This animus toward Western Civilization invites reverting to the Dark Ages of Europe. If, after all, any cultural practice is as valid as any other, why spend billions on modern medicine? Hire witch doctors and save a fortune.
This civilizational de-evolution is hardly hypothetical. Over a million Americans now identify themselves as "pagan" or "witches" along with others holding "new age" beliefs that resemble pre-modern spirituality. Salem, MA has become famous as "Witch City" whose annual witch-themed events draw huge crowds. According to a recent Pew survey, 28% of Americans answered "none" when asked their religion. Large numbers of Latinos, especially younger immigrants, embrace brujeria -- a religion that pre-dates Christianity. Read about it in Brujeria: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color.
Americans praising pagan rituals and so on are hardly misguided, according to some academics. For these professors, these "primitive" beliefs as equal or even superior to Western Civilization. Nor are these admirers anthropologists who might sympathetically depict the traditions of the Arctic-dwelling Intuits. Rather, they champion these pre-modern cultures. As one article in Science, circulation of over one million, put it, "Faced with the profound challenges of a rapidly changing environment, society needs other ways of knowing to illuminate a different way forward. Thanks to the leadership of Indigenous scholars and allied collaborators, Indigenous knowledge is receiving long overdue recognition for its potential to provide solutions for the mutual thriving of lands and cultures.
This is hardly inconsequential rhetoric. According to the Science article, a 2022 White House conference called for "elevating" the knowledge of indigenous people on such topics as land management all the while noting our misguided attempts to erase them physically and through forced assimilation. Indeed, thanks to National Science Foundation funding, some 54 indigenous scholars at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) will tackle the worldwide problems of climate disruption, hunger, and sustaining native culture.