westernization: comfort at the cost of fun

The ginormous divide in GDP and technology available to the superpowers as compared to other non-1st world nations, the womanization of society, the demonziation of emperorships, super-political-correctness, homogenization of societies/cultures (mostly in the west), and the introduction of icbms and thermonuclear warheads has made geopolitics and the world in general alot more comfortable and ALOT less fun.

>>3

I want an Empire.

I think the west is dying because we as a culture have gone so soft that we don't really try to push the envelope anymore.  We won't put a man *back* on the moon for twenty years, we proabaly won't even try for Mars -- it's dangerous, and softened Westerners DESPISE risk.  Hell, we get upset if we get our feelings hurt, to the point where we'll grade kid's papers in purple because red will make them FEEL bad. 

In wars, it seems like any Western Nation has to appologize for KILLING THE ENEMY.  And Gods forbid that we lose 2000 men in 5 years (we lost several times that in D-Day landings) it means that we must immediately retreat because the cost is too high. 

What's the point?  I mean if our civilization is no longer going to do great things, or take threats to its existance seriously, than we may as well disband and let the Barbarians sack Rome again. 

That's one thing I like about Empires -- you kick ass, you dare to biuld great monuments, to go boldly to whatever frontier strikes your interst.  Empires built most of the ancient wonders of the world, The pyramids, the temples, the aquaducts, all made by empires wanting to make a mark on the world.