01-10-2014, 05:19 AM
Very few people understand the concept, context and purpose of term race. It is sad.
Same goes for imperialism which is a european concept, and when I say european I don't mean white. I mean it was europeans who started posting up on other continents and systematically eliminating the people who existed there and would not cooperate with their agenda. It didn't happen the other way around. Sure the Comanche protected their lands. King Kamehameha conquered and unified all the islands. But the terms imperialism and empire imply a certain intent and scale which makes it different from maintaining territory or unifying islands. Under imperialism genocide occurs, biological warfare occurs, demolition of cultures, psychological reprograming. How were the national boundries drawn on the map of continental Africa? I can tell you many kingdoms already existed there and they did not follow those lines you see on a modern map. The kingdoms that do exist only exist now as an example of what once was, as tourist traps and as a desperate way to preserve history.
Now I realize it wasn't all european individuals who were a part of the imperialist movement but it was the the most powerful leaders of that time who were perpetuating these things. Race as a concept was born out of this as a justification of the atrocities being done to the people who were from these conquered areas. Race was a way to explain why others are inferior and thus should be enslaved or eliminated. So that people can execute such horrible acts with out have to deal with their own guilt. Hitler is one of the more modern and obvious examples of this. Although our nation tends to follow the imperialist model in several ways mainly because this nation was built upon the efforts of imperialists and conquistadors. Mind you when Colombus landed in Puerto Rico there was literally hundreds of thousands of people living in the area in which he landed yet he claimed to discover it. This represents a different concept from what the Tainos were living. Sure they had a concept of personal territory but ownership of a continent is another level.
You know, there are shades of grey not everything is black and white. There is a difference between territorial wars between tribes and the development of nations on a piece of land. Then there is the process of developping an advanced slave trade with one decimated continent then heading to another and purposefully making the people sick with disease, showing up with guns, horses, huge ships, new livestock and plants, etc. You could compare it to a brawl most people show up with fists and no intention of getting hurt or hurting but if they have to they will. Then there is the person who brings a bat. Then theres the person who brings a knife. Then there is the person who brings the gun. What is the intention of the person with the gun? No one at a brawl has purely good intentions but the one who shows up with a gun plans to have the whole crowd submit or be killed. That is imperialism.
And when you think about it the Hawaiians treated cook like a god. The native americans welcomed the pilgrims and tried to be diplomatic and coexist with them. They were created with open arms. I know in the part of Africa where my family is from the Europeans were accepted and allowed to live amongst them until they tried to conquer and succeeded there was not much ill will towards new comers. To this day the nation is still getting back on its feet after their war for independence.
Imperialism is humans acting as a cancer upon the earth.
Same goes for imperialism which is a european concept, and when I say european I don't mean white. I mean it was europeans who started posting up on other continents and systematically eliminating the people who existed there and would not cooperate with their agenda. It didn't happen the other way around. Sure the Comanche protected their lands. King Kamehameha conquered and unified all the islands. But the terms imperialism and empire imply a certain intent and scale which makes it different from maintaining territory or unifying islands. Under imperialism genocide occurs, biological warfare occurs, demolition of cultures, psychological reprograming. How were the national boundries drawn on the map of continental Africa? I can tell you many kingdoms already existed there and they did not follow those lines you see on a modern map. The kingdoms that do exist only exist now as an example of what once was, as tourist traps and as a desperate way to preserve history.
Now I realize it wasn't all european individuals who were a part of the imperialist movement but it was the the most powerful leaders of that time who were perpetuating these things. Race as a concept was born out of this as a justification of the atrocities being done to the people who were from these conquered areas. Race was a way to explain why others are inferior and thus should be enslaved or eliminated. So that people can execute such horrible acts with out have to deal with their own guilt. Hitler is one of the more modern and obvious examples of this. Although our nation tends to follow the imperialist model in several ways mainly because this nation was built upon the efforts of imperialists and conquistadors. Mind you when Colombus landed in Puerto Rico there was literally hundreds of thousands of people living in the area in which he landed yet he claimed to discover it. This represents a different concept from what the Tainos were living. Sure they had a concept of personal territory but ownership of a continent is another level.
You know, there are shades of grey not everything is black and white. There is a difference between territorial wars between tribes and the development of nations on a piece of land. Then there is the process of developping an advanced slave trade with one decimated continent then heading to another and purposefully making the people sick with disease, showing up with guns, horses, huge ships, new livestock and plants, etc. You could compare it to a brawl most people show up with fists and no intention of getting hurt or hurting but if they have to they will. Then there is the person who brings a bat. Then theres the person who brings a knife. Then there is the person who brings the gun. What is the intention of the person with the gun? No one at a brawl has purely good intentions but the one who shows up with a gun plans to have the whole crowd submit or be killed. That is imperialism.
And when you think about it the Hawaiians treated cook like a god. The native americans welcomed the pilgrims and tried to be diplomatic and coexist with them. They were created with open arms. I know in the part of Africa where my family is from the Europeans were accepted and allowed to live amongst them until they tried to conquer and succeeded there was not much ill will towards new comers. To this day the nation is still getting back on its feet after their war for independence.
Imperialism is humans acting as a cancer upon the earth.