You seem to think &quot;reflecting on its past&quot; is one of the advances that came with Western civilization.  Not sure what &quot;modern western ethnomasochism&quot; is, but I imagine it goes along hand-in-glove with &quot;reflecting on its past.&quot;  Can you really have one without the other?  Do you really think reflection is going to reveal only good things?  Why reflect at all if you&#x27;re not trying to identify things in past that can be fixed or improved upon?