Cultures of fear, humiliation, and hope

[pampango]

WBUR's On Point show hosted a French philosopher, Dominique Moisi, who contends that the West (Europe and America) now has a culture of fear, Islam a culture of humiliation, and Asia a culture of hope and dynamism.

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/01/20070109_a_main.asp

"I'm very struck whenever I travel between Europe, the United States, Asia and the Middle East by extremely different moods, and what strikes me most, maybe because I'm French is the culture of fear that has developed in my country, but I believe beyond my country, in Europe. And I find elements of that culture of fear when I arrive in the United States. And the moment I am in Asia, I'm caught by contrast, with the dynamism and the culture of hope that is present in China, India ...")

He contends that the "American century" may be have had its end accelerated by its response to 9/11 and the disaster in Iraq.

"In Europe ..., you have a fear of being invaded by the poor, coming mainly from the African continent; you have the fear from being blown up by the most fanatics coming from Islamic fundamentalism; the fear to be left behind by the most dynamics, and that is clearly today essentially Asia. Then there is the fear not to be any longer in control of your own life, either because you are governed by bureaucratic, anonymous power Brussels, or a benevolent superpower the United States."