The Hypocrisy of Western Universal Values

D. Rivera, “Man, Controller of the Universe”, formerly “Man at Crossroads” (1933).

Despite the lofty rhetoric, the Western ruling minorities have only partially and sporadically given priority to the values extolled during the Enlightenment.

The current world crisis has its roots in the hypocritical Western insistence on so-called “universal values” such as human rights, liberal democracy, and open markets. Though these are serious political concepts they are also feel-good expressions, as well as abstract and even contradictory; so much so that they often are wrongly interpreted and implemented, often to suit political agenda. This ought to be obvious to all in the West by now, but unfortunately it is not.