[On Third World countries]
The truth is they are not poor because we are rich. They were poor before we were rich, and before indeed we ever set eyes on them, let alone exploited or colonised them. Indeed, we were only able to exploit or colonise them to the extent we did, rather than the other way around, because they were already far behind us when we found them (and they didn’t find us!). They are if anything poorer now because, thanks to our medicine and the misguided charity that handed it to them and raised their birthrate, there are now many more of them. Unless we descend one step further into the abyss of Political Correctness and advocate the restoration of rule by a higher IQ stratum of White (and possibly, as is covertly the case in much of Black Africa behind the scenes already, East Asian) imperialists – whose absence one imagines the benighted populace of Zimbabwe now especially regret – they will remain trapped by their own inherent intellectual inferiority.
30 comments
Poor before the Europeans ever set eyes on them? Does this fool realize that Europe had nowhere near the standards of living it does today back then? The average European was no better off than the average African or Asian back then.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/World_GDP_Capita_1-2003_A.D.png
Europe didn't start pulling ahead of the rest of the world technologically and economically until the late 16th/early 17th century when it started conquering the Americas and the Caribbean and gained access to vast amounts of new resources and huge pools of new labor (slavery and colonialism). This was compounded even more when Europe finally started conquering the African coasts, the Middle East and Asia and gained more of said resources and labor pools.
At any rate before the Europeans colonized the outside world there were civilizations every other continent (except Antarctica) just like there were in Europe.
Well, we do have racists in England. But every time they show their face in public they get counter-demonstrations and spat on, if they arent drinking themselves stupid and getting arrested. It could be worse...
@#1202850 - Yes. They had one of the most powerful civilizations in southern Africa. Though southern Africa was always the least technologically least-advanced part of Africa, similar to how northern Europe (Scandinavia) was usually behind the rest of Europe in technology until the 20th century.
The "Great Zimbabwe" kingdom traded as far as India and China evidenced by the medieval Chinese and Indian pottery that can be found amongst the ruins and there are records of it in Persian recordings. It came to a decline before the arrival of the Europeans in the region due to either famine, plague or a tribal invasion and conquest. Or possibly some of all of the above. Though there is evidence the kingdom declined economically before European arrival as the Portuguese and Dutch started wresting control of trade port cities from African control which choked some interior African civilizations off from trade.
@#1202850 - Yes. They had one of the most powerful civilizations in southern Africa. Though southern Africa was always the least technologically least-advanced part of Africa, similar to how northern Europe (Scandinavia) was usually behind the rest of Europe in technology until the 20th century.
The "Great Zimbabwe" kingdom traded as far as India and China evidenced by the medieval Chinese and Indian pottery that can be found amongst the ruins and there are records of it in Persian recordings. It came to a decline before the arrival of the Europeans in the region due to either famine, plague or a tribal invasion and conquest. Or possibly some of all of the above. Though there is evidence the kingdom declined economically before European arrival as the Portuguese and Dutch started wresting control of trade port cities from African control which choked some interior African civilizations off from trade.
Re: Vox's last but one post...
The pottery might have come from China, via one of Zheng He's fleet of ships (most probably the 4th fleet, that landed at Malandi, Kenya) that explored westwards from China, some time in the 15th Century...
The first fleet commanded by Zheng He consisted of 317 vessels of various types, accompanied by 28,000 troops, left it's home port of Nanjing, & visited India, Sri Lanka (Where they erected a monument honouring The Jade Emperor, Buddha, Vishnu & Allah), & the Persian Gulf as far as Medina, although Zheng He may have visited Mecca to become a Hajji, as he was Muslim by birth...
I have little sympathy for third world people. In fact, I do not contribute to charities for third world people; only to charities that spend the money to help those in need in the United States. These are people who have had centuries to develop, and they have chosen instead to wallow around in their own doo, doing nothing to better themselves.
Think about this. Two hundred years ago, Haiti threw the French out and declared independence. Since that time, the Haitians have had TWO HUNDRED years to develop their country however they see fit, with NO outside interference from white colonizers. In two hundred years, what did they do with their country? Build shacks and shanties that go down with the first rumbling of an earthquake. Compare that to the United States; after the American Revolution, we went from being a backwater, third world country to being the greatest nation on earth within a two hundred or so year timeframe. The Haitians had great resources - too bad they raped their topsoil and made the island virtually unfarmable. They get no sympathy or support from me. I actually agree with the poster above.
@Billy
It's funny how you completely neglect to mention the part where Haiti was forced into paying reparations to France for the revolt which sent them into immense debt. To make matters worse, The United States joined France and a host of powerful nations in setting up a trade embargo that would cripple Haiti's economy which relied solely on imports. If you were to actually do an in-depth study of world history you would discover that much of what goes on in third world countries today is the result of the tyranny of so-called "civilized countries".
@Billy
"Think about this. Two hundred years ago, Haiti threw the French out and declared independence. Since that time, the Haitians have had TWO HUNDRED years to develop their country however they see fit, with NO outside interference from white colonizers"
Uhm, the entire history of Haiti involves foreign meddling and interference from white colonizers.
"Compare that to the United States; after the American Revolution, we went from being a backwater, third world country to being the greatest nation on earth within a two hundred or so year timeframe."
We also didn't have to pay reparations to the British, nor take out unfair, top heavy loans, nor have to deal with brain drain, nor have to educate an entire population of uneducated slaves, nor did we have the business class of the country try to destabilize it in order to gain control. Try again.
So? China and Japan were similarly assailed and attempted to be colonized, only to rise out of ashes.
Please, anyone except niggers are ok.
Obviously there's a racist troll roaming about now.
At any rate Japan was not colonized and Japan is situated in a very convenient place in the world. Not only are they an island nation with a large population (large population = large GDP potential) situated near a country with a large population (China) they're in an advantageous spot to be a hub of Eastern trade and commerce. To top it off they were sitting on large coal deposits which is great for industrialization (part of the reason Britain got going before the rest of Europe); AND they were aided in industrialization by the US both in the 19th century and again in the 20th century when the US helped rebuild their economy after WWII.
Africa was colonized much more heavily than Japan and unlike Japan most African nations don't own most of their own resources. A lot of it is still owned by Western capital. Japan always retained ownership of its own resources.
China didn't start rising until the past 60 or 70 years. They've been decolonized for over 100 years and have a humongous population, which gives them a large GDP potential. Similarly the country in Africa with the best GDP potential is Nigeria because of its population size. The countries in Africa that are rising the fastest are mostly those who own more of their own resources and those with less ethnic and religious upheaval. The eastern coast of Africa holds similar potential to places such as Singapore and Hong Kong if they can gain ownership of their resources, train their labor pool and squash ethnic, religious and territorial disputes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_theory
Get an education. Without the resources - gold, rubber, oil, etc. - that white colonists stole from the dark-skinned people they exploited, today's standard of living in the first world would not be possible.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.