Thank you Michael for this enlightening "Alternative Review".The "history" of your country is not something new for us,iranians.We know here the horrors committed through these 500 years of "history" better than anyone else in the world.It's a pity that the majority of world population are blinded by the apparent "splendor" of material things. But fortunately there are always all around the world, lucide, conscious and aware individuals who care and are interdependent with all oppressed people. And in my opinion These Individuals make Truly the History , despite of all repression.
Re: "The victors write the history", here is some hurts-to-read evidence to back that statement.
I imagine the job of the historians will get easier as we continue to evolve and progress. If scientists can figure out what happened millions and billions of years ago, and as they're surely getting better with forensic science, then between these extremes, the truth will out. Your sig is quite apropos in this respect!
The collective psyche of this country is rife with guilt, over running the Native Americans, slavery, bombing Japan with nuclear weapons. To a lesser extent, because it has not been so much-publicized, we also feel shame over the "Alliances-of-Convenience" that we have formed with brutal regimes, whether in the name of "halting the spread of Communism", or "stabilizing" the Middle East or Latin America or some other area of the world. Certainly slavery was not unique to the United States, or even to Euro-centric civilization, and just as certain is the fact that no American living was ever a part of slavery in this country, and the majority of us are of families who emigrated here well after slavery was abolished.
I used to be proud that the United States was the first nation in many hundreds of years that had the power and the means (at the end of World War 2) to conquer the rest of the world and "go for empire", and yet eschewed that ambition. The Mongols, the Persians, the Greeks, Romans, Spanish, French, Britons and others before us all strove for conquest when they had the opportunity, and yet when that opportunity presented itself to this nation, we said "NO, let us have peace", and began the United Nations, an institution to foster and ensure peace. Now, I'm not so sure - it seems that we have a would-be empire-builder as leader, though his power and popularity are diminished daily.
With the growth of mass communication, cultures are mixing, integrating, as are reces, economies, perhaps even some day, religions, and boundaries will fade and we will be a global people, realizing that our similarities, our common goals and principles override our differences.
OK, that's enough, I've said a mouthful LOL
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
The collective psyche of this country is rife with guilt, over running the Native Americans, slavery, bombing Japan with nuclear weapons.
Wow. Your psyche may feel that way, mine certainly doesn't. Not to mention that the firebombing of Tokyo with conventional weapons killed far more people than those two half-assed nukes ever did.
The whole history of the human race is one of conquest and slaughter, derived from the idea that one has the right to initiate force against another. Suggesting that all Americans feel as you do about that fact is naive at best.
Quote:
With the growth of mass communication, cultures are mixing, integrating, as are reces, economies, perhaps even some day, religions, and boundaries will fade and we will be a global people, realizing that our similarities, our common goals and principles override our differences.
Hear hear. No more hyphenated identities. 8^]
Cordially,
Rush
elrushbo-[at]-theobviousadelphia.net
Remove the obvious...
The whole history of the human race is one of conquest and slaughter, derived from the idea that one has the right to initiate force against another. Suggesting that all Americans feel as you do about that fact is naive at best.
Yes, it is much better to sweep the whole genocide of the indigenous American population under the carpet and pretend that everything is fine.
Or you might want to start with the writings of the scholar Ward Churchill. It's your country, you should know what is going on in it. :-)
Wow. Your psyche may feel that way, mine certainly doesn't. Not to mention that the firebombing of Tokyo with conventional weapons killed far more people than those two half-assed nukes ever did.
I never meant to imply that everyone feels that way - there is a very diverse range of opinion expressed openly (unless that opinion happens to be at odds with that of the current adminstration, in which case you are "playing politics", "unpatriotic", "encouraging our enemies", "sending mixed signals to our troops", "traitor", etc, LOL). But I maintain that guilt IS part of the national psyche.
How else would we explain the irrational reconstruction of Japan into the most modern manufacturing machine in the world? We were entirely justified in clobbering them, war is, after all, war, bombing Japan into rapid submission undeniably saved countless thousands of Allied lives which would have been lost in a city-by-city, house-to-house land campaign, and the atrocities that they committed against their neighbors in SE Asia and especially against the Chinese and Phillipinos deserved the severest form of retribution. No, it's not the death totals that we feel guilt about, it is in ushering in the age of nuclear war, and the global insecurity under which everyone lives.
Slavery guilt? - rampant, and being exploited every day. Imagine, "reparations" for slavery being seriously considered, when there are no more ex-slaves and no more slavers living, so just who owes what, to whom? If this gets passed, it won't be the wealthy descendents of slave-owners who'll wind up paying, it will be the somewhat-less-than-middleclass descendents of innocent immigrants who'll foot the horrendous bill, as we do all the others. There is still huge support for affirmative action, just about the most ill-conceived, short-sighted program ever foisted upon us, a worse act of discrimination than the one for which it allegedly "compensates", because it discriminates against even more people. Two wrongs never righted anything. What IS appropriate and rational is Equal Rights for ALL, vigorously and universally enforced.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
Happy Thanksgiving!
)
eat not so much birds (the big turkeys)
it makes you to much sleepy ;-)))
http://www.guidonews.de
good thanks giving all US
)
good thanks giving all US poeple . :)
you are lucky not to work today ;)
Chipper Q, Re: "The
)
Chipper Q,
Re: "The victors write the history", here is some hurts-to-read evidence to back that statement.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
Thank you Michael for this
)
Thank you Michael for this enlightening "Alternative Review".The "history" of your country is not something new for us,iranians.We know here the horrors committed through these 500 years of "history" better than anyone else in the world.It's a pity that the majority of world population are blinded by the apparent "splendor" of material things. But fortunately there are always all around the world, lucide, conscious and aware individuals who care and are interdependent with all oppressed people. And in my opinion These Individuals make Truly the History , despite of all repression.
Ariane
RE: Re: "The victors write
)
I imagine the job of the historians will get easier as we continue to evolve and progress. If scientists can figure out what happened millions and billions of years ago, and as they're surely getting better with forensic science, then between these extremes, the truth will out. Your sig is quite apropos in this respect!
Ariane, The collective
)
Ariane,
The collective psyche of this country is rife with guilt, over running the Native Americans, slavery, bombing Japan with nuclear weapons. To a lesser extent, because it has not been so much-publicized, we also feel shame over the "Alliances-of-Convenience" that we have formed with brutal regimes, whether in the name of "halting the spread of Communism", or "stabilizing" the Middle East or Latin America or some other area of the world. Certainly slavery was not unique to the United States, or even to Euro-centric civilization, and just as certain is the fact that no American living was ever a part of slavery in this country, and the majority of us are of families who emigrated here well after slavery was abolished.
I used to be proud that the United States was the first nation in many hundreds of years that had the power and the means (at the end of World War 2) to conquer the rest of the world and "go for empire", and yet eschewed that ambition. The Mongols, the Persians, the Greeks, Romans, Spanish, French, Britons and others before us all strove for conquest when they had the opportunity, and yet when that opportunity presented itself to this nation, we said "NO, let us have peace", and began the United Nations, an institution to foster and ensure peace. Now, I'm not so sure - it seems that we have a would-be empire-builder as leader, though his power and popularity are diminished daily.
With the growth of mass communication, cultures are mixing, integrating, as are reces, economies, perhaps even some day, religions, and boundaries will fade and we will be a global people, realizing that our similarities, our common goals and principles override our differences.
OK, that's enough, I've said a mouthful LOL
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
Exactly Michael , I know and
)
Exactly Michael , I know and i agree with you !
Ariane
RE: The collective psyche
)
Wow. Your psyche may feel that way, mine certainly doesn't. Not to mention that the firebombing of Tokyo with conventional weapons killed far more people than those two half-assed nukes ever did.
The whole history of the human race is one of conquest and slaughter, derived from the idea that one has the right to initiate force against another. Suggesting that all Americans feel as you do about that fact is naive at best.
Hear hear. No more hyphenated identities. 8^]
Cordially,
Rush
elrushbo-[at]-theobviousadelphia.net
Remove the obvious...
RE: The whole history of
)
Yes, it is much better to sweep the whole genocide of the indigenous American population under the carpet and pretend that everything is fine.
Or you might want to start with the writings of the scholar Ward Churchill. It's your country, you should know what is going on in it. :-)
Physics is for gurls!
RE: Wow. Your psyche may
)
I never meant to imply that everyone feels that way - there is a very diverse range of opinion expressed openly (unless that opinion happens to be at odds with that of the current adminstration, in which case you are "playing politics", "unpatriotic", "encouraging our enemies", "sending mixed signals to our troops", "traitor", etc, LOL). But I maintain that guilt IS part of the national psyche.
How else would we explain the irrational reconstruction of Japan into the most modern manufacturing machine in the world? We were entirely justified in clobbering them, war is, after all, war, bombing Japan into rapid submission undeniably saved countless thousands of Allied lives which would have been lost in a city-by-city, house-to-house land campaign, and the atrocities that they committed against their neighbors in SE Asia and especially against the Chinese and Phillipinos deserved the severest form of retribution. No, it's not the death totals that we feel guilt about, it is in ushering in the age of nuclear war, and the global insecurity under which everyone lives.
Slavery guilt? - rampant, and being exploited every day. Imagine, "reparations" for slavery being seriously considered, when there are no more ex-slaves and no more slavers living, so just who owes what, to whom? If this gets passed, it won't be the wealthy descendents of slave-owners who'll wind up paying, it will be the somewhat-less-than-middleclass descendents of innocent immigrants who'll foot the horrendous bill, as we do all the others. There is still huge support for affirmative action, just about the most ill-conceived, short-sighted program ever foisted upon us, a worse act of discrimination than the one for which it allegedly "compensates", because it discriminates against even more people. Two wrongs never righted anything. What IS appropriate and rational is Equal Rights for ALL, vigorously and universally enforced.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK