Jim Hunter wrote:
> Pepijn Schmitz wrote:
> > Meaning what? Will a history book tell me that culture _is_ the same
> as
> > power?
>> Do I really have to lead you by the nose through the
> entire "meaning what"? History books are replete with
> examples of human failures concerning the mistaking of
> authoritarian power _for_ culture. The continent which
> teachs us most about that mistake is Europe history.
> It has unbeatable examples of human brutality in the
> name of "culture".
Sorry, I never payed much attention in history class, I can't think of one
example. Could you give me one?
I would also like to say that I don't think it's fair to compare America
with Europe in the middle ages, since America in its present form didn't
exist in those days. You really should stick to comparisons of modern day
America and modern day Europe.
> > Who's talking about wars? I'm not. Red's not. I'm talking about the
> fact
> > that a lot of kids in the US apparently feel the need to shoot their
> > contemporaries dead, AND have ready access to minivans full of guns.
> That's
> > certainly not true anywhere in Europe.
>> Your difficulty concerns quantities and facts.
> Kids typically don't get guns from gunrunners
> with minivans full of guns.
I was referring to the minivan that the two kids had waiting for them when
they ran back from the school.
> The kid's who kill
> people tend to be the children of psychotic
> religious freaks, who have guns. You'll have to
> consult psychologists to be sure, but my guess
> is they apparently feel the need to kill their
> zonked out parents, but can't.
The parents of the two kids from the latest incident certainly don't seem to
be psychotic religious freaks. Don't know about the other two recent
incidents. Besides, while we're on the subject of psychotic religious
freaks: there's a lot more of those in the US than in western European
countries. Believe me, I know, I'm from Holland so I know the situation
there, and I've been living in the US for almost a year now, so I've got a
pretty good idea of the situation here too. So if they are the cause of
these incidents, that _still_ reflects on the culture of America.
> Just as aside. Can anybody tell why all the
> posts which concern psychology never get
> posted to sci.psychology, but instead get
> consistently routed to sci.physics by mistake.
I don't know. I also notice that the thread seems to spread across more and
more newsgroups. People keep crossposting articles to new newsgroups along
the way. It may not be in sci.psychology, but it _is_ in
sci.psychology.psychotherapy.
> > equating military power with culture? I was talking about culture, I
> never
> > even brought up wars!
>> I know you didn't, I did!!
Why? Nobody was talking about wars, why bring them up?
> (I one-upped you on the "!"'s).
:-)
> > I'm not following... Also, keep in mind that I'm not voicing my own
> opinions
> > here, I'm just following Red's line of thought to its logical
> conclusions.
>> Do you really want to do that?
No, not really. But someone has to do it... *sigh*
> > age. I'm excluding the native Americans of course. If the US had been
> as
> > densely populated as Europe was in those times, it would have been a
> _very_
> > dark age, let me assure you. I was speaking metaphorically.
>> The "darkness" had nothing to do with population.
I'm beginning to suspect that you are not being entirely serious anymore.
You didn't really think I thought that the darkness referred to the
population, I hope? What I meant was that if the Europeans had invaded North
America before the dark ages, the dark ages would probably still have
happened, and would probably have been just as bad in America. This is why I
said earlier that it's not fair to compare America with Europe in the middle
ages.
> > Have you ever even been to Europe? It doesn't seem possible, judging
> from
> > the way you talk about European culture, and the way you seem to
> think that
> > Europe is one country ('only one culture' ?).
>> Yes, I have been and enjoyed most of my visits.
> Except the one time that some pissant Romans
> ripped off all my luggage and passport.
I'm sorry to hear that. Did you get it back?
> I believe you said you were Dutch?
> Been there. Didn't get ripped off
> or killed.
Did you like Copenhagen? ... <dodges beercan> ... sorry, just testing... :-)
Pepijn
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