Empires and Imperialism was: XBOX 360 2725

wrote, in part:

Well, it's easy enough to *say* that I'm mad.

But it takes closer scrutiny to figure out where such a scheme might depart from the humane values that inspire it in the first place.

However much women are oppressed and abused in societies around the world, they have never been the target of genocide (well, unless you count the Yanomamo). That's because they're *indispensable*.

On the other hand, as far as the members of tribe A are concerned, the continued existence of tribe B is purely optional, and were they to vanish from the Earth should they make nuisances of themselves, it would not be any great loss.

This is why it is a problem when a poor country has an ethnic minority embedded in it.

But, as it happens, white Europeans, however enlightened and superior they may even actually be, are also ethnically distinct from the people who live in the poorer countries of the world. Hence, they naturally will not buttume we have their best interests entirely at heart.

We can make friends among *one* group if we rescue it from a despot or from a neighboring ethnic group, but, in general, colonialism is suspect.

And, of course, it doesn't help that the world is becoming more and more crowded. If we're in compebreastion with others for scarce resources, ruling over them might be... helpful.

Entirely without military adventures, though, it may happen that our future might hold headlines about "starving Arabs" once technology *does* let us kick the oil habit.

John Savard Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server More than 140,000 groups Unlimited download