27th June 2003, 11:16 AM
Quote:So I'd imagine that you don't like the government to teach children about cigarettes, drugs, etc?
Yeah, that's a great idea...
History. First, not everyone gets taught a view as fair as that... everyone should, though. It is best to not bias one side or the other but to explain it as it was... and for history, that isn't based on "who is better"... its "who had power". Because as you say, EVERY society thinks that its the best and that the rest of the world is barbarians. So the fact that the Western Europeans did that too isn't surprising. And we can condemn some of their actions... but can't be surprised that they happened, because given the public opinions of the time what happened was pretty much inevitable. If other societies had done that it'd have happened the same way... African and American Indian societies aren't inherently great or anything. As I said, they have many flaws. In both cases they fought eachother a LOT... they constantly were at ewar with eachother. Of course the Europeans exploited that, but it was their tribal culture that caused that problem. And both did do ecological damage. They just didn't have Western Europe's level of technology...
The American Revolution. Yes, they did revolt. They rebelled about mainly taxes and wanting representation in parliament. And yes to the British governement they were rebels and terrorists. And some of their reasons for revolting weren't that great... I mean, revolting because taxes are high? That is so dumb... but the representation part is a major issue. And as the British parliament learned the revolt wasn't as much about the level of taxes as it was about the fact that they had no say in what the taxes were. Yes, they were rebels. Hence its a "Revolution".
Oh, and as for myths... George Washington wasn't a great general... he lost more battles than he won and never showed great military skill in the war consistently. He was a great man, but really was a leader and a politician... he wasn't great because of his generalship. It was because he could lead and managed to keep an army in the field for seven years... which was quite an accomplishment, but not related to military victories.
But comparing that to the Arabs? Huh? How so? Could you explain that some more?
Quote:My system of morals, guided by this view of history, is centered on one principle: do onto others as you would do onto yourself. That is possibly the most objective form of moral that I have found in my short life.
Yeah, that's a pretty objective and fair moral to hold... but really hard to follow all the time...
Quote:I agree. Do these change? Of course. Are these occasionally contradictory? Yes. The idea is that, over time, these contradictions will be sorted out. Example: slavery. Does everyone have to agree with the societal values? Of course not. If it were that way, slavery would never have never come to an end.
Yes, of course. It does takes time for each of these issues to get sorted out...but in the end they will be, to the betterment of everyone.