You Can Stop Apologizing Now

At the time of this writing, it's Labor Day in the United States.  To the uneducated, the day marks the end of summer vacations and backyard barbecues; yet another day off as guaranteed by the Federal government. To the more respectful, the day celebrates the hard, often anguishing efforts of the men and women who, with their bare hands, keen minds and powerful machinery, built this country into the most powerful and prosperous nation this planet has ever known.

No doubt you've heard the litanies of praise lavished on labor. I won't bore you with sophomoric glorifications.  Just take a look at everything from Hoover Dam to the moon landing to highways, bridges and nuclear medicine therapies.  In fact, look anywhere and everywhere and you'll find that American labor has touched and improved every single aspect of your life.

But that's not what I'm focused on today.  Here's what fascinates me:

Take a nice, long look at that map of the world. That's a lot of people living on the entire land mass of the planet:  roughly 200 million square miles. Of that, western civilization -- the stuff and culture that's made your life so wonderful -- covers a minor fraction of that. And on that minor fraction, a minor fraction of the planet's population, specifically Western Europe and the continental United States (marked in red, above), are responsible for virtually all of the philosophical, practical and scientific advancements that have driven world prosperity up and world poverty levels down.

Now look at the other 90% of the planet.  The parts that aren't in red. Larger continents.  Greater populations. Varying climates.  Immense stores of natural resources. From the 100,000 foot level, you have to ask yourself why would the vast majority of human advances -- what we refer to as western civilization -- emerge from such a small fraction of the planet?

You can analyze this question from almost any angle, but chances are that fear is going to prevent you from accepting the only actual, rationally based answer:  Western culture is simply structured differently and not everyone gets it. 

Let me be blunt: The key to the success of western civilization has nothing to with race, although there are lots of ignorant people who would like to think so. No, the key to the success of western civilization is its core cultural values: productivity, efficiency, betterment and industry.  The culture, being as successful as it is, may have been founded in a region populated by white people, but those people never excluded anyone from participating in its success. In fact, their systems of capitalism actually welcomed them, because the watchwords for western civilization are "the more, the merrier."  Western civilization just gets better for everyone in direct proportion to the number of people who embrace it.  Capitalists call this "growth," and for the most part, growth delivers more benefits at lower prices, making it more accessible to those regions who couldn't come up with this stuff themselves.

And yet, there are morons who seem to think that prosperity is a function of racism.  Nope.

Holding hands, singing Cumbaya and handing out participation trophies may be popular in universities and children's soccer leagues, but it has no place in western societies. Don't believe me? Fine.  Do your own research.  See who's invented what and how they changed the entire world, not just their own.  

Are the majority of them white? Oh well, that just how it goes and has been going for centuries with virtually no barrier to entry for anyone choosing to get in the game. And if you doubt that, learn some history.  Find out about the non-white successes who embraced the system instead of sitting on the side of the road with their hands out.

Those are the facts. It's just not politically correct to say so.

So if you're a product of western civilization, for God's sake, stop apologizing for being a part of a system that's made the world a better place for everyone, for hundreds of years.  It's a proud, industrious and accomplished heritage; one whose detractors consist of little more than jealous, lazy whiners.

Happy Labor Day.