When the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche lamented over the degeneration of Western values that was undermining the power of the West, he was speaking against the deleterious effect of Christian values on the West. Nietzsche saw Christian values such as humility and forgiveness as the values of weak and vindictive people who were trying to overthrow the power of their master through a sleight of hand. To overcome the destruction of Western values which was being orchestrated by Christianity, he urged for a return to ancient Greek heroic values that glory in achievement and boast in power rather than weakness. "Brought up as we are in a moral tradition which invites us to see virtue in poverty, modesty, and simplicity of soul, it is easy to see ancients Greeks as loud and boastful when they tell us about the nobility of their birth, the wealth, and the extent of their achievements in the service of their country," writes the British political theorist J. S. McClelland. It is this tendency to see virtue in poverty and modesty that Nietzsche was decrying, calling instead for boastfulness and the flaunting of the accoutrement of power.
It is in fact the case that the West has learned from Nietzsche and has duly embraced his call for his flaunting of power in international politics. However, there is great hypocrisy in how this is done: The face of humility is still being put forward so that this embrace of raw power is cloaked in the guise of the greater good. However, Donald Trump has no such guile. He thus has no qualms about taking the oil field of another country by force. This is why he seems so different. While some think that The Donald is unmasking the views of the Republican party, nothing could be far from the truth. Trump is in fact unmasking the whole Western political tradition as veiled in Nietzschean modus operandi. Trump is the kind of person Nietzsche had in mind when he wrote of the Ubermensch - he embraces the ancient Greek values of boastfulness and pride without guile. Given that politics is often done under the veil (not in Duboisian understanding), The Donald seems to be a shock to the enterprise.
It is in fact the case that the West has learned from Nietzsche and has duly embraced his call for his flaunting of power in international politics. However, there is great hypocrisy in how this is done: The face of humility is still being put forward so that this embrace of raw power is cloaked in the guise of the greater good. However, Donald Trump has no such guile. He thus has no qualms about taking the oil field of another country by force. This is why he seems so different. While some think that The Donald is unmasking the views of the Republican party, nothing could be far from the truth. Trump is in fact unmasking the whole Western political tradition as veiled in Nietzschean modus operandi. Trump is the kind of person Nietzsche had in mind when he wrote of the Ubermensch - he embraces the ancient Greek values of boastfulness and pride without guile. Given that politics is often done under the veil (not in Duboisian understanding), The Donald seems to be a shock to the enterprise.
