Anti-Cardinal West

By Roger Colins

The compass has been the explorer's best friend for two thousand years. The modern world simply could not have done without it. The Wright brothers would have ditched in the sea, Drake would have been back in port before the end of the next day and the Mayflower, a ghost ship long before it made landfall. All relied on the earth's magnetic field to point the way. Even train tracks need to know where they're going. ___________________________________________________________ Cardinal points have taken on a few new designations to put you on a map. For North and South there are the Americas and the North Sea. The South Pacific groups together islands of Solomon, Cook, Pitcairn and French Polynesia to name just a few. Mongolia, China, the Koreas and Japan are collectively known as The Far East. From The Philippines and Indonesia up to Bangladesh all form South East Asia, formerly known as the East Indies if you throw in India as well. Then we have the Middle East for everything between India and Turkey. Cut Germany in two, you get East and West Europe. Caribbean islands are all part of The West Indies and The Wild West, a location and historical period in North America but after those, the compass points get fuzzy. Aside from the country of South Africa, the African continent itself gets no distinct cardinal divisions beyond the basic North, East, West and central as they all fall under the collective, The Third World. The same goes for Australasia and Oceania, probably because Australia has a continental mass to itself spanning a gap between South East Asia and the South Pacific. Russia also bridges continents, collectives and compass points though Siberia is exclusively northern. Outside the confines of any one country border, there is no collective South, East or North. There is however, The West and appears to have little to do with cardinal location. It seems the term arose by process of elimination. South America is not considered part of The West. Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe can all be swiftly crossed off but a big question mark dangles over Australia and New Zealand. A suggestion presents itself that The West could have a more historical etymology. Colonial empires found the most success by western European countries such as Spain, France, Portugal, the Dutch and of course Britain. The colonies however include too many that are not part of the west, so far as modern interpretation of the term goes. Having said that, any country that was not a part of European colonization does not fall within the bracket however, they are very few. Perhaps we should at the top and work our way down. The United States comes immediately into view when one mentions The West. The country is the most successful European colony and despite being in North America, sits quite firmly west of the Greenwich meridian. Britain being the principal influence for North American settlers cannot be discounted along with the other western European countries. Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Scandinavia, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands and Iceland all seem at least partly west but France, Germany and Britain even more so and where does Switzerland lie? There is clearly a difference, the same difference also found between the United States and Canada. So far as economic stability is concerned, all are as equally self sufficient as each other. Political weight might be the difference maker. All four are democratic, enjoying considerable influence across international treaties, communities and organizations. All four nations make up the major players in both world wars and further than that, are the biggest warmongers in history. Here attached we come to interpretations of what is known as The West and the ideas surrounding it's meaning. Some consider The West representative of freedom, liberty, culture, progress and all that is good and true in the world. Others will use the same coinage as a pejorative and the complete opposite. Oppressive, oil hungry, immoral heathens that will stop at nothing to conquer, devour and exploit. Good or bad, the interpretations are all extreme so perhaps The West has more to do with that than anything else. There is an undeniable attachment to money, power and politics. There is always stigma, an uneasy controversy attached to The West but one thing is certain and that is it has nothing whatsoever to do with a compass any more.

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