Occidentalism

Submitted by DIane (United States), Jun 23, 2010 at 17:55

You're right! In "Occidentalism" by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit, the authors identify this same pattern of thinking in pre-WWII Japan.

"In this view, the war against the West was a war against the poisonous materialist civilization built on Jewish financial capitalist power. All agreed that culture -- that is, traditional Japanese culture -- was spiritual and profound, whereas modern Western civilization was shallow, rootless and destructive of creative power. The West, particularly the United States, was coldly mechanical. A holistic, traditional Orient united under divine Japanese imperial rule would restore the warm organic community to spiritual health."

Nothing much has changed, it seems, except some names and faces.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".