5 ms·

Have you ever been to Japan?

• whatshisface 6y ago
  Japan is twice as far from California going East as it is going West. The parent must be using that definition. ;)
  • asveikau 6y ago
    I remember once it felt a bit jarring when I heard native American cultures contrasted with "western" ones. Surely they are more "western" than Europeans.
    • devmunchies 6y ago
      Native Americans and pre-Christian pagan Europeans had a lot in common. Both cultures that honor seasonal cycles, animals, nature, ancestors, animism etc. Unfortunately “western” is now seen as the Abrahamic judeo-Christian capitalistic worldview, even though the west sprang out of pagan Greece and Rome.
      • tomnipotent 6y ago
        Rome was Christian when the Western and Eastern empires were founded, and when they fell. My understanding is that modern West/East etymology is heavily influenced by the Western/Eastern Roman empires.
        • Bayart 6y ago
          Yes, strictly speaking the West, the Occident, is born out of the leftovers of the Western Roman Empire.
      • coldtea 6y ago
        >Unfortunately “western” is now seen as the Abrahamic judeo-Christian capitalistic worldview, even though the west sprang out of pagan Greece and Rome. The west "sprang out of pagan Greece and Rome" when they decided to become Christian. The actual pagans had been slowly abandoning paganism as a dead-end and turning more into esoteric religions and neo-planonism etc and the influence of Egyptian etc religions for several centuries before Christianism was a thing...
      • Bayart 6y ago
        >Native Americans and pre-Christian pagan Europeans had a lot in common. Other than not having the Christian religion, no, not really. >Both cultures that honor seasonal cycles, animals, nature, ancestors, animism etc "Both cultures" ? What cultures ? Neither pre-Colombian Americas nor Europe shared a culture on their respective side. Even if most of Europe shared a common Indo-European root, religious practices were varying widely. Be it from the cross-pollination with different tradition (pre-Indo-European, Semitic and whatnot) or social changes. It's very hard to argue the official Roman religion as practiced in cities was any more "closer to nature" than Catholicism is. >the Abrahamic judeo-Christian capitalistic worldview Any more grand words to force into that sentence ? Making the Christian religion itself being the deciding factor in your reading of history is a position that's very... Christian.
    • User23 6y ago
      "Western" in this context is referring to the western tip of the Eurasian landmass. The western hemisphere is part of the cultural "West" because of the European diaspora, not because of its geographic location.
      • asveikau 6y ago
        Yes I understand. Yet it in another sense remains geographically inaccurate or contradictory, and amusingly so. It's my personal opinion that when we see such a discongreguity that we should perhaps choose other words.
        • coldtea 6y ago
          >It's my personal opinion that when we see such a discongreguity that we should perhaps choose other words. Not really. Then we'd be changing terms established for centuries, that most people understand in their two contexts (geographical and cultural), with some new words we'd have to explain every time we use them -- so making things worse.
          • asveikau 6y ago
            If I contrasted indigenous Americans with "European" culture rather than a "western" one, you would completely understand the meaning and it wouldn't be a big deal.
            • coldtea 6y ago
              Not exactly. I wouldn't know if you mean "European culture" in the sense of something unique continental European (the way Europeans have unique cultural traits different from US traits, e.g. analytical vs continental philosophy), or the shared western culture Europeans and US Americans, and Australians, etc have?
              • asveikau 6y ago
                That would sound to me like a deliberate misread in the same way that taking "west" literally is to you. You would know what I meant to say, and so would I should you say it the other way.
    • coldtea 6y ago
      West/East and western/eastern does not just have a geographical meaning. It also has a political/cultural meaning, which has some roots in geography, but is otherwise totally different.