The so-called Western experiment is “the most exciting adventure in human history,” a British author has claimed.
He argued that with all of its flaws, the West’s individualistic spirit has fostered innovation, democracy, and the rule of law, unlocking “human potential in ways that nothing else can.”
He also contended that detractors of the West’s history and culture often don’t understand the Western roots of their values, and therefore are “sawing at the branch that they are sitting on.”
“If we think about traditional civilization, we’re perhaps thinking about something that values stability and continuity above everything else. It might often be imperial that tends towards centralized control,” Sidwell told BTL.
“The West was very different, it was really born out of the fall of the Roman Empire, out of its collapse into many pieces. And so the West is somewhere that never really fell under centralized control. It’s a place where ideas are debated when nations fight with one another. It’s fractious and competitive,” he said.
Sidwell said Christianity also cultivated in the West a “deep respect for the individual” rather than “one central figure,” moving the culture to a direction of equality and the rule of law, which in turn made it “tremendously innovative [and] inventive” in “every area of life” including science, culture, and art.
Social Justice Warriors ‘Very Western’
Sidwell’s series included an interview that disputed the claims Western countries such as Britain is “systemically racist;” its wealth was built upon exploitation, oppression, and slavery; and that Western citizens should “feel nothing but shame for who we are.”It detailed how slavery had been a well-established practice across the ancient world, including in Africa and the Arab world, before the notorious transatlantic slave trade, during which African slaves were shipped to Europe and the “New World” of America and the justification of slavery became increasingly racialised.
Nigel Biggar, a theologian and Oxford University professor whose most recent book deals with the morality of colonialism, said in the documentary that while slavery made a contribution to the British economy, it’s “false” to suggest it’s the driving force behind the empire’s wealth and prosperity.
He also noted that the British Empire, which was the first to abolish slavery, had later spent a great amount of its wealth, deploying the Royal Navy to patrol the west coast of Africa to stop slave trading, successfully forcing the Ottoman Empire to ban “both the Black Sea and African slave trade.”
Sidwell said the so-called social justice warriors, who complain about the West, “don’t understand how Western they are because they’re very individualistic, they’re out being a warrior for a cause. But this is a very Western way of being.”
A Real Danger
Speaking of forces against the Western culture, Sidwell said while the West is facing external rivals such as Russia and China, the attempt to tear it down from within is the “real danger.”The battles between Western democracies and authoritarian regimes “can become battles of will,” he said.
“Once you start to lose that confidence in yourself, ... if you start to lose that battle for will, then you may start losing the larger battle for control of the world.”
He also said it’s dangerous because internal struggles can make enemies underestimate the West’s strength, emboldening them to initiate fights.
Sidwell said the making of the series and the West’s determination to support Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion convinced him that the West would win if a battle ensues.
“The West is actually very strong. It has this tremendous capacity to reinvent itself. It’s militarily strong, it’s economically strong. In a moment of test, it comes together,” he said.
However, such victories would be hollow “if there are fights you don’t have to have, and we only have to have them if we don’t project confidence and strength through an understanding that the Western experiment is the most exciting adventure in human history.”
