Are we spoiled?

Hony

New member
When did i call the indians savages? Show me where i did that. I just said they never would have built Canada on their own. Its funny you calling me racist when i have many friends who are not white. You don't read posts here, you just see what you want to see and accuse me of saying things i didn't. You need to brush up on your reading skills.
BTW if you're a history buff like you claim to be i don't need to tell you why my ancestors left Ireland.
BTW i already stated what culture is. Did you fail to read that?
 
That's not because they were in any way inferior though (although cultural practices themselves can be inferior to others).
A good account of how Europeans came to invade America and not the other way round can be found in "Guns, Germs and Steel".
 

theegreat55

New member
That's the end point of your logic. That's where you end up if you follow your merry road of cultural superiority. History has been down that road time and time again and it's never been pretty. It's not all that hard though... once you begin to establish the whole superior/inferior dichotomy its only a hop skip and a jump to just eradicating those who are inferior. I mean really... why would you keep them around... except maybe as servants rights?


Why would they have need to defined the modern geographical boundaries that are modern Canada? Why would they need that when they had their own nations, their own laws, their own religion, their own philosophies and social structures and systems of trade? Oh wait that's right... they had their own culture... funny how that term keeps popping up. Only what a shame... it's inferior therefore not even worth keeping them around or respecting them right? I mean after all they wouldn't have built Canada.


I'm curious if you've gone over your cultural superiority ideas with them and how they see that? Have you? Or are you just pulling the 'I have non white friends' card here when you think it somehow relieves you of the responsibility for what you've posted.



I'm just following the logic you yourself have layed out to it's end. See how silly it gets?




Vampyregirl would you give it a rest already? This just isn't working for you. It's pathetic is what it is.



Hmm.. don't think I've claimed that. What I have done is show why historically what you've posted is poorly thought out and very misinformed.

Nope saw it. And I responded that it's not very well worked out. Contrast what you've posted your understanding of culture to be with the short bit I posted and then try to figure out how you can judge one as 'superior' and another 'inferior' ...

oh wait... that's right.... you can't. It's a square peg you're trying to hammer into a square hole with a pipe wrench. Thus the mess.
 
Absolutely, right on. I mean it's not like there were any great and advanced Empires in the Americas before the Europeans went there and showed them how to do things properly, is it?



Not trying to call you racist here, but I just want to scotch this argument quickly. It's the usual one I hear whenever any sort of discrimination comes up ("I can't be homophobic because my best friend's gay", "I can't be racist because I'm married to a Chinese lady"). Simple psychology wrecks this argument as it is well known that we think of individuals in our lives separately from the group label that might otherwise be applied. Thus someone can discriminate against, say, black people as a group and still have individual friends or even relations who are black - they're just thought of differently.



Could be all sorts of reasons. Do you know why?
 

happytrucker

New member
No I didn't. Look at the logic or lack thereof. It's the foundation on which a great many dictators and tyrants have built their regimes on... us VS them... we are superior they are inferior... it's a great jumping off point for looking down and devaluing others. Take that a step further and you're switching on gas ovens and getting people frothing at the mouth of pogroms. Look at the rhetoric of 1930's Germany and you have the same exact thing.

Call a spade a spade.
 

natashai

New member
Why would i go over cultural superirity with my Canadian friends? Wherever our families came from we are all Canadians now. The cultural norms of this country were established by Europeans, namely British and French but we all partake in these norms.
Instead of superior, advanced would be a better term. I pointed out barbaric practices that still go on in third world countries. Are you defending them? Do you know right from wrong? Yes the same crap once went on in the western world but we have ADVANCED beoyond that.
 

n00b:t

New member
Can you define the attributes of an advanced society for me? Is it down to average level of comfort, level of comfort of lowest individual, opportunities for individuals, or what?
 

starjuice811

New member
Okay, so in European society of the time the average level of comfort wasn't that bad, but the lowest level of comfort was (and even still is) pretty abysmal. Opportunities for individuals were lower than many other societies as well.

What else feeds in to make an advanced society? The European one isn't looking that hot at the moment.
 
Are you about the distant past or present day? Western society has advanced a lot since WW1 you know. Standard of living, technology, individual rights and freedoms and other factors make a society advance.
 

kortesuprema

New member
During the colonial era specifically, but even in modern day the 'advancement' of our culture is open to pretty heavy debate, depending on the factors you take account of to describe advancement.

Currently the cumulative effects of all human society put us as about a type .7 on the Kardashev scale. Not particularly advanced, not even Type I.

When a full type I society emerges from our current state, then we can talk about advanced societies.



And what else is required to call a society more advanced by your definition?
 

CherokeeSavage

New member
advanced suggests better.
again im gonna point out the Tanna is a great place but doesnt not have the same technology or cultural norms.

AGAIN you use the West and Modern society as the gold standard for a culture which is basically cultural superiority

also, how do you define whats right and wrong?

your ideas of right and wrong differ for other cultures. by imposing your idea, you're imposing superiority.
 

Jiffy

Member
I shouldn't have to tell you right from wrong. I assumed you're older than my six year old son. And yes i use western culture as the gold standard. Would you prefer i used Saudi or Afghan society instead?
 
Well, no society I know of has, or ever has had, such a thing.



So there you're making value judgments based on what you believe advancement means. Technically an 'advanced' culture could equally be a cruel, totalitarian one involving mass genocides in order to provide the survivors with comfort, prosperity and the rights you think are a sign of advancement.
 

babyboo

Member
What about rising levels of child (and adult) obesity, lack of care for the elderly, kids being brought up by the tv and playstation? Not everything about our 'advanced' western society is superior to social structures found in more 'primitive' cultures.
 
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