Orhan Pamuk on fair distribution of simpleness and stupidity

In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, Turkish author Orhan Pamuk stressed his love for his father and his home city of Istanbul. At one point, however, he also explained the differences between Orient and Occident: "We have often witnessed peoples, societies and nations outside the Western world – and I can identify with them easily – succumbing to fears that sometimes lead them to commit stupidities, all because of their fears of humiliation and their sensitivities. I also know that in the West – a world with which I can identify with the same ease – nations and peoples taking an excessive pride in their wealth, and in their having brought us the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and Modernism, have from time to time succumbed to a self-satisfaction that is almost as stupid."

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