Western

The West is the opposite of the East . The categories vary from scholar to scholar, but are usually Europe and North America.[1] Refers to the region.[2]

It is also called Western or Occident. The etymology of Occident is occidentem, which is derived from the Latin occido , which means to go down (under) something, and means 'the sun sets', and in Germany , it is called 'Abendland'.

The expression 'Western world' is also used. However, in the US , 'Western' means the western part of the US, such as California , so it is necessary to distinguish it according to the situation or context.

The word Western was also used in the Song Dynasty of China, but the current usage was established when Christian missionaries translated world maps into Chinese characters through the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty . The missionaries referred to the sea west of Europe as the Atlantic Ocean and called themselves Atlanticians.

Since modern times, the West has often referred to areas with a Christian culture. In fact, in Korea, the West often refers to Europe and North America , but the West is a concept that can also include Oceania , Central and South America , and South Africa .

As with the word East, the word West is too much of a term to refer to the modern, multipolarized cultural sphere.

Ancient Greece , known as the beginning of Western civilization, did not just look at Persia in the east and call them barbarians , but also thought that the Balkan Peninsula in the north and Italy and Iberia in the west were not the same cultural sphere from the Greek perspective.

In addition, the ancient Rome, which is regarded as the first Western Empire, also treated the Germans, and thought North Africa, Anatolia, and Levant, which belonged to the Roman territory, were the same culture and civilization rather than Europe outside the Roman area. However, this idea was only until the eighth century, because the Orthodox Knifa era took over North Africa and Levant, and Southwest Europe was cut off with the East Roman Empire , Vandal Kingdom , and the West Goot .

Before that, in the 5th century, as the Germanic peoples took control of the Western Roman Empire, the mainland countries where the Germanic people lived, Germany , Austria , Switzerland , and Liechtenstein , were incorporated into Western civilization. From the 7th century, the Eastern Roman Empire began missionaryizing Eastern Orthodoxy to Eastern Europe , starting with Ukraine and eventually reaching Russia . It has been incorporated. However, because Northern Europe was geographically the furthest from ancient Greece and ancient Rome, Christianity was spread last, and as a result, Protestantism became the mainstream.

Medieval Europeans judged cultural rights based on religion. In Europe, the Great East-West Schism and the Crusades worsened the relationship between Catholics and Orthodox churches . At that time, Catholic areas never considered the Orthodox cultural sphere to be the same cultural sphere, and when Protestantism emerged after the Reformation in the 16th century, Protestant areas were regarded as heretical areas . . Additionally, Northern and Eastern Europe, where Christianity was introduced late, were considered different worlds during the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, Northwest Europeans regarded Southern Europe as Africa and Eastern Europe, including Russia, as Asia. Even until the early 20th century, Ireland, right next to England , was not considered European.

After the French Revolution , as the standard for distinguishing civilizations became ethnic rather than religious , Ireland, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe advocated scientific racism rather than religion, and only the United Kingdom , the United States , Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , France , the Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg , Italy , Greece , Cyprus , the Vatican , San Marino , and Malta are direct descendants of ancient Greece and Rome, while the rest are mixed race influenced by Asia and Africa. It got me thinking.[4]

However, after World War II, nationalism in Europe abated and the Cold War began, and European identity began to strengthen among Europeans. Ireland , which was treated as a white nigger, and Turkiye, which was considered separate from the West , were considered Western, and after the end of the Cold War, Eastern Europe and Russia were also considered Western. If you think about it , the idea that Europe , North America , Oceania , and South America are Western was developed only in the not-too-distant past.

Even now, right-wing liberals and mainstream conservatives in the West do not consider Russia, which is anti-Western, to be Europe. On the other hand, many people with far-right tendencies have pro-Russian tendencies, so they feel identified with Russia. However, it is very ironic considering that in the 20th century, Western extremists treated Russians as uncivilized people of color. Additionally, the new right and moderate alt-right groups that support the Judeo-Christian concept consider Israel to be the West.

