chapotraphouse

essentialist definitions of the west based on racial categories

Yes this is how the West defines itself.

you can ask anyone in the latin america world, which is hundreds of millions of people, and they'll tell you they're western due to historic and cultural and religious ties.

I agree entirely.

why even bring up the germany ww1 portrayal thing are you trying to argue that germany wasn't western until after ww1?

The point is that "Western" is a changing category (for those outside the five eyes anyway) without any rigorously defined criteria. Russia is a good recent example.

your argument against that is because you can imagine some reactionary in america or europe who would disagree?

I don't need to imagine that, and they do disagree. And the reason why what a reactionary thinks matters is because they are unfortunately have a great deal of power.