Comment East is East

Abstract

We are presently very much concerned with two questions. The one that boggles the minds is that while the West has made tremendous progress, the East has been lagging far behind. The other question is whether the difference between the East and the West is that of capability or mentality. The examples of Japan, China and Korea are evidence enough that the difference is not that of capability, though this is also a fact that all the advancement made by these aforesaid eastern countries is a borrowed one. It is rather reactive and imitative. Their advancement is not indigenous. They have borrowed technology from the West. But this does show a difference of mentality. Then, it is also a fact that when industrial revolution started in the West, most of the eastern countries were bound in the chains of slavery. Therefore they could not benefit from this wave of progress. And when these countries got independence, the West had already gone so far ahead that it was not possible for the East to catch up with it. This restricted their freedom to compete.