Why Plato-to-Nato Western myth is being resurrected

The United States is resurrecting an old Western civilizational narrative, one that stretches from the ancient Greeks under Plato to the modern North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This idea, now being rebranded as "plato-to-NATO," is being promoted by the US government, particularly by figures such as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The doctrine emphasizes the importance of the West, defined by territory, ancestry, and Christianity, over broader principles like constitutional democracy, liberty, and equality. Under President Donald Trump, the US has embraced a more aggressive stance on national power, positioning itself as the superior leader of this unbroken lineage of Western civilization.

Critics argue that this civilizationalism, or "civilisationism," is a myth, with scholars like Amitav Acharya and Kwame Anthony Appiah pointing out that the notion of a continuous Western civilizational thread is historically inaccurate. The narrative has been popularized through educational systems and ideologies from the Cold War era, but it overlooks significant periods of European history, such as monarchies, religious intolerance, and imperialism.

Moreover, it fails to acknowledge the influence of non-Western civilizations and the complex synthesis of Roman law, Christian theology, and Germanic institutions that shaped modern Western institutions. The myth also ignores the fact that much of what is considered Western knowledge was preserved and built upon by Islamic scholars.

US officials have been criticized for their lack of awareness of these historical nuances. This revisionist history is being used to bolster American imperialism, with maps suggesting US dominance over territories like Canada, Greenland, and Cuba.