From: den Otter (neosapient@geocities.com)
Date: Fri Jun 11 1999 - 06:51:24 MDT
----------
> From: dwayne <dwayne@pobox.com>
> den Otter wrote:
>
>
> > Well, IMO it's all a matter of percentages; only a relatively small
> > portion of a race/group is responsible for its success/progress etc,
> > and for some reason this group has been marginalized in places
> > like Africa, while in Europe they managed to create a positive
> > feedback loop which allowed more and more people to realize
> > their "full" potential, thus fuelling further progress.
>
>
> You're a scary dude,
You're scared easily...
> the europeans have had hundreds and hundreds of
> years to sort their stuff out, whereas African culture has been
> destroyed and is still rebuilding itself
What exactly has been destroyed, when and by whom? In case you
mean the evil white man: colonialism is a fairly recent development,
and slave trade didn't destroy much African culture, as the traders
usually just went to a tribe and bought the people they (the tribesmen)
had captured during internal conflicts -- people whose future was already anything
but bright. That's a lot safer and more practical than going into
the jungle, armed with primitive muzzle-loaders, and trying to catch your
own slaves.
Fact is, Africans had at least the same amount of time as the Europeans,
the Indians, the Asians etc. to create a thriving culture, but for some
reason they didn't. When the Spanish invaders first visited South America,
they found cities which were in many ways more advanced than their
own. When explorers and later slave traders first visited Africa (south
of the Sahara), they found, well, some huts, spears and not much else.
*There was hardly any culture to crush*.
> (although AIDS seems certain to
> nuke the place anew).
By keeping their dicks in their pants they would kill two major
birds with one stone: overpopulation (which leads to starvation,
wars etc.) and AIDS. As someone duly pointed out, empowering
the African women would go a long way towards solving the
continent's problems.
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