[quote]Headhunter wrote:
belligerent wrote:
I think Africa would have been better off without European intervention. It may not have been as technologically or culturally advanced but it would have been less of a shithole, to be sure.
Bringing law and order (esp from the British) was a true blessing to Africa. When you find savages making potions out of human hearts and proceed to stop that, that’s a good thing. Building railways and bringing in doctors to replace witch doctors is a good thing.
Ever see the end of the movie ‘Roots’? Alex Haley’s character has to sit and listen to a Mandinka priest rattle off the history of the tribe BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T WRITE!
Its just too bad that Europeans didn’t stay in Africa. Who knows, it might look like Germany or Ireland today, instead of Hell (Robert Mugabe style).
[/quote]
I seriously can’t believe what I’m reading. Africa today is an impoverished, AIDS-infested, war-torn shithole and it was none of these things before European intervention. And Europeans didn’t bring “law and order” so much as they brought guns, chains and boats… you must not have read the other 687 pages of ROOTS.
I dont know about pre-colonial africa, but hunter-gatherer societies looks pretty sweet to me. Apart from the lack of modern medicine, TV, and beds modern life doesn’t really have it beat. For example, assuming you are living somewhere with stuff to kill, it only takes 3-8 hours a day to feed yourself(aboriginals in Australia, supposedly used to move whenever it took more than 6-7 hours to gather enough food). The only reason for agriculture was because it could support a larger number of people with much less land.
I saw a program on the History channel and they said that once agriculture became the primary method to feed yourself the life expectancy actually decreased(it wasnt as bad as they make it sound either, as if you could make it past 2 or 3 you were probably gonna make it to old age, like 50). Anyways, as a hunter gatherer in a pre-modern era you would basically fuck off all day, go hunting or fishing, have the wife/wives gather up some tubers and if it got to be a pain in the ass where you are at you just pack up and move.
[quote]Scrotus wrote:
I dont know about pre-colonial africa, but hunter-gatherer societies looks pretty sweet to me. Apart from the lack of modern medicine, TV, and beds modern life doesn’t really have it beat. For example, assuming you are living somewhere with stuff to kill, it only takes 3-8 hours a day to feed yourself(aboriginals in Australia, supposedly used to move whenever it took more than 6-7 hours to gather enough food). The only reason for agriculture was because it could support a larger number of people with much less land. I saw a program on the History channel and they said that once agriculture became the primary method to feed yourself the life expectancy actually decreased(it wasnt as bad as they make it sound either, as if you could make it past 2 or 3 you were probably gonna make it to old age, like 50). Anyways, as a hunter gatherer in a pre-modern era you would basically fuck off all day, go hunting or fishing, have the wife/wives gather up some tubers and if it got to be a pain in the ass where you are at you just pack up and move.[/quote]
A modern American might scoff at the low life expectancy: a ripe old age of fifty?! But look at it this way: who has lived more, that hunter-gatherer who only spends an average of four or five hours a day to support himself to the age of fifty? Or the poor bastard who works two jobs to pay off his student loans, mortgages, credit card bills, car payments, federal taxes, state taxes, social security, kids’ tuition, medical bills… et cetera ad absurdum… to the age of eighty?
[quote]mundele wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I think also that the State Department advises that Americans don’t travel to any country in Africa (though I can’t confirm that). Yikes!!!
Only 1/3 of African countries can be found on either list. State Department warnings are usually exaggerated anyway, which is good because I’ll be headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo in about a month.[/quote]
Congo is on the list. Make sure to have a plan set up to pay off your kidnappers. Of course, if they torture you to death for their amusement, make sure your heirs can get the money back.
I don’t want to ever know what life is like without fingernails, a nose, couple of ears…have a nice trip!!
[quote]Scrotus wrote:
I dont know about pre-colonial africa, but hunter-gatherer societies looks pretty sweet to me. Apart from the lack of modern medicine, TV, and beds modern life doesn’t really have it beat. For example, assuming you are living somewhere with stuff to kill, it only takes 3-8 hours a day to feed yourself(aboriginals in Australia, supposedly used to move whenever it took more than 6-7 hours to gather enough food). The only reason for agriculture was because it could support a larger number of people with much less land. I saw a program on the History channel and they said that once agriculture became the primary method to feed yourself the life expectancy actually decreased(it wasnt as bad as they make it sound either, as if you could make it past 2 or 3 you were probably gonna make it to old age, like 50). Anyways, as a hunter gatherer in a pre-modern era you would basically fuck off all day, go hunting or fishing, have the wife/wives gather up some tubers and if it got to be a pain in the ass where you are at you just pack up and move.[/quote]
We do tend to romantisise, don’t we?
Tell you what…have yourself helicoptered into the middle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (LOL! What a name!) stark naked, kind of like Survivorman on the Discovery Channel. Your job is to survive for one week.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
mundele wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
I think also that the State Department advises that Americans don’t travel to any country in Africa (though I can’t confirm that). Yikes!!!
Only 1/3 of African countries can be found on either list. State Department warnings are usually exaggerated anyway, which is good because I’ll be headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo in about a month.
Congo is on the list. Make sure to have a plan set up to pay off your kidnappers. Of course, if they torture you to death for their amusement, make sure your heirs can get the money back.
I don’t want to ever know what life is like without fingernails, a nose, couple of ears…have a nice trip!!
[/quote]
I don’t think kidnapping is a big problem there, at least not in Kinshasa. If you have to pay anyone off, it’ll be a bribe to the cops if they pull you over. My brother has lived there for several years now without any semblance of a problem. Can you name a single example of shit like that going down western Congo in recent years, or are your comments limited to fearmongering accompanied by lame stock photography?
[quote]belligerent wrote:
I think Africa would have been better off without European intervention. It may not have been as technologically or culturally advanced but it would have been less of a shithole, to be sure.[/quote]
I seriously can’t believe what I’m reading. Africa today is an impoverished, AIDS-infested, war-torn shithole and it was none of these things before European intervention. And Europeans didn’t bring “law and order” so much as they brought guns, chains and boats… you must not have read the other 687 pages of ROOTS.[/quote]
AIDs originated in Africa and Africans had plenty of war before the white man showed up.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
hunterthompson wrote:
to the OP- judging by the responses to this thread, I would look elsewhere for information on African History. This board isn’t really the place to go for anything race related as of late.
and ya not like anything as timeless or as breathtaking as the pyramids ever emerged from the primordial swamp that is africa.
The skyline of New York is breathtaking and a tribute to the Spirit of Man. The pyramids are a tribute to pain.
[/quote]
Actually the pyramids were likely build with a prehistoric form of concrete and cast in place. The techniques depicted in the Ten Commandments are probably bogus and the area certainly did not have the food to feed all the slaves that most people think built them.
Any idea how many people died building the skyline of NY?
I was just at a construction site where a worker was killed a few months ago. Building a mall.
Anyone who thinks that sub-Saharan Africans cannot effectively self-rule has obviously never heard of the Mali Empire, which lasted for over 700 years, controlled trade throughout West Africa all the way up the Niger River, and was unfathomably wealthy. On his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1323, the emperor Mansa Musa brought along some a little spending money: eight tons of gold nuggets taken out of Mali mines. He gave most of it away.
On an unrelated note, American Blues music probably also has its origins in Mali.
Actually the pyramids were likely build with a prehistoric form of concrete and cast in place. [/quote]
No, we’re pretty sure that the pyramids were built of limestone blocks quarried near Giza.
You’re kidding, right?
Egyptian agriculture was the best in the world at the time. The annual flooding of the Nile gave the Nile valley some of the most fertile soil in the ancient world, and the wealth of the Empire was built on the surpluses of grain that they were able to grow.
Shunet el-Zebib, a 29-meter (95-foot) adobe megalith in Egypt that predates the pyramids.
However, Zap, in all fairness, before the Great Pyramids were built, the pharaohs would typically build the monuments to themselves out of rammed earth or sun-dried brick. Maybe that’s what you were referring to.
“So what for should I be caring about this teddy bear name Muhammad?”
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
PRCalDude wrote:
Islamic Rage Boy is a Kashmiri, not an African. I’m not sure why his picture is relevant to this discussion.
The story took place in Sudan, where the Muslims wanted to behead a volunteer 1st grade teacher. She let a little boy name his Teddy ‘Muhammed’.
[/quote]
No, Headhunter.
He is a Kashmiri activist named Shakeel Bhat who has protested against the Indian Army, Israel, Pope Benedict, and the Danish Muhammed cartoons, but not over the Sudan Teddy Bear incident. You should check your sources.
Oh, and here’s a hypothetical problem for you. Say you are living in a border town along the Rio Grande. Control of the region is disputed, but the Mexican army has de facto control. One night the Mexican police raid your house, and throw your 18-year-old sister out of the second-story window. She dies of a broken spine after suffering for four years. You are twelve years old at the time.
Do you think you might become enraged by this? Do you think you might consider any action you took against the Mexican police, or any Mexican for that matter, justified in your own mind?
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Scrotus wrote:
I dont know about pre-colonial africa, but hunter-gatherer societies looks pretty sweet to me. Apart from the lack of modern medicine, TV, and beds modern life doesn’t really have it beat. For example, assuming you are living somewhere with stuff to kill, it only takes 3-8 hours a day to feed yourself(aboriginals in Australia, supposedly used to move whenever it took more than 6-7 hours to gather enough food). The only reason for agriculture was because it could support a larger number of people with much less land. I saw a program on the History channel and they said that once agriculture became the primary method to feed yourself the life expectancy actually decreased(it wasnt as bad as they make it sound either, as if you could make it past 2 or 3 you were probably gonna make it to old age, like 50). Anyways, as a hunter gatherer in a pre-modern era you would basically fuck off all day, go hunting or fishing, have the wife/wives gather up some tubers and if it got to be a pain in the ass where you are at you just pack up and move.
We do tend to romantisise, don’t we?
Tell you what…have yourself helicoptered into the middle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (LOL! What a name!) stark naked, kind of like Survivorman on the Discovery Channel. Your job is to survive for one week.
Enjoy nature…
[/quote]
lol, I have nothing near the skill set to survive. Also, it is my understanding that the Super Freedom Fighting Liberators of Democracy