The War on the West

by Douglas Murray

Obviously, many people inside the West have found it comforting to settle into this mindset as well. The men of resentment have had an easy time pointing to things that the West has done, pointing to bills unpaid and outrages forgotten or insufficiently atoned for. Such people have enjoyed reopening ancient sores and claiming to feel hurt for wounds and wrongs done long before they themselves were ever alive. They have felt contentment through opening up these old wounds and demanding that people pity them afresh as though they themselves were the victims. Because to do so is to place themselves at the center of all things, to expect recompense forever, and never to have to look to themselves to address anything—even if it is something they could only address themselves. Such people have nothing to say about themselves, or about anyone outside of the West, because to do so might lead them to change the direction in which their resentment is funneled. It might in fact cause them to finally turn their gaze on themselves. If the West is not responsible for all ills in the world, in its past and in the past and present of others, then other actors must be held responsible. And some people would have to look to themselves to explain their lack of outcomes, achievements, and more. They would have to look into the causes of their discontents and see that at least one of them is themselves. How much easier it is to keep claiming that another party—and a vast, historic party at tha...