That is not true. No outsider said we must become more democratic. The West reached that conclusion themselves. Outsiders did not say slavery was bad an made us end it. The West reached that conclusion itself and fought to end it, not just in the West but all across the world. And that has a long tradition which began with the spread of Christianity.
Colonialism did not end alone because of independence movements but because the idea became increasingly unpopular in the West itself.
As for racism and patriarchy. You don't need to be the one subject to something to understand why it is wrong. There are plenty of people who engage in racism who are not westerners. Even minorities. There are plenty of women who help uphold patriarchy.
I live in a minority dominated area, and most of the racism we see may actually be between minorities. In fact is a very hard problem to deal with because as a majority we have to be careful about singling out any minority.
Germany struggles with this today. Most racism directed towards Jews today come from the muslim minority. However, they are a minority subject to racism from Germans and thus criticizing muslims for racism risks fueling further racism towards muslims.
I will also caution against the idea that somebody cannot know mysogeny and racism because they are the in group. I have been a lot of racists who tell me all their views, which they would never have dared tell th minority they hate. As a man I can hear all the derogatory views other men share about women. Views they would not voluntare to women themselves.
People tend to know what is politically correct today and avoid sharing all their worst views freely. But when they think you are one of them, they spill their beans.
So no, I reject the idea that you cannot understand at any level people who are different from yourself. It wil never be a perfect insight but nobody will ever know what it is like to walk in somebody else's shoes. But this goes both ways. There are plenty of people who think they know the West.
That is partly what this article was written in response to. There is this belief that the only driver for anything in the West is naked selfishness. This propensity by a lot of pundits to blame the West for everything while accepting no blame for their own behavior and choices.
A lot of people and societies have contributed to the problems that exist in this world and the West cannot take the blame for everything. China, Russia, the Arab world and many others must accept their share of the blame. They are not helpless victims flailing around while the West makes all the choices for them.
The point of this artilce was not really to claim supriority. It was a reaction to numerous writings and dicussions I have seen in relation to the war in Ukraine, where all too many people outside the West (but also within) have been eager to claim that whatever Russia or other countries do the West is the worst.
To create a moral equivalency between what Putin engages in and the West is profoundly wrong.
The point here is not really to stand up for the West in particular but for the value of free speech and democracy. The West simply happens to have been made into the postboy for these things. Many try to mock and undermine the ideas of democracy and free speech by suggesting these values are bad. Their argument rests on the premise that the West is the worst. What I am saying here is No, the West is better and thus democracy and free speech are values which can benefit all. They are not corrupting influences. Dictatorship is always worse IMHO.
