I’m curious why you think it’s scandalous. Do you disagree that Europe was most powerful at the time of writing? I think it makes total sense to say this isn’t

I’m curious why you think it’s scandalous. Do you disagree that Europe was most powerful at the time of writing? I think it makes total sense to say this isn’t just or appropriate. But to say that Europe was powerful is not scandalous. The section seems written with humility and more of a theme of “I’m not sure why Europe is so powerful and luck is involved” than a more unpleasant version that could have said something like “Europe is the best because the rest of the world is a bunch of monkeys” but that’s not what he wrote.