Yaron Brook: - 10/16/08 UC Irvine

[findusfunk]

This guy is an ignorant, brainwashed bigot.

[thinkingisawesome]

Lol "the US only just accepted a black president!" So the US should have had a black president earlier just to prove they're not racist? Fighting racism = choosing your president based on race. LOGIC.

Great video by the way.

[BlackWolf4830]

@thinkingisawesome Yeah, really. And just look at all the black prime ministers they have in Europe!

[amibidhrohi2006]

What exactly is "Western Civilization"? If we're referring to the times of the founding father, does acknowledging slavery as necessary count amongst Western ideals? Thomas Jefferson had many slaves. Colonialism? I get a strong hint of "White Man's Burden" from Brook's rhetoric. Will we overthrow nations with people of other colors, pillage their wealth and rape their people? Because the West has done plenty of that over the centuries.

[WarVideo]

Western Civilization has nothing to do with race,it has a smuch to do with people in Spain as with people on the other side of the world in Japan. All those things you mentioned are not distinct to western civilization, you can find them in any culture or civilization.

[amibidhrohi2006]

There's no single tangible thing as "Western civilization". As a whole, Wstern civilization had some great and some horrific features.

Take Brook for example. Elsewhere he argued that the US should've responded to 9-11 by nuking Mecca (in effect attacking ALL Muslims). Had he been born a German in the 40s, one imagines he'd be quick to admire the Aryan supremacy boasted by the Nazis.

Race hs always been significant in "Western Civilization". It justified slavery, apartheid, & colonization.

[WarVideo]

Your Nazi comment is just clear bullshit on your part, he is against all forms of collectivism and tribalism including nationalism and white supremacy. You are clearly trying to mix issues that have nothing to do with each other... Tribalism is not distinctive to the west, what is distinctive to the west is individualism and a primary orientation to reason and reality, that is whats fundamental to the west. Every culture on earth has been tribalistic or collectivistic in some way.

[amibidhrohi2006]

I'm not claiming anything to be distinctive to anywhere. Exact opposite. I'm saying what he stands for is similar to what many others have stood for. As for being a Nazi of a different flavor, this man has spoken of destroying Muslim nations, killing their people, and leaving them in ruins. Very Naziesque. Just a different target group is all. His views are not unique. That's my point.

You clearly don't know what collectivism is. As for tribalism, his love of the West and hatred of Muslims.

[WarVideo]

Its not love of "the west", as in people in the west, but love of values and ideas, thats what he loves. That is very different from tribalism, tribalism involves, skin color, race, where you were born, what language you speak, etc. It is a formof collectivism, collectivism subordinates the individual to the group, the individual is nothing without the group. But that is what sets the west apart,thats why we have individual freedom, individualright,reason, individualism,etc.

[WarVideo]

In other societies, the tribe, the group, the collective, is everything.,the individual is nothing, unless he serves and sacrifices for the group. Read what the Nazis said, THATS what theys tood for, not individualism. Thats the exact oppsoite of what Yaron stands for. As for killing muslims,you are dropping context, he is advocating a war of self defence, as opposed to conquest. There is nothing "naziesque" about it. Its not anymore nazi than the US brutal war against the Nazis.

[amibidhrohi2006]

As I said, you clearly haven't heard all this man has said. He doesn't just want war against countries that hurt us, he wants war against ALL Muslim countries. A blitzkrieg if you will. He supported the Iraq war, and would support one on Iran. This isn't defensive, it's offensive.

As for his opposition to multiculturalism, in America's context, it's our tendency towards multiculturalism that caused the end to black segregation here.

[WarVideo]

I've clearly heard him say many times that the war in Iraq qas a mistake, that he supported it when it started but when he saw how it was being fought he turned against it. You can go to the Ayn Rand Institute and see himattack Bushs "forward strategy of freedom". He has said on several occasions that the only war that is necessary to win is to hit Iran, you dont need to strike every country in the middleeast unlessthey present themselves as a threat.

[WarVideo]

I dont think you understand what multiculturalism is,multiculturalism is about cultures and ideas. What you are talking about is about race. Multiculturalism doesnt even have to be about ethnicity,it can be about religion. What stopped segragation in the US, was the aplication of individual rights to all citizens an equally. Not multiculturalism.

