> If there's one underlying axiom of western thought it is "question everything."
I don't believe this, even for a second.
How are those that truly do question everything treated?
Well, as either looney conspiracy theorists, or vindicated activists, depending on when the official State narrative (or classification status) changes.
Not always, or even often unjustified, but I hardly think you can call it an "underlying axiom of western thought" with the extreme negative public sentiment towards it.
Gasp! Are you referring to a lively marketplace of ideas and the intrinsic dynamics of competition within that marketplace?
Nobody said it's without cost to hold non-consensus views. The point is that those costs are incurred by the marketplace of ideas itself (people being "mean" to you, not the state beheading you) and that, in the long run, correct views become the consensus through winning such competitions over and over again.
There are alternative regimes where incorrect views can reign indefinitely because they choose to prevent people from criticizing each others' views.
It depends on your ideology. If you believe in international law, sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, as I do, you will have a different truth than if you believe in dominionism, might makes right, panslavism and historical revisionism as the majority of the Russian population does.
That's exactly my point, your truth is a reflection of your world view and your ideology.
It is silly to assume one's truth as universal and doing so kills all nuance.
