Why the Eurocentric view?

Question

Why are so many people delving into this ideology of European racesupremacy and advancement . This is is an obvious Eurocentric view, as it fails to account for the advancements of other societies in many academic and societal fields.. A simple example is how the Europeans lacked sanitation in early centuries, whereas the Indus Valley Civilization was "ahead of its time" with advanced sewer systems and aquifer networking (a pattern that continued into many parts of India). In addition, many early medical and mathematical advancements originated in non-European locations, such as India and concepts such as the number 0 were conceptualized and applied in reasonable context in Indian and Mayan civilizations. These are a few of many exmaples in other cultures and races. It seems to me the Europeans are not the most advanced race, but the most advanced at borrowing advancements form other cultures and assimilating them into their own (see "Arabic" numbers, gunpowder). All races equal.

true I am an American, but don't think all Americans are supporters of American foreign policy....

Answer 1

I'm not entirely certain what your question is. However I do have some opinions on Eurocentrism (or more accurately, Westerncentrism).

The most basic explanation that I see for people all around you wholeheartedly embracing the notion of Western thoughts, beliefs, and developments being superior is because (in short) because we live within the Western world. People (by which I mean a social group, not individuals) don't like to think of themselves as inferior in any way to other social or cultural groups. For example, here in America, we talk about our scientists, our businessmen and women, our artists as being the best and the brightest. And it is true, we do have a lot of really talented people in this country. Let me emphasize it even more, we have A LOT OF REALLY TALENTED PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY. In fact, the image that the United States presents to the global community is generally composed of this elite group of talented people. Americans, on average, are not far more sophisticated than people in the rest of the world. Our fourth graders in 2003 came in 12th in mathematics and 6th in science and in the same year our eighth graders came in 15th in mathematics and 9th in science (according to TIMSS). These scores are not horrible, but they are certainly not the ranks of a country that claims to be "the best and the brightest." There are similar statistics for national health care (America, while it has one of the best emergency care systems in the world, is maybe, by some measures, within the top ten).

If you didn't live in a Westernized nation, you wouldn't see the same boasting of Western values. If you lived in China, you'd be bombarded with images of national strength, and devotion to the growth and honor of the country. The Japanese value both technological advancement and family honor. In Iraq people value their sectarian identity.

When talking about being the best in the world at something, it helps that the aspects you evaluate are ones that your culture prizes above all else.

I, like you, believe that no person is inherently better or worse than any other person, and that race really plays no part in determining one's ability. We just have to remember that when we're looking at specific social differences that one design is not inherently better than any other. So when we look at East Asian schools and see that the children don't FEEL confident about their abilities, it's just the manner in which they're taught, or when Iraqis don't immediately take to a democratic form of government, it's not because they're crazy backwards people, but because it's not a part of their social structure to behave that way.

Answer 2

French people smell bad and Italian food is Great!!! But Europeans think that they are the best because they don't want to admit that they have been dependent on the US since the Civil War made European Navies technologically obsolete. As a result America became a target because of ENVY. We were technologically superior, financially superior, and we did so without a real 'culture' to call our own! Europe responded by trying to destroy the known world twice and America had to rescue it both times, which made them even madder at us. As a result, the UN has been the only tool that they have been able to use to work against us, and so they have allowed it to become a tool of the anti-American powers. The frightening part is that our idiotic media has joined in the anti-American fight.
Think about it , Whenever a person is arrogant it is because they are insecure. The same can be applied to cultures! Europeans are arrogant towards Americans because they are insecure because of the last 150 years of history!!!

Answer 3

The phrase "ideology of European race supremacy and advancement " lies under the principles of theory. It may or may not be true until further investigation. People seem to focus and be awesome in their view for the reason that Eurorace is a group of strong (nations) powers united themselves for a common goal And that is try to maintain their power and world dominance for fear that another country become more powerful than they are. Reducing to miniature, euro members have characterisctics of a human being wanting to survive in any way. So there nothing wrong if you aspire for best race. And the world will be threated as common as they introduce the eurocurrency.

Answer 4

Hmmm I'm not sure how to answer this one. I'm guessing you're an American and so it makes sense to concentrate on European history, since America was conquered by Europeans.

But you are completely right, after the fall of Rome and before the Rennaissance Europe lacked behind most civilizations on earth in terms of knowledge and wealth.

But about Europeans borrowing ideas. Who cares???
Sharing ideas is great, that's how civilizations prosper.

To be honest I didn't really understand the question, who exactly are you criticising??

Answer 5

I think that disease and filth had alot to do with the advancement of the Europeans. They were cooped up long winters living in close quarters sharing pathogenic organisms. The only humans that survived through the centuries were better at fighting off disease than people who had wide-open warm spaces to occupy year-round. When they started to travel and explore the disease was a huge boost when it conveniently killed off large portions of any culture they encountered.

Answer 6

Yes you got a point there .However the Mayans with all their knowledge and sophistication used to push virgins down a cliff to appease the gods when the rains did'nt come.In india still today they have an archaic kaste system .It is ancient beliefs like these what keeps them back

Answer 7

It is called 'Ethnocentrism" and it afflicts all of mankind.

"Ethnocentrism" is a commonly used word in circles where ethnicity, inter-ethnic relations, and similar social issues are of concern. The usual definition of the term is "thinking one's own group's ways are superior to others" or "judging other groups as inferior to one's own". "Ethnic" refers to cultural heritage, and "centrism" refers to the central starting point... so "ethnocentrism" basically refers to judging other groups from our own cultural point of view. But even this does not address the underlying issue of why people do this. Most people, thinking of the shallow definition, believe that they are not ethnocentric, but are rather "open minded" and "tolerant." However, as explained below, everyone is ethnocentric, and there is no way not to be ethnocentric... it cannot be avoided, nor can it be willed away by a positive or well-meaning attitude.

Rest of article linked below.

Answer 8

seein as im from europe youd think id b quick to defend myself but to be honest europe rocks!!!!!!!!1 i think were a fairly advanced crowd of people u no i mean you dont see alot of european countries goin to war like america u see us countries focusing more on medical advancements rather den spending all der money on wmd like america....i think since were a fairly old formed continent at least older den america we seen wat war can do and weve kinda come to the conclusion dat it doesnt solve anything whereas america likes to bomb the f**k out of everything dat doesnt march to the beat of its own drum