to justify at best mere smugness and at worst xenophobia
Well put!
Xenophobia is opposed to western values.
The animation, and editing in general, within this video is fantastic! Keep up the great work!
From here 7:00
I found only 9 out of the 17 of what you mentioned were actually western only. While the rest are not
So what do we call the countries that don't poison and/dismember journalists for criticizing their leaders? Not all cultures are equal
Of course I value you. History is my second or third hobby and you have taught me a lot. I have always valued teachers, professes and educators. When I used to manage apartments I always gave them discounts. I’ve voted to increase my own taxes to pay them more. When I was a child in elementary school the Vietnam War was on television on the news. I absolutely hated it. So since about second grade I realized our country was spending too much money on war and not enough on education. Things have not improved. My grandfather was a judge and was on the cover of their little local newspaper because he overturned a tax law that would help schools. I was so disappointed in him for that. But he put together and oil well trust for my mother and I only. My mom has Alzheimer’s. As I’m taking over I found out her brother in law sold most of the parcels of land with mineral rights. That happened in Oklahoma even though we both live in Florida. That trust was none of his business, he never even met my grandfather. I don’t know what to do. Lawyers want money. And if a judge rules he has to pay me, he could just say he doesn’t have it anymore and file bankruptcy. That was my grandfather’s legacy and my only hope of ever retiring. I’m 57. It’s hard to save when you’re alone and in a housing crisis.
I value you on a George Washington level!
Yes you do and I value YOU 🙂
@@iammrbeat hi Matt
@@HistoricallyProven Hi Dude!
@@iammrbeat I wish you were my history teacher. The one we have just gives us assignments and expects us to know everything from a book. :(
As someone who grew up in Mediterranean Europe and living almost literally my whole adult life in East Asia, let me tell you... We human beings aren't really all that different as it might seem on the surface. As for the values, we've been influencing each other intercontinentally for as long as the dawn of civilisations. So yes, please, stop using "western" this and "western" that, AT LEAST within academical contexts and situations, because it's too vague of an expression, thus meaning nothing. Leave that kind of speech for casual colloquialisms.
Amazing video with a ton of great points. I grew up in the Northeast of the US, my favorite Northeast value is Very Good Pizza.
One value we have in the UK is getting a greasy kebab made with mystery meat on a Saturday night while drunk.
Now THAT'S a value we can all agree on.
😂😂😂
Indeed, same tradition in the Netherlands.
That avengers "shoarma" scene was so recognisable, for a saturday night.
I know this isn’t related to the video, but I’m just curious to know if you could live in any other state other Kansas or Nebraska, what state would you pick.
Either Arkansas or Virginia at this point
@@iammrbeat move to texas
I would probably say Massachusetts or maybe North Carolina.
@@christianweibrecht6555 yeehaw
@@christianweibrecht6555 Too many people moving there
I have always question where about the so-called "West". If some of the Eastern European countries are not considered West. Your video really clarify thing for me.
They were (up to the 17th or 18th century) a combination of Greco-Roman and Roman Christian (not Eastern (or other places) Christian). Then empiricism was added. I think the problems come when they are presumed to be automatically right/superior. We need a discussion about how we filter different values (western and other).
Greetings from Finland! This is the best video from you that I have seen. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! And your country is awesome.
スオミだ！！！
I would call it "contemporary values"
because some of things like equality between citizens, political involvement, and freedom of enterprise are things that we only agreed were valuable on a global scale pretty recently, and don't really follow any geographic trend.
There are definitely 3 separate "races" or variations in humans that forensic scientists and corners use to help put a face on the unidentifiable. One is people of European/Middle Eastern decent and people from the India/Pakistan. Another is all those from Africa and surprisingly Australian Aborigines. Lasty is all the peoples of the orient, Inuit/Yuit decent and the Native Americans.
Thank you for the video! Well put!
"human values" would be the most accurate term. Healthcare, protection and economy are probably the big 3.
