I have thoughts that fester. More and more since 2016, when the country I loved so much fell off its pedestal, the way your parent does when you start to see more than their providing day to day needs. I am haunted by so many things now. Occasionally I will share one here in hopes you will have some perspective on the truth of our history, not the rewritten homogenized version I called my own for most of my years.
Oh boy, hit a nerve here. I find the destruction of the Indian nation by our country to be one of the most abhorrent in history. But that's because I'm an American and I don't want to believe I'm a factor in an acquisition based in massacre. Devious massacre at that (although I don't think it's better or worse than 'regular' massacre). But I disagree that America is one of the most brutal, destructive nations of all time. Take a look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_events_named_massacres.
In 1645 the Sichuan massacre took out 1 million of 3 million Sichuanese. That same year, 800,000 residents of Yangzhou were killed by Qing troops as punishment for resistance. This list is confirmation that humans of all origins and nationalities can be and are, vicious killing machines. It's hard to read the descriptions of the horrific ways people dismembered, tortured and killed each other, even children..and this list doesn't even seem to include the six million Jews exterminated in WW2 by the Germans--which is really curious, since to my knowledge that was the biggest massacre in history. Ranging in numbers from 5, to 6 million, each death was the result of one thing: domination and power. As a percentage, the United States has a pretty low rate of massacre, but that is probably due in part to it's youth. We're getting more slots though, with mass shootings.
I think the Indian annihilation is part of the bigger truth about the human race: we are a violent and sometimes evil species for whom power and dominance is innate. While survival of the fittest may be the ones who are most adaptable, according to Herbert Spencer (not Darwin, actually) it seems the survival of the most ruthless is more assured in history. Thankfully (I think) dominance is less likely to be brutal killings now, and more likely to be insidious infiltration of information and dissemination of propaganda. It's interesting to note that the Scandinavian countries are not well represented at all in the massacre list. But, the Vikings were not exactly pacifists so..it's not a very complete list at all, which is even sadder. I think we are feeding the wrong wolf. Thanks for listening. Your writing always gives me an opportunity to think and learn something...and write something!
So interesting, and while I see what you say about other nations, ours consistently has continued...slavery, repression even today of people of color and lack of a level playing field, and perhaps what's most abhorrent to me is our holier than thou attitude...I don't see another nation like ours that has consistently done what we have done to repress it's citizens, broken treaties, covert operations that boggle the minds, Japanese internment camps of our own citizens... I don't think anyone comes close...
Oh boy, hit a nerve here. I find the destruction of the Indian nation by our country to be one of the most abhorrent in history. But that's because I'm an American and I don't want to believe I'm a factor in an acquisition based in massacre. Devious massacre at that (although I don't think it's better or worse than 'regular' massacre). But I disagree that America is one of the most brutal, destructive nations of all time. Take a look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_events_named_massacres.
In 1645 the Sichuan massacre took out 1 million of 3 million Sichuanese. That same year, 800,000 residents of Yangzhou were killed by Qing troops as punishment for resistance. This list is confirmation that humans of all origins and nationalities can be and are, vicious killing machines. It's hard to read the descriptions of the horrific ways people dismembered, tortured and killed each other, even children..and this list doesn't even seem to include the six million Jews exterminated in WW2 by the Germans--which is really curious, since to my knowledge that was the biggest massacre in history. Ranging in numbers from 5, to 6 million, each death was the result of one thing: domination and power. As a percentage, the United States has a pretty low rate of massacre, but that is probably due in part to it's youth. We're getting more slots though, with mass shootings.
I think the Indian annihilation is part of the bigger truth about the human race: we are a violent and sometimes evil species for whom power and dominance is innate. While survival of the fittest may be the ones who are most adaptable, according to Herbert Spencer (not Darwin, actually) it seems the survival of the most ruthless is more assured in history. Thankfully (I think) dominance is less likely to be brutal killings now, and more likely to be insidious infiltration of information and dissemination of propaganda. It's interesting to note that the Scandinavian countries are not well represented at all in the massacre list. But, the Vikings were not exactly pacifists so..it's not a very complete list at all, which is even sadder. I think we are feeding the wrong wolf. Thanks for listening. Your writing always gives me an opportunity to think and learn something...and write something!
So interesting, and while I see what you say about other nations, ours consistently has continued...slavery, repression even today of people of color and lack of a level playing field, and perhaps what's most abhorrent to me is our holier than thou attitude...I don't see another nation like ours that has consistently done what we have done to repress it's citizens, broken treaties, covert operations that boggle the minds, Japanese internment camps of our own citizens... I don't think anyone comes close...