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Western Civilization Analysis

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Through the course of history, the West has developed several images of itself that seemingly all revolve around one ideal, its superiority. This imagined sense of self-evaluation has become apparent in several texts and can be shown in comparison to multiple different facets that surround the West. The West, using imaginary and real circumstances, envisions itself to be in a position of superiority over both nature and other civilizations. In one instance of Westerners constructing an argument for their superiority, Plato referenced the imaginary civilization of Atlantis, whose purpose was to rival Athens. Plato constructed Atlantis as the political and cultural opposite of Athens and its democratic system. In the text, Critias recounted …show more content…
This action is made visible in the wording of the Codex Calixtinus and its descriptions of the Basque and Navarrese people who had significantly different cultures and practices from those of the surrounding areas. The Codex labels the Basques and Navarrese as “wild, savage, …horrible,” all words that have become associated with the use of an Orientalist lens. This lens had been applied to these two cultures because they behaved differently and had not assimilated themselves into Western culture. There are also several theories about where the Navarrese originated from that included Scotland and Ethiopia. These claims that they are from distant lands only exacerbate the feeling that the Westerners were trying to disassociate themselves from the people of the Basque country. These examples show the lengths that the West is willing to go to in order to distance itself from cultures in the same geographic region because they do not behave in the same civilized manner that Westerners tend to hold themselves …show more content…
In living in the bus, Alex entirely immersed and attempted to assimilate himself into nature putting himself at nature’s mercy. As temperatures had begun to rise, the snow and ice melted which caused the stream Alex had crossed at the beginning to become a heavily flowing river that had trapped him and left him without a way of returning to civilization. After that occurred, his only option was to wait until it was possible to cross the river. Eventually, his lack of knowledge about nature and the plants around him caused his death as he poisoned himself. The entire situation portrayed an experience in which man was among nature without any sort of technology or assistance and was helpless to nature’s power. Alex assumed that he would be able to survive in the wild without issue and was unable to compensate and survive when nature did not cooperate and turned against him. Alex’s experiences show that despite the strength mankind and the West thinks it has, nature still has power that it can flex in order to force its will upon

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