First, the West holds a winning hand in our commitment to individual rights. We can lose only by folding. The fact that we haven’t always lived up to our ideals in no way repudiates the ideals themselves. Diversity of thought, freedom to question and create, equality before the law, and individual human dignity have always tended to foster prosperity and strength — and always will.
So it doesn’t matter that the west hasn’t done these things—merely paying lip service is sufficient for prosperity?
A confident Beijing would no sooner throttle the intellectual vibrancy of Hong Kong than Canada would crack down on Montreal, or the United States would stifle San Jose.
The entire thing is plagued by this sort of stupid platitudes.
Second, Western military superiority is most effective as a shield, not as a sword. Its value is in protecting liberty and deterring aggression. The crusading spirit that led us into Iraq and Afghanistan, hopeful that military conquest would produce social progress, was misguided and ultimately dispiriting. But the goal — progress — was no mistake. We merely employed the wrong tool.
So it doesn’t matter that the west hasn’t done these things—merely paying lip service is sufficient for prosperity?
The entire thing is plagued by this sort of stupid platitudes.
OH, OH, WE DID AN OOPSIE!
At this point it just seems like they're purposefully trying to make new content for a Citations Needed episode
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa