How important/relevant is NATO?

[Drang]

Speaking of slaves, slavery wasn't unknown in the Americas before European settlement. That seems conveniently forgotten in some moral superiority peeing match conversations.

And still is in in vast swathes of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

[BaiHu]

I read a quote from a social justice warrior recently, whom I will call "Snowflake." Snowflake--who proudly announced herself as a "Person of Color," was making the point that white men were naturally evil because they created slavery, colonialism and oppression.

What made the quote even more interesting is that Snowflake is a student at a fairly good college.

How it came to pass that Snowflake made it into college without knowing that slavery, colonialism and oppression were historical universals practiced pretty much always and everywhere would make a fascinating tale but my guess is that her teachers and professors have never allowed her to learn anything that isn't politically correct.

The equally disturbing thing is that she was writing on an internet board for other social justice warriors, and they all took her comments as the simple, declarative truth.

It is amazing how much the taxpayers are paying to indoctrinate ignorance.

How else would all the elitists make money if they didn't have the 'indoctrinated' eating/drinking their soylent green?

[Tamara]

I'm trying to think of one that wasn't.

I got nothing.

The Angles and Saxons could give England back to the Romano-Britons, who could give it back to the Celts, who could give it back to the Beaker people, who could give it back to the megalith-building Grooved ware people, who could...

It's true that the North American continent was relatively depopulated by the time expansion off the eastern seaboard started in earnest, but smallpox'll do that in a virgin field.

[Drang]

It's true that the North American continent was relatively depopulated by the time expansion off the eastern seaboard started in earnest, but smallpox'll do that in a virgin field.

Strong evidence that the English had their revenge on the natives at Ft. William, because in their search for loot they dug up graves of smallpox victims and then took the bug back with them as far as the northern plains. (The French had done such a good job of recruiting that they had members of tribes no one had heard of, including what would later be known as the Sioux.)

Which is probably where Jeffrey Amherst got the idea of providing natives with infected blankets, although there is (to my knowledge, and this lies in areas I've studied) no evidence that any government officially acted on that thought.

[Wondering Beard]

The Angles and Saxons could give England back to the Romano-Britons, who could give it back to the Celts, who could give it back to the Beaker people, who could give it back to the megalith-building Grooved ware people, who could...

It's true that the North American continent was relatively depopulated by the time expansion off the eastern seaboard started in earnest, but smallpox'll do that in a virgin field.

“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans."

"This planet has—or rather had—a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy."

[Tamara]

I can't believe I forgot the Normans, who could give England back to the Angles and the Saxons, who could...

[Stephanie B]

Originally Posted by GardoneVT
Our house is built on the graves of the Natives who lived here

I'm trying to think of one that wasn't.

I got nothing.

There was a book by Poul Anderson titled The Grey Prince, which had a line in it that went about like this: Title to all real estate derives from an act of violence, more or less remote, and title is valid so long as the strength and will exists to keep it. The wailing of defeated peoples, though tragic, is usually futile."

More to the point of the thread: We often mess around in things with little or no understanding or caring as to the long-term consequences. What is happening in the Persian Gulf has reverberations from the Anglo-American overthrow of Iran's democratically-elected government and the installation of a brutal tyrant in 1953. We should count ourselves fortunate that the Chileans and Argentinians haven't, so far exacted any retribution for our doing the same thing to them in the `70s.

(As to the latter two, that Henry Kissinger was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize was the height of irony. If unprosecuted war criminals were ever transported by train, he'd be in the first car.)

When I hear people complaining about foreign interference or influence in our elections, I have to chuckle at the hypocrisy of it all.

[Tamara]

Which is probably where Jeffrey Amherst got the idea of providing natives with infected blankets, although there is (to my knowledge, and this lies in areas I've studied) no evidence that any government officially acted on that thought.

A whole lot happened in the 15th and 16th Centuries purely due to contact between immunologically-isolated populations. We got syphilis, which was bad, but the Western Hemisphere got a bunch of stuff that killed off as much as 80% of the population in some areas.

[Wondering Beard]

I can't believe I forgot the Normans, who could give England back to the Angles and the Saxons, who could...

Well, it is all rather complicated, after all the Angles and the Saxons left most of the Jutes behind which left the latter rather unhappy (who could blame them as the top of the Jutland peninsula can be quite dreary) and it took them a century or more to get back at them through the vikings and Normans. Then they decided to go fight over the best wine region in France ...[long story] ... one of them returns and writes a book about spending a year in Provence. It's all quite ridiculous.

[Malamute]

There was a book by Poul Anderson titled The Grey Prince, which had a line in it that went about like this: Title to all real estate derives from an act of violence, more or less remote, and title is valid so long as the strength and will exists to keep it. The wailing of defeated peoples, though tragic, is usually futile."...

A point usually overlooked by those bemoaning the unfairness of the chosen target of their ire.