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This lecture explores the concept of the decline of Western civilization, referencing Oswald Spengler's work 'The Decline of the West' and its implications on modern society. The speaker discusses key symptoms of this decline, including the dominance of technology and money, the erosion of spirituality, and the manipulation inherent in mass democracy. Additionally, Dr. Naif Binhara's critiques of Western values highlight a perceived failure of principles such as the rule of law and human rights, suggesting a broader cultural and ideological decay.
Transcript (English)
0:00 Dear friends, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.
0:04 Is the West in decline?
0:06 This is a topic we have mentioned before
0:09 on several occasions,
0:10 however, a very interesting work titled Decline
0:15 was written by the famous German political scientist and philosopher
0:20 Oswald Spengler
0:22 who published the first volume of his major work in 1918,
0:24 a controversial work titled
0:31 The Decline.
0:31 the West.
0:32 He is actually facing a simple
0:36 understanding of the West as the most dominant
0:40 civilization of that era, and something that is divinely given and leads only
0:46 to better, greater, stronger, and so on.
0:50 He later wrote the second volume of his work in 1923.
0:54 Years.
0:55 To quote something that helps us
0:58 understand this, and then I will mention a doctor Naif,
1:04 Indeed,
1:05 three major critiques of modern
1:07 Western civilization,
1:09 or so-called Western values,
1:11 which are often sold to us as values of democracy,
1:15 freedom,
1:18 women's rights, children's rights, etc. Before that,
1:22 Oswald Spengler says
1:24 You calm down,
1:26 addressing Europe, addressing Western civilization, you calm down,
1:30 I see in you all the characteristics
1:32 lead to destruction.
1:34 I can prove
1:35 that your great wealth and your poverty
1:39 capitalism
1:40 and your socialism,
1:42 your wars
1:43 and your revolutions,
1:45 your atheism,
1:46 your pessimism
1:48 and your cynicism,
1:50 your immorality,
1:52 your destroyed marriages,
1:54 And your birth control,
1:57 squeeze,
1:58 from you and the last drop of blood from below,
2:01 And they kill you from above,
2:04 They kill you in the brain and will exterminate you,
2:08 I can prove to you that all the signs of dying are visible in you,
2:13 countries from ancient times,
2:16 Alexandria,
2:17 Greece
2:18 And the neurotic
2:19 Rome.
2:21 So, it is very interesting that this
2:24 author, Oswald Spengler, in fact, already in the early 20th century
2:30 writes something that many authors after him see
2:35 the beginning
2:36 of decadence
2:37 or the glimpse
2:38 of the end
2:40 Western civilizations.
2:42 So, as this author and many others do,
2:45 simply,
2:46 analyze
2:47 earlier,
2:48 and say that there were eight civilizations: Babylonian, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, classical,
2:54 ancient, Arab-Muslim,
2:57 and Western, that is, Euro-American,
3:00 modern civilization. He considers democracy
3:03 corrupt,
3:04 there everything revolves around money, etc.
3:07 So, indeed, a very interesting
3:10 reflection
3:12 about
3:12 civilization itself.
3:14 And so on. What are the main theses of this work? The author in the
3:24 Decline of the West attempts to oppose the so-called
3:25 linear
3:26 view of human history.
3:27 He actually advocates Ibn Khaldun's
3:30 theory,
3:31 thus cyclical history where we actually have birth,
3:35 growth, development,
3:37 maturity, old age, and death of a certain civilization. Just as you have in living organisms,
3:42 what we can see in Ibn Khaldun and some other sociologists,
3:47 and some other philosophers,
3:49 we actually see in this author as well. He believes that human civilization,
3:56 especially Western civilization,
3:58 the current, modern civilization,
4:00 had already begun then,
4:02 So, we must consider that he wrote this after World War I,
4:10 entering what he calls the winter of his existence.
4:12 He mentions several symptoms that he decisively identifies.
4:17 The first thing – the dominance
4:18 of technology and money.
4:20 So, technology and money actually dominate Western civilization.
4:25 And that is what we see today at every turn. So, social media, mobile phones,
4:30 laptops...
4:31 So, technology of various
4:34 kinds and technology that actually destroys entire cities,
4:39 the entire settlements and so on, even from a distance of, I don't know, 3, 5, 10 thousand kilometers
4:45 So this is the first symptom that he actually sees, like the downfall or decadence
4:53 of the West. The second thing he mentions is the decline of religion and spirituality.
4:57 So, simply put, people no longer have time for the soul,
5:01 they are not interested in spirituality, they distance themselves from religion, thus distancing themselves from morals,
5:10 which the teachings of religion preach, and he definitely
5:15 considers this to be one of the major problems that actually indicates
5:17 the western decadence or the downfall of the West.
5:20 The next thing that is very interesting is that it actually speaks about democracy or mass democracy, which is propagated or often interpreted in this way as a form of manipulation of the masses.
