Exactly when you become humbly ignorant is suspicious. Is it really that hard to read the wiki on a subject…
… and answer Alan Smithee’s question?
And again do you think the United States should disassemble it’s military? Why or why not?
I read the Wiki on the subject. I also read the “talk” section of that Wiki, which leads me to believe that I had better do a bit more reading than what is provided there.
Jared Diamond discusses the Moriori massacre at great length in Guns Germs and Steel. He stresses those aspects which fit his “geography is destiny” thesis, but his accounting of the facts is identical to the Wikipedia article. Most of the controversy in the talk page is about whether the Maori and Moriori are separate peoples or two branches of the same people. IOW, were the Moriori Maori who settled in the Chathams, or did they come from somewhere else? There does not appear to be much dispute about the facts of the massacre on the wiki talk page.
I’ve ordered that book, and Moriori: A People Rediscovered by Michael King from the local library.
What specifically on the talk page? Virtually all the discussion there is about the claim that the Moriori are a subset of the Maori. There is no debate that I can see about the facts of the Maori invasion or the fate of the Moriori.
Are they a separate people? If they were, which were the natives and which were the invaders? The dynamics and ethics of a civil war are different than that of a people invaded or a people invading. Another factor is whether giving a peaceful people weapons, and at what stage in their history to give them weapons. At what point in history would giving them weapons and training have assured their survival?
Heading for my Friday shift at the food bank-posting may be sporadic.
The issue of whether they were a separate people is something of a red herring. It used to be believed that the Moriori were the remnant of a pre-Maori people who were displaced from New Zealand by the Maori. It is now believed that this is not the case, but there is no doubt that the Moriori on the Chatham islands had established a separate way of life from the tribes occupying the North Island of New Zealand, who invaded and conquered the Moriori.
Giving the Moriori weapons would not have changed anything, since they had the ability to fight back but chose not to because of their commitment to pacifism.
Giving them weapons would also have been useless without proper structure and training. That is why I ask how far back in history would such a change would have to be to be of any positive difference?
I don’t think guns require that much previous exposure or training when you’re dealing with marauding invaders. But let’s assume that they could have fought off the invaders (or at least reduced the number of Moriori slaughtered) if they had fought back. Or just tell us how various facts might affect your answer. What if it would have required decades of weapons practice to fight back? Why is that significant?
If saving your life requires violence, and you can for help because you personally will not be violent, will you accept your rescuer being violent on your behalf, or will you prefer to die?
Ahem.
You should try a cough drop for that problem.
I would ask that others not put themselves at risk, or risk the lives of others, on my behalf.
Would you chose to not call for help if you knew that your rescuers would necessarily have to resort to violence to save you or your family?
I understand. It must be hard to hold an opinion that you are embarrassed to talk about.
Matthew 6
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Good question. Let’s not forget that my family isn’t exactly harmless, though.
If help was something to be yelled for, and not something that was already there, then yelling for help, combined with my rushing the assailant and/or putting myself between the assailant and my family might be enough to frighten the assailant off.
Kable, if you have a problem with the OP, take it to the Pit. Do not continue taking pot shots in this thread.
Consider this a moderator instruction – as in, ignore me and risk a warning.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator