Why is guilt such a large part of western culture?

[Raybourne]

NO ONE is living in guilt, it's an exaggeration to say so.

I mean I've literally had conversations with people on this board who think Germans needs to be suppressed because of what Nazi Germany did. If that's not trying to impose a life of guilt based on one's tribe, guilt would have lost its meaning. Generally political activists (just using this as a referent since we should all know what this means) believe in some sense of responsibility for mending the ills of the past (institutionalized racism), and that this responsibility is heavier due to the person's race (a white person has more responsibility for making life better for black people), and that the race of the person in fact determines how responsible they are, given racial privilege means power and therefore responsibility. There's also plenty of emotionality involved in this school of thought - the shaming and condescending tone of which should be very obvious. Again, if this isn't some sense of racial guilt, the general definitions of guilt should be re-written.

[Mormolyce]

We recognise the things we did wrong in the past so that we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Drama queens like to call this "guilt".

That's the idea anyway, there seems to be a never-ending supply of people determined to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

[derpkitteh]

weak people, a part of our culture telling us we need to be remorseful for ancient deeds.

we need to be stronger.

[Gehco]

This is something that always struck me as a bit off but why does guilt seem to play such a large role in the history of the west? From Canada with its Indian schools to Americans with slavery, and Europe with the holocaust.

Why is it that these issues seem to press so heavily on the mind of so many especially when the grand majority of people alive had nothing to do with them? Looking around the world this sort of culture seems to really only exist in the west what makes it stick around so long?

It isn't a large part of western culture, forcing guilt on the other hand is.

[Vargulf the Happy Husky]

i don't have any guilt. my family never owned slaves in America as we weren't over here when that was happening. and i haven't looked into my pre American ancestors because frankly, i don't care.

[ParanoiD84]

There is zero guilt, history is a good thing. No one should feel guilt for shit they had nothing to do about.

[Flurryfang]

This is something that always struck me as a bit off but why does guilt seem to play such a large role in the history of the west? From Canada with its Indian schools to Americans with slavery, and Europe with the holocaust.

Why is it that these issues seem to press so heavily on the mind of so many especially when the grand majority of people alive had nothing to do with them? Looking around the world this sort of culture seems to really only exist in the west what makes it stick around so long?

"The sins of the father is inherited by the son".

History is very important for alot of people when it comes to really all aspects of life, whether it is personal, national or global history. It is not something that is unique for the west, it happens all over the world(just look at asia and their history with Japan/China, China/Taiwan, China/Asia in general).

The primary elements of why people focus on it comes mostly to pride or blame. Pride in who you are and what your ancestors did, or blame against others to reason why things are not going too well.

That is why people in the UK and Canada focus on blame, blame for the crimes made against the colonies and the responsibility they carry for the horrible things that happens afterwards and now. The same with the US and slavery, the guilt for putting people in chains and then creating a society, where life is harder because of this past.
The thing with the Holocaust is a bit different, because it is more focused on germany, but many countries like Denmark, France and Norway share a bit of guilt too, for not putting up a fight for the jews in their nation, who deserved to be defended as any other citizen.

That said, while history is important for many people, i disagree that guilt is large part of western culture. If you ask the average citizen of a western nation, guilt about the past is proberly a thing that is far away in their mind. They will proberly acknowledge that it is there, but it is far away from being a focus point and nothing more than a conversation topic once in a while.

[ellieg]

Because life is too easy now so ppl gotta think up things to be oppressed by. Most places you dont have to struggle all day just to get food, water, and a place to sleep. It's just first world problems.

[josykay]

Because life is too easy now so ppl gotta think up things to be oppressed by. Most places you dont have to struggle all day just to get food, water, and a place to sleep. It's just first world problems.

But people suffering from abusive, brutal treatment are still alive. Switzerland de facto allowed slavery of minors up into the early eighties. And for a long time attempted to ignore the role of the state for it. Those wo had to suffer continue to do so, because not only were many abused, but could have also recieve no education, essentially creating a new generation of poor. At least today, those do not have their childern taken away, to be enslaved, because now it is outlawed. But the family still remains poor.

[Surreality]

Because negative attention is better than no attention.

[Sezh]

The thing I find funny about this whole thing is that the people who are most vocal about how retarded people who feel guilt over what their ancestors did are also the people who are most vocal about how proud they are over what their ancestors did. They don't even see the irony.

[AIBot]

People should concentrate on today's problem not something that happened years ago.
Corrupt government, propaganda, massive spendings in military, economical migrants, educating the ppl in africa, defending the farmers in south africa, climate change, israel - palestine conflict, ukraine - russia conflict, just to list a few.

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

Guilt will make you into a better person.

Look at societies without guilt, they blame everything on scapegoats and then commit atrocities in the name of an invisible wizard.

[Dezerte]

As long as you don't confuse guilt with (self)criticism.

[morpen]

Because we are the best at literally everything. And everyone hates us for it and wants us to feel bad.

[CcB]

Nothing happened during the early to mid-1989 at Tiananmen Square in Dongcheng, China.

Absolutely nothing is happening to the Muslum community in modern day China.

[Hilhen7]

If you don't have guilt your bound to repeat the same action, because otherwise what's stopping you?

[Vash The Stampede]

Why is it that these issues seem to press so heavily on the mind of so many especially when the grand majority of people alive had nothing to do with them? Looking around the world this sort of culture seems to really only exist in the west what makes it stick around so long?

Because our media is pushing this agenda into peoples minds. So much so that it's entering our games and movies now. Do people really care? No, they don't. Do people pretend they care? They do indeed. The whole "get woke go broke" phrase holds true today and eventually those who engage in this practice will go broke and this whole guilt trip nonsense will fade away. The people in marketing I imagine are responsible for this and will lose their jobs soon enough.

[Kantoro]

Victims. Everyone needs to be a victim. For their to be a victim, there needs to be blame. It is a parasitic relationship, Bob beats his kids, but he was abused, his parents are to blame/guilty, his parents were oppressed, the gubment is to blame/guilty. It isn't an endless chain, but no one wants to take responsibility, so they blame someone else, this is forcing guilt onto someone/thing else. In short, there is so much guilt because no one takes responsibility for their own actions. It really isn't guilt, it's blame.

[The Stormbringer]

This is something that always struck me as a bit off but why does guilt seem to play such a large role in the history of the west? From Canada with its Indian schools to Americans with slavery, and Europe with the holocaust.

Why is it that these issues seem to press so heavily on the mind of so many especially when the grand majority of people alive had nothing to do with them? Looking around the world this sort of culture seems to really only exist in the west what makes it stick around so long?

Why is Asia so obsessed with "family first" and willing to sacrifice themselves pointlessly for others, such as Japanese working themselves to death and living sad, lonely lives because they're always drained of energy? Or standing up to an insane social ideal or facing very real consequences, such as China's social credit system?

The answer is that their history, culture, and society helped mold and guide them there, just like with the West.