Cuz Jesus wuz a Merkun,
Meh, divisive rhetoric gets disproportionate attention, the USA has a disproportionate amount of media capability to transmit it to other groups.
It’s not that we have more nuts, they just have a larger megaphone.
[hijack] This is a common misconception of the word, “Genocide”. The word was coined by Raphael Lemkin specifically for the reason of provoking disgust. He spent some time calibrating its meaning: he was deeply suspicious of concepts as expansive as “Human rights”, but didn’t want to let the tyrants off on a technicality. So here’s the definition from wikipedia: Genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, caste, religious, or national group”,[1] though what constitutes enough of a “part” to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars.[2][3]
[1] See generally Funk, T. Marcus (2010). Victims’ Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
So if you want to wipe out a large part of a group, it’s still genocide. Certain death marches are arguably acts of genocide. [/hijack]
Cite, please?
Qin Shi Huangdi:
Is that so? Anyone else agree with this statement?***
I’ve lost count of the bombings just in the past 7 days or the average monthly death toll in Irac this year. Syria is probably just a big football hooligan fight.
Never mind Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Mali, the droning of Pakistan and Jemen, the simmering tension between the Koreas, Japan,China, Taiwan and The Philippines. The hawk eyes fixed on Iran, the Syrian spillover into Lebanon and Kurdish Iraq. The mass shooting in Norway, the spying scandals
Forget about that thing that never happened in Kenya last week, the students that *just *died in their sleep in Nigeria last night and the friendly Boko Haram
boy band touring the country. Greece and Egypt are so stable the Oscars might be hosted from there soon.
The USA is so peaceful these days. No mass shootings, no protests, no evictions, no civil movements or strikes since 2008 eh? No soldiers abroad at risk or committing suicide eh? No global financial troubles or tax payer bailouts eh?
Nothing happened since 2008 right?
The world is so stable at the moment…
I can’t even laugh at your remark. It’s not even funny.
People who attended church more than weekly voted 63% Bush, 36% Gore in 2000 and 64% Bush, 35% Kerry in 2004. People who never attend church voted 32/61 and 36/62 respectively.
Cite:
“Turns out the more often people go to church, the more likely they are to support torture - that’s according to a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The poll finds that of more than half of Americans who attend church services at least once a week, 54 percent say the use of torture is often or sometimes justified.
Only 42 percent of people who seldom or never go to church agree…
Evangelical Protestants are the religious group most likely to agree; while people unaffiliated with any religious group are least likely to support torture.”
Cite:
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/01/why-are-frequent-churchgoers-more-likely-to-support-torture/
I’m assuming this is sarcasm but the efforts of several Founders resulted in the abolition of slavery in the Northern colonies, which did so before any of the major European colonial powers did.
That’s quite interesting. OTOH, while the Trail of Tears was undoubtedly a horrible crime and ethnic cleansing, it wasn’t intended to cause mass Cherokee deaths.
Yes, absolutely, in comparison witht he past.
Such crimes and violence has been going on since the dawn of humanity. My point is that compared to the past crime and violence (per capita) is far down, making this one of the peacefulest periods of human history. The world has not seen a Great Power war since 1945, the risk of a Third World War is miniscule compared to its chance during the Cold War, crime is going down in the United States often to rates not seen since the 1950s, blacks no longer are in danger of being lynched, and globalization is linking the world.
Would you not agree that compared to a generation ago, or to a century or to a millennium ago the world is far more orderly, safe, and secure?
Actually Georgia was the first American Colony to abolish slavery. Too bad it didn’t stick.
Sorry, no offense but i just don’t agree. I totally disagree actually.
Unlike the 5 years of WW1 and the 7 years of WW2, we now have perpetual war. There has always been a war, civil war, armed conflict or threat of (nuclear) war ever since WW2. Besides that the things you say have always been around in history are now happening on such a scale as never before and with current technology have greater impact.
(game changing or game ending impact)
It is true that certain countries and continents have relative stability and prosperity. But look close and see that they tend to be the same countries bombing the other ones or oppressing them through economical, and political means.
The first Gulf war cost 500,000 Iraqi children their lives. Half a million. And those were just the kids. And see the response to that fact in 1996:
(Yes, you heard it right. That’s what she said.)
Even so-called peaceful countries that have a “good” image are quietly in the top 10 of arms dealers or reap the benefits of exploitation. Lord of War and Blood Diamond are not just movies.
Sweat shops and child labor or old fashioned slavery are still on the rise.
You have an iPhone? Does the word Foxconn and suicide ring a bell? Does Bangladesh ring a bell? (it was this year) Does Qatar 2020 ring a bell? (it was in the news a few days ago)
If you look closely at the state of the world you will see most of the population is not having a humane, stable or peaceful life. Some regions count themselves lucky to be just poor and exploited and not be in a war.
I haven’t even included the other threats like pollution from BP, Exxon, Shell etc… or Fukushima or the Plastic Soup in our oceans. The damage to nature has reached a level that it effects almost all areas and food chains. (and causes disasters and extreme weather)
The corruption, breaking of constitutional laws and human rights is at an all time high. There are very few places that have not had mass protest or riots in the past 5 years and social unrest is ever increasing.
You said Afro Americans have no more lynching fears in the USA… Do you get any news in any form? Does the name Trayvon ring a bell? Or have you heard the statistics for being arrested or shot by the police for Afro Americans? (even if they’re not criminal)
Fukushima could influence people on the other side of the planet. Heard of Monsanto and the GM crop practices the US government allows Monsanto? No?
well it’s in your food.
Who do you think is winning the so-called war on Drugs?
Is Mexico stable? I believe there have been 60,000 casualties between 2006-2012 related to Mexico’s drug wars. 60 thousand dead, and many of them children and civilians. (unofficial count exceeds 100,000)
Mexican citizens now fear reporting anything to the police because it’s the fastest way to get killed by a local cartel. And all that because they make billions from exporting to the USA.
Banks are now so intertwined with government, that the boss of the FED was overheard saying he had to check first with Goldman Sachs, and the other big four before making policy. HSBC was busted and admitted laundering billions of Mexican drug cartel money. (nobody went to jail)
The Middle East has been boiling for over a decade and at the moment it could explode very fast in a similar way WW1 kicked off. (Russia and China also have stakes)
I’m kind of ranting now and i could go on for an hour. But all above *is *happening. You can deny it, but it is.
It seems you are honest in your beliefs that things are improving. I really wish you are right! I just don’t see it in any aspect or angle. Maybe you are rich or live in a secluded or protected community. Or you’re just not following the global news from 2008 to now.
I apologize i didn’t include any links or sources with my posts. But if this all sounds new or imagined to you i think it really wouldn’t matter.
only a decade? it has been a cauldron of lava for longer than that. some does not make the news. especailly in bangladesh where they have hartels ( general strikes) and the U.S embassy warns all to stock up and stay inside. burning buses, bombs all because an islamic leader was sentenced to death. interesting country, all islamic nations are.
Well, it’s true. “Stablity” is vague enough that you’d have to define what you mean more clearly before it could be said that the world was more stable now than a century ago. It’s certainly more stable than the post-World War One and post-World War Two periods, and the breakup of the Soviet Union.
As for violence, now is unquestionably the least violent time in human history. That doesn’t mean there is no violence, of course, but on a per-captia basis, murder and other violent crime has never been lower, and wars have never been less destructive.
World War Two alone killed over 60 million people. Low-intensity conflicts like what we see now, perpetual or otherwise, don’t come anywhere near that figure.
Even the ones without stability and prosperity are more stable and prosperous than before.
Compare that to the World Wars, or the Wars of Religion, for some perspective. And those were both waged when there were a lot fewer people around to kill.
You call that exploitation? Look up the African slave trade or Opium Wars, that’s exploitation.
Relative to when? Not long ago, “child labor” was just another kind of “labor”, and it was the norm everywhere. Same with slavery.
They’re still better off than ever before.
C’mon now…the concept of constitution laws and human rights is a recent one. What we call “corruption” was formerly just an inevitable part of governance, see modern Afghanistan for an illustration of how all cultures used to operate.
230 lynchings in 1892 vs. the possibly-lawful shooting of a young man under unclear circumstances…yes, black folks are much better off now.
The previous alternative to GM crops was “starve to death”. Which happened. A lot.
And yet, again, one’s chances of dying from violence are lower than ever before.
If your concerns are banks and Fed policy and not finding something to eat and avoiding death from brigands or a rival tribe, you’re better of than 99% of those who came before you.
Not long ago, the Middle East was home to open war and racial pogroms. I’ll exchange that for mere tensions any day, and I think you would too.
Pick any century before this one, and you will see a horror show of death and misery that puts all of the above to shame.
i disagree. Your quick remarks are very relative and diminishing the issues. It’s easy to say “they’re better off”. That’s not an objective factual reply. It’s an opinion.
Maybe you are right and i am wrong. I hope so. But to me you sound like a person that just decorated their house and is enjoying a lovely meal while ignoring that the street is on fire.
Let’s say most of us are indeed better off today. Will we still be next week? Can we continue consuming and polluting this way? Are we on a sustainable path?
Then read “The Better Angels of Our Nature”, which studies the question in depth.
How about this: choose a metric. Life expectancy, per-capita income, homicide rate, infant mortality, whatever you like. Then, we can find the historical trend.
And you sound like a person who calls Windows 8 the worst thing that’s ever happened to mankind.
That’s a completely separate issue.
Why are you obsessed with America?
But to answer your question, allow me to offer my completely unqualified opinion as a non-American.
I think it comes back to the two inevitabilities in life: Death and Taxes.
The unavoidability of these ever-looming specters makes the American feel powerless, but recognition of powerlessness is intolerable to the American. So, in his frustration, he turns to religion and politics to regain a sense of control and make the inevitable manageable.
It’s a natural response to the human condition.
The Americans just crank it up to 11 is all.
you forgot to mention $$$ and patriotism.
not obsessed with merka, just want an insight more than the one my better half has. who can’t stand the place btw.
Oh, sorry.
I thought you were asking a question.
My bad.
i was.
Americans are more religious than the average Western nation, in part, because of the lack of a state church made religion responsive to people, instead of being an unchanging monolith. It’s a free market effect, with the people as consumers and churches as producers.
Not sure how you’d gauge obsession with politics…voter turnout?
As for money, America had a (relatively) free-market economy earlier than most, which meant hard work and innovation actually produced prosperity, instead of royal patents and being born an aristocrat controlling wealth. This ingrained the pursuit of wealth into the culture.
As for patriotism, America, unlike most other Western nations, isn’t based on blood nationalism. There is a German people, a Turkish people, and so forth, but the American people are a melting pot of other ethnicities. Something has to fill that gap.
I guess the counter question is “why’d you ask?” You seem to have some answers you’re pretty happy with, and you don’t appear pleased with input that runs counter to them.