[WarVideo]

Multiculturalism says that all cultures, ideas,values, civilizations,religions are equal. Non is better than the other because there is no objective standard for which to judge them.

[amibidhrohi2006]

How many other countries have you been to?

As for Brook, he describes America as exemplary of his ideas of what Western Civilization is. Does he not realize that the Christian Right dominates our politics, and our social/foreign policies? The US supports Israel because the Bible says The Jews need to run it for Jesus to come back.

The image of "The West" Brook describes is a fantasy. It's never existed. Individualism has coexisted with oppression in the West.

[WarVideo]

Again, you can find religion in every civilization,but what sets the west apart is reason and individualism. Yes,you can find all those bad elements inthe west, and in every other culture,but what sets the west apart is unique tothe west and thats what he promotes.

[amibidhrohi2006]

Nothing is unique to the West. And that anyone would claim this just suggests ignorance of the rest of the world. The first writings acknowledging the rights of the individual comes from ancient Persia, 3rd century BC. When the Islamic world was enacting laws mandating rights for slaves, the West was butchering Jews and banishing them from their nations. The US just opened up to having a black president this year. Nothing sets the West 'apart', aside from their arrogance and self-obsession.

[WarVideo]

If you believe nothing is unique to the west you are completly ignorant of history. The achievements of the greeks, the incredible standard of living in the west,the life expectancy, the technological progress,political freedom, etc. Why do you live in the west anyways? why dont you go to africa or the middle east since there is nothing unique in the west.

[amibidhrohi2006]

Macau ranks 1 in life expectancy, and 4 of the countries in the top 6 in terms of l.e. are in southeast asia. The west has contributed notably to technology, but contributions to it have been made by many cultures, including Arabs, Indians, and the Chinese.

I live in the West because I was born here. "Unique" isn't a requirement for a place to be my home. And I happen to enjoy my right to verbally counter the venom of uninformed cultural or racial supremacists.

[WarVideo]

Like I said, this has nothing to do with race, it has to do with ideas and values, so what if they are asian? And the fact that you mention arabs, chinese, and indians proves that. Lets take the the arabs for example, the incredible era called "the golden age of islam happend because of the discovery and the study of greek science and philosophy,but it ended when the religious/mystical elements in muslim civilization turned against it and put faith at the center of their civilization again.

[WarVideo]

Their civilization declined substantionally after that and they have not recovered since. The reverse happend in the actuall "west" after the empire fell, christianity, faith mystisism took over but philosophy and science were rediscovered again much later and civilization in the west started to rise again.Reason was lifted back up and put at the center of their civilizations, with some contradictions though.

[WarVideo]

You can find in other civilizations an application of reason in certain fienlds(example:mayans with math) but they limit it to that particular field, or you can find certain individuals or certain lost eras where it practiced to some limited level but it is later lost again. But the west, starting with the greeks, was the first to ttry to apply reason consistently in every field at all times and to put it at teh center of their civilization, even if only implicitly.

[WarVideo]

Do you only live in the west because you were born here? As far as I know nobody is stopping you from leaving, why live here? Whats the difference between the US and living in some hut in africa? I am not saying that you live in the west because its "unique", that doesnt matter is WHAT makes it unique.

[Wejer3]

If you can't distinguish the difference between truth and falsehood, justice and injustice or good and evil, then you can hardly be qualified to judge the state of any culture - be it benign or malevolent.

[Wejer3]

'The West' in the context Yaron Brook uses it is a reference to Aristotle and his legacy. There is no doubt that Ancient Greek (ie 'Western') thinkers influenced the early middle east and gave rise to some form of wealth creation and prosperity, when compared to Europe. However, this was not because of religion but DESPITE of religion - reason did it all by itself.

If you by 'arrogance' and 'self-obsession' means 'pride' and 'rational self-interest', then I am proud to be a Westerner.

[Kurtyoungblood]

I would have stood.

[WarVideo]

This means also rejecting Chritianity and embrasing Enlightment ideals. Reason over Faith.

[dunkelhaven]

Finally, someone has the courage to say it!

[shovelcharge]

YES! THANKS FOR POSTING!