Why the Rest Hates the West: Understanding the Roots of Global Rage

by Meic Pearse

Book Overview

"Why do they hate us so much?" Many in the U.S. are baffled at the hatred and anti-Western sentiment they see on the international news. Why are people around the world so resentful of Western cultural values and ideals? Historian Meic Pearse unpacks the deep divides between the West and the rest of the world. He shows how many of the underlying assumptions of Western civilization directly oppose and contradict the cultural and religious values...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830832025
• ISBN13: 9780830832026
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: IVP
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Thoughtful and Refreshing

The author definitely has a strong Christian world-view, but is refreshingly different from the usual gushings of the relgious-right and the conservative talk-show crowd. I would hope non-religious readers would keep an open mind, think through some of the arguements Meic Pearse makes, and not "write off" the author because he comes from a historic Christian world-view. I would also hope religious (i.e. conservative Christians) would think through how culturally entrenched their version of "American Christianity" may actually be, and realize God is not a Republican - or an American. While not necessarily an "easy read," I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking beyond the standard arguements and views of polical left or right.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

As Afghanistan and Iraq keep heating up, Meic Pearse's Why the Rest Hate the West offers one of the most profound yet accessible critiques of why we find ourselves under attack. When Nancy Pearcey said this was the best book explaining the causes for our current clash of civilizations I scooped it up. As the author affirms, It's not about money. It's not "the economy, stupid." It's a cultural conflict with people who value tradition, community, and a form of external morality more than progress, autonomy, self-expression, and individual human rights. Pearse exposes the hypocrisy of multiculturalists who preach respect for all cultures and then attack any culture that doesn't prize their Western anti-values of "dogmatic agnosticism about all truth claims and moral questions." Very insightful. Besides, you have to like a guy described this way in his cover bio: "In his spare time, he enjoys not watching television."

Refreshingly balanced look at the current global divide.

Having lived nine years in Central Asia, I was a bit nervous upon receiving this book. Was it another book bashing American culture and totally missing the point? The author himself identifies that modern tendency as "self-loathing" and demostrates how that tendency only serves to exacerbate the problem. What follows is a balanced view that forces Western readers to realize that the rest of the world sees reality through a different filter. The result is a very accessible and understandable reading of the current situation in a way that academically lays out the scene rather than trying to bash one culture or another. Highly recommended to the lay person who wants to get an honest glimpse into what may appear to him/her to be a highly irrational reaction among nonwesterners.

Excellent

This book is an excellent analysis and critique of the ills of contemporary Western culture, and their relevance to the relationship between the West and the rest of the world, particularly in the light of international terrorism such as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The author's basic argument is that the contemporary West lives in a state of nearly complete disconnection from the reality that most people inhabit or have inhabited both now and throughout most of human history. In many, if not most places in the world, people struggle for daily survival, living in the ever present shadow of death and chaos. As a result, they understand the importance of moral order and a belief in the transcendant that gives meaning to life. We in the West, on the other hand, enjoy political stability, technological sophistication, and a level of comfort and safety unparalleled in human history. Largely padded and pampered from the harsh realities of daily survival that most people have to contend with, we have largely discarded a belief in the transcendant and have replaced objective morality with self-centered hedonism. As a result, the author argues, we have become infantile, technologically sophisticated barbarians, and this is how the rest of the world largely views us. Furthermore, our great power and influence around the world, causes many people from more traditional cultures to view us as a threat to decency, moral order, and the survival of everything they hold dear. As a result, the West is hated in many places. As a result of their often condescending attitudes towards those they view as less advanced, Westerners are often completely incapable of understanding these realities. The book is succinct, reasonably short, well written and well argued. The author lays out well the historical factors that have led to our present situation, as well as the crisis that is currently facing the West. He also does an excellent job of critiquing the condescending attitude held by many westerners towards traditional religious and moral beliefs, and showing how even our much vaunted "tolerance" and acceptance of other cultures is really a joke. What is needed, he argues, if there is any chance of saving the West, is a return to some kind of solid, public moral commitments, and a resurgence of public religious beliefs. Things don't look particularly hopeful on this account. All in all in excellent book. Highly recommended.