Every time I think about it, I value the fact that I'm born west of Systerbäck (fi: Siestarjoki, ru: Sestroretsk), which means I've grown up in a country free of feudal and Communist oppression, and its aftermath, which means I've grown up in a country where individualism has been allowed to exist in spite of often being governed by Socialist parties, which means we can discuss a future membership in NATO. Anyone from Sweden or Finland should know what I'm talking about, for the rest of you it's hard to explain by using simple, restrictive, limiting, human words.
I think the reason why we can't just refer to these ideas as simply "values" is because a lot of them tend to conflict with each other. For example, if you call a free market a value then that would imply that a controlled economy is something of a vice, and vice versa. What might be a value in one part of the world, the conflicting philosohy would probably be considered a vice there too
Hey, I raise my hat to you for this awesome intelligent and clever video. Million thanks.
I only miss high school for one reason… having you as a teacher
That's really kind of you to say. You were an awesome student. The thing I miss the most about teaching in the classroom is students like you.
Love your videos, keep up the good work.
I too prefer we speak of our values in more direct terms rather monolithic categorizations. It’s something which I have found more preferable as my understanding of political science has matured. I think to continue the discourse in “values,” it might be good to do a video on something like the “9 axes” test. It’s a decent list of true differences in values as well as a good way for people to explore what is important to them. However, tests like the “9 axes” must always be taken with a grain of salt as people, and consequently their values, are often more complex than any categorization can accurately describe. It also might be fun to prompt your audience to take the test themselves, put up a UA-cam poll, then release a video on your reaction to the results. Cheers.
Can I ask for a video?
I'm from the European Union, Spain specifically, and I'm very curious about the opinion on the EU outside Europe, but I can't find information anywhere, so, could you make a video about the opinions of USA citizens on the EU? Thanks
Your average american doesn't have an opinion on the EU, all were taught about europe is WW1 and WW2(even these are half-assed). Our education system is really bad unless your city or town is well funded 😢.
I appreciate Mr. Beat trying to be as unbiased as possible.
I have not met too many people who talk about “western values”, who have not used them as a cudgel to shit on other cultures, or to oppose liberal democracy and equality between people.
I appreciate the video and enjoyed your take as it is so different from my own. I see this as an over simplification and watering down of language. Simply calling them “values” communicates nothing about what you mean. What values exactly? I’m fine with not calling them Western values if there’s a more inclusive alternative. What I refuse to do is use less specific language that makes communication even more difficult than it has already become. Obviously morality does not belong only to the West. The term “Western Values” is simply the name we’ve given those values mentioned in the video because most of what we’ve dubbed Western Society have governments founded on these values. Many “western values” have existed in other parts of the world but not to the scale we see in these Western countries. I think it would be fairly difficult to argue that Eastern systems of government currently value individual freedom more than the so called “western world”. That being said, there are moral people all over the world and “Western” and “moral” should not be confused as the same thing; I believe that would also be a dangerous oversimplification and lazy language. However, it’s important to realize that individual freedom is not the default setting of society and protecting these values, whatever you want to call them, is extremely important. The fact that the West happens to be where most of these values developed to the state that we understand them today is why they are dubbed Western. It is not because they are exclusive to the West or that people in the west are inherently superior. There are those who would pervert the meaning of “Western Values” and use them as an excuse for bigotry but I would argue this is paradoxical as Western values as we know them today are predicated on the idea that “all men are created equal” so the idea that any one set of people are inherently superior is not a Western value at all. Again, really enjoyed the video and love the channel! It may be cool to make video about Western values with VloggingThroughHistory’s channel as I think he probably has a unique perspective! Or maybe a tier list of the different forms of government that have ever existed? Would be interesting to see!
You have articulated my thoughts here in a way I never could, thank you Sir.
