Causal links between Western decline and non-Western conditions are rank folly
Evidence
Merely to reassert the old formulas about “underdevelopment” and “the Afro-Asian mentality” is foolish enough; but to connect these causally with notions about the sad decline of the West, the unfortunate end of colonialism, and the regrettable diminishment of American power is, I must say as strongly as possible, rank folly. There is simply no way in which societies thousands of miles away from the Atlantic world in both space and identity can be made to conform to what we want of them. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 362
Categorization
- APHORISMS: A durable warning — remote societies cannot be made to conform to what observers want of them — framed as practical counsel for analysts.
- XREF: connects to: Western scientific transfer to the South produces maldevelopment and dedevelopment — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1590