The Death of Western Values-Surveillance, Conformity, and the Post-9/11 State | Opinion

Kenneth Griffin, a billionaire investor, recently urged Harvard University, his alma mater, to reaffirm its commitment to “Western values.” But I ask, do “Western values” still hold sway in 2024? The answer is unequivocally, resoundingly, and lamentably, no. Here’s why. The West once prided itself on being the bastion of freedom, a place where the individual’s rights and liberties were sacrosanct, where various viewpoints weren’t just tolerated but encouraged. The events of Sept. 11, 2001, however, ushered in an era of unprecedented state surveillance, governmental overreach, and a pervasive culture of ideological conformity that would have appalled the very architects…