| Awaken Bharata |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| HINDU DHARMA AND THE CLASH OF CULTURES | |
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| This
idea of the clash of cultures reflects the post-communist era. There
is no longer any monolithic communist threat to oppose. Russia has
been redefined according to its traditional authoritarianism going
back to the Czars, of which communism was only an extreme episode.
Communist China, which has ceased to function like a communist state
promoting worldwide revolution, has been redefined according to its
authoritarian background and tradition of empire. Communism no
longer counts as a major force in the clash of cultures. Its extreme
forms have been marginalized and its more tolerant forms are being
absorbed into Western liberalism and humanism. The clash of culture
idea therefore replaces the previous Cold War view which divided all
nations simplistically into the Capitalist or Free World (which
often included fascists and religious dictatorships) and the
Communist world.
The Free World versus Communism duality is being replaced with the clash of Western liberal humanistic civilization with traditional non-Western cultures and their authoritarian models. At least this is the Western perception of the new duality. Non-Western cultures often perceive this clash as the materialistic West seeking to gain world domination by displacing non-Western traditions which may be more religious or spiritual in nature, or as simply the affluent West seeking to maintain its dominance over the poorer rest of the world. |
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