West regression | Montreal Magazine

Do you remember a scene Decline of the American Empireby Denis Arcand, where the intellectual played by Dominique Michel explains that the West is in decline?

“Signs of the decline of the empire are everywhere: the population despise its institutions, the birth rate is falling, men refuse to serve in the army, the national debt is spiraling out of control, the working hours are constantly decreasing, the civil servants are invaded, the elites are degenerate…”

Well, this line written 36 years ago might explain why Putin attacked Ukraine.

The next golden age

It is, however, the thesis defended in the pages of the French philosopher Luc Ferry figaro last Wednesday.

Oh, the philosopher doesn’t quote Denis Arcand’s cult movie.

But it could be…

Because for Ferry, if Putin doesn’t hesitate two seconds before attacking the West head-on by invading Ukraine, it’s because he knows the West is in decline and won’t respond.

Ferry wrote: “From Putin’s point of view, the future of the planet has shifted to the side of Asia, India, the Muslim world and Africa. Under these conditions, fear and loathing by “soft democracies” are but stories.

Culturally, scientifically, demographically, economically, militarily, the future will be Chinese. This analysis seems clearer to him because he joins many Westerners who also believe that our continent is over, that our civilization is dead and that no one is willing to die for it. »

Putin lays his hands

In short, for Luke Ferry, Putin is convinced that the golden age of the Western world was just an arc in human history, and that this period is already over.

By attacking Ukraine, the Russian president will only put his pawns on the world chessboard to make sure that his country will play a major role in the coming golden age, which, this time, will revolve not around Europe and America (ugh!), but from Iran, China, Brazil, the Middle East and South East Asia and India.

Western countries will certainly condemn Putin’s decision with one voice…

but whatever ? Since the West no longer matter!

Glorious years ago, Western civilization was not ahead of it, but rather backward!

Since then, as Arcand points out in his film, the inhabitants of the American Empire have no longer children, no longer want to die for their ideas and despise their institutions!

two years of madness

For Ferry, Putin firmly believes that the decline of the West is not just one thesis among many, it is a prophecy.

But the reality.

How can it not be proven correct?

Look at what happened in the past two years.

The attack on the Capitol, the explosion of conspiracy theories, the rise of anti-science rhetoric, the proliferation of threats against elected officials and journalists, censorship on universities, victimization, hatred of the West, a sinking centrist, and extreme phenomena on the rise. …

Not forgetting those pseudo-intellectuals who do not stop screaming for dictatorship as soon as the slightest sacrifices are asked of them…

Are these not signs of definitive decline in your opinion?