The process by which certain regions are considered Western can also be seen as similar to the process by which people in those regions are regarded as secular European whites .

As mentioned above, the concept of the West was not in its current form from the beginning. Countries such as Ireland and Russia were not even treated as European countries until relatively recently, and Ashkenazi was considered a religion in Western Europe before the 19th century. Jews were considered oriental, and Orthodoxy was also considered an oriental religion. The reason why today's Europeans recognize each other as fellow Westerners is when Christian power weakened and secularism became the trend.

It refers to a person who lives in the West and has adapted to Western culture. Because it is a regional concept, it is a term that can include all ethnicities and races. The concept of distinguishing between East and West, as well as Asians and Westerners, has different standards for each person and has no scientific meaning.

There is a tendency to misunderstand that it is a unique characteristic that only Westerners with blonde hair have. The cause is presumed to be that ancient Greeks in mass media based on ancient Greece, which is thought to be the beginning of Western civilization, are usually portrayed as blonde haired.

According to these misunderstandings, it is mistakenly mistaken that the presence of black hair and brown hair in the West is due to the influx of Jews , Arabs , Turks , blacks , and Mongolians .[5]

However, archaeology, history, and anthropology have proven that the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans had more black-haired Caucasians in North Africa, the Levant, and Anatolia than Northeastern European-style Caucasians with blond hair . is the northern region. In response, Dr. Kaveh Farrokh, who has written several books on the history of ancient Persia/Iran, criticized that depicting the ancient Greeks as Western Europeans with blonde hair is a prejudice created by the Anglo- Americans .[6]

Historically speaking, this opinion is limited to the modern and contemporary times, and throughout Western history , bread and soup were the staple foods of Westerners.
It is true that meat consumption is higher than in Korea. However, it is not Europe or the United States where meat- centered eating habits exist, but West Asia and Central Asia , where farming is impossible or difficult.[7] , North Asia , North Africa , and Mongolia , and of course this place is not the West.

Since North Asia was ruled by the Russian Empire , a Western-affiliated country, vegetarian food such as bread has become prevalent. In addition , Bushmen and Australian aborigines did not know farming methods, so they lived a hunter-gatherer life and ate mainly meat.[8] , some Native American tribes had a meat-based diet.

Saying that the West is obscene is a rhetoric used by anti -Western Islamists and Haredim to disparage Westerners, and this is a prejudice against the West. As Christianity became prevalent in the Middle Ages , sexual oppression was as extreme as in the current Islamic world, and this continued until just before the '68 Movement . In fact, it is ironic that Western Christian fundamentalists, like them, despise the opening up after the June 8 Movement, considering it a conspiracy of the Illuminati , Jews , and cultural Marxists . Meanwhile, the moderate alt-right faction boasts that this is proof that the West is progressive. Currently, Western liberals adopt a cultural relativist attitude, and due to the influence of anti-porn feminism, which was prevalent in the 1980s, there are many cases where sexual liberation not only sexually objectifies women and sexual minorities, but also devalues ​​it as nothing more than male desire and sexual double standards.

In Korea, when talking about the West, the United States , which is very well-known and familiar to Koreans , is mainly mentioned, followed by Canada and Australia , which are Commonwealth countries where many Koreans live . Information on European countries , including the UK , Germany , and France , which can be considered the origins of the West, is lacking compared to North America . This is largely due to the fact that after liberation on August 15, Korea accepted Western civilization mainly through the United States , and Koreans studying abroad and immigrating were concentrated in North America .[9] . As a result, there are many cases in Korea where the West and the United States are confused. Although there is a term for the Anglo-American region , the United States has many differences from other Commonwealth kingdoms and cannot be considered a representative of the English-speaking world, and the Anglo-American region as a whole is also a subset of the West. The United States , the Commonwealth , and the non-British European continent have as many social and cultural differences as they have in common.