5:33 Here it was very interesting to recall how even ancient philosophers viewed democracy.
5:38 misguided
5:39 because in reality, those who know and those who don't have the same voice.
5:46 Thus, he does not actually consider it simply democracy
5:50 but rather manipulation
5:51 of the masses, and it is not substantive.
5:54 A value that should be focused on. The next thing, he observes large cities
6:00 as symbols of decline, i.e., excessive urbanization and concentration of people in cities,
6:13 which he sees as evidence of the West's downfall and the end.
6:16 In the end, he mentions the loss of creativity.
6:18 Thus, these people are actually losing creativity.
6:25 So, these are definitely
6:28 very interesting reflections
6:30 that could certainly be discussed much more.
6:33 About this philosopher, his view on the decline of the West, and
6:38 all the aspects and symptoms he observes, as we do in today's age. However, what prompted me to
6:46 make a brief reflection on
6:48 this topic is actually that I recently watched a top
6:52 intellectual,
6:54 an academic from Qatar,
6:56 a doctor.
6:57 Naifa Binhara,
6:58 which actually
7:00 goes into more detail. He claims that the Western
7:05 flow of human values has actually completely died. And that all
7:12 the values that were previously advocated,
7:15 such as the rule of law, democracy,
7:18 freedom of human rights,
7:21 have simply failed.
7:23 And that we are all actually witnessing the decline or decadence of these values. He presents three very interesting proofs.
7:31 So, three proofs from Dr. Nave indicate that they are actually direct evidence of the decline of the Western concept.
7:38 the West as such, or Western values,
7:42 thus spiritual
7:43 ideological values that he advocated
7:46 to the rest of the world. What are those, according to him,
7:50 evidence evidence evidence evidence under attack. He does not go as comfortably as
7:59 the one we mentioned earlier, but he mentions three specific things.
8:03 The first specific thing that Doctor IV actually mentions,
8:05 is
8:06 the war
8:08 between Russia and Ukraine.
8:15 certainly, Ukrainians,
8:17 civilian casualties, and so on,
8:20 we have seen a strange thing,
8:22 and that is that many Western political
8:25 scientists,
8:26 journalists, and so on, actually say that we are attacked.
8:27 They do not say that a person is attacked, that it is attacked
8:35 humanism,
8:37 that human values are attacked, that democracy is attacked, no! On the contrary, they say, they say the people of our faith are attacked.
8:47 They say, people who have blue eyes and a fair complexion.
8:52 face.
8:53 He says, people who have white paths are being attacked.
8:57 They are attacked, so our, I don't know, continental folk are etc. They have simply distanced themselves from that humanistic
9:05 approach to man. So, where
9:09 are the Muslims and other non-Muslims who are being killed daily down in Africa or some other countries. It has simply been seen that the life of the Western man has actually identified
9:23 with the life of the Ukrainian man, so for Ukrainian refugees,
9:27 all of Europe has been opened, hundreds of billions of dollars have been given in aid to Ukraine,
9:32 so,
9:35 etc. Where every victim of the Ukrainian
9:37 conflict,
9:38 So, an innocent victim, in fact, is glorified and it is said that, you know, one person died, two people died. Almost all world media talk about this, so if one or two people die.
9:56 However, when this happens in other parts of the world, we do not see such media
9:57 attention given to other victims and those other people. So, this is the first evidence for him, namely, the Ukrainian conflict, or Russian aggression against Ukraine, and actually for him a direct proof of the collapse of the West's narrative about democracy, about human values, human freedoms, and generally,
10:13 the collapse of spiritual, so to speak, values of the West. That is the first thing. The second thing is very interesting, considering that he is there in Qatar,
10:21 he mentions a case that went under the public radar.
10:26 There was a case where the king, there in Timin, when he
10:32 put on the so-called bisht or cloak
10:35 on the best football player in the world
10:38 or soccer player,
10:40 Lionel Messi.
10:41 So, he put on that Arabic bisht.
10:45 So, that is the bisht.
10:46 A typical Arabic bisht, and then he says, we witnessed incredible
10:52 hatred from the Westerners,
10:54 both from their politicians and
10:56 scientists,
10:57 as well as journalists, who actually spoke
11:00 against it. Why couldn't they connect that Arabic culture
11:04 is just a simple covering for them to be wrapped in?
11:10 the best.
11:11 player
11:12 of the world. So, it's simply an incredible thing, because, although it is a sign of respect,
11:17 a sign
11:18 of attention,
11:19 of welcome
11:20 etc. What all those who know about Arabs or, if you will, about Muslims, actually know is that it is a great expression of honor.
11:27 When someone is welcomed. However, we see that they actually absolutely
11:32 do not respect it and actually consider it worthless, speaking against it
11:38 etc. And so on, which is actually for him direct proof that there is simply no respect for the other and different and that they cannot connect that
11:47 the Western man is the opposite at least symbolically,