Mr. Beat, sir, this is the most thought provoking video I've seen from you yet. I often spout off to my family (they can't escape) about Western Values and American Values. As you rightfully point out, many people in the public eye who carry on most about Western Values are in fact undermining many of those good "values." Based on this look in the mirror you've provided, I'm going to be a lot more carefully about casually using this term without at least putting context around it in the future. Some of those videos you showed were boorish to the point of being cringe-worthy. Good going Mr. Beat!!
Thanks Scott. We have these values, and they shouldn't be exclusionary. They are human values and should be promoted that way.
@@iammrbeat I suggest that "human" or "humane" values become the term of art.
American values are western values. Get your facts right.
1. I always get annoyed when people say "race has no genetic basis." This statement can lead people to believe that there are no geographically concentrated genetic traits within humanity, which is simply false. Chinese people are on average genetically different from Africans, who are on average genetically different from Europeans. We use the term "race" to refer to broad categories of easily discernable genetic differences. For example, the genetic difference between Europeans and Africans which causes the former to have pale skin and the latter to have dark skin are easily discernable to the eye and usually (but not always) are a clear indicator of where a person or their ancestors came from. While I don't disagree that our notion of race is over simplified and arbitrary and has been used in the past by Europeans and non-Europeans alike to justify horrifying treatment of different ethnicities, the statement that "race has no genetic basis" is objectively false.
2. I think more of the supposedly "western values" are unique to the West, or more precisely uncommon outside the West, than you give them credit for. Some of them really are universal human behavioral traits, like just being good people, not stealing, taking care of one another, etc, but some of them, particularly the political and economic values are pretty unique to the West (and places the West has influenced). As you rightfully pointed out, most of them can be more precisely defined as "enlightenment" values (although many have roots in pre-enlightenment European or near-Eastern culture). The fact is that certain things like democracy, capitalism, political equality, secularism, and freedom of expression are pretty uncommon outside the West. They *have* existed in some other cultures, but looking at all cultures across all of history these things *tend* to be the exception rather than the norm. No value is unique to just one culture, however I think it is the unique combination of odd and uncommon values which gives the "West" its definitive character. Off the top of my head I can't think of a single civilization in all of history that has strongly valued all of these things I just mentioned, and implemented them to the degree that the West has. Medieval Islamic society may have had very advanced science but it certainly was not secular or democratic. Ancient and medieval China may have been capitalist but it certainly wasn't secular either, and definitely didn't have freedom of expression or democracy. To be fair, not even all "Western" countries exhibit all of these characteristics.
To summarize, none of these values are 100% unique to the West and I think it's a lazy oversimplification to just label all of them as "Western" values, but the West as a whole does have a pretty unique combination of various unusual and uncommon values which has given it a unique character throughout history.
I think this trend also works for other countries. As a Chinese, I often hear that we have Eastern values, also freedom of speech is a western encroachment trying to destroy our great Chinese culture. Also how Japan and South Korea are colonized and destroyed by western culture.
Also heard a few instances of Muslim groups hearlding their middle culture. The most famous ones are probably Kadafi and Bokoharam.
I went to West Jr High school in LFK... we thought our selves superior to South and Central Jr High schools :). That said, thank you for this video. I spent much of my adult life in the Army, deployed to various places around the world. I was always surprised at how there are more commonalities with other cultures than differences... and that the differences are maligned and amplified by those seeking gain or keep power.
Wat does lfk stand for
@@khalidqawdhan3265 Lawrence f’ing Kansas, I presume.
The production of your videos has increased a lot, I really like that effect you did with the puppet faces of the PragerU guys.
I really found your video insightful, and have been giving it a great deal of thought. It gave me a new perspective.
The idea that the values themselves are western does seem to be correct, instead we can call them human values.
I will instead propose the following as the western value:
"demanding that people in power follow human values"
Maybe this is the factor differentiating "western societies" from "non-western societies"?
Mr Beat seems to be channeling Mr Rogers at the end there. "Do you value me? I hope you do. I value you!" (It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood........)
ironically calling human rights "western" has caused many nationalists to become against human rights across the world
I'm part of the National Socialist American workers party. You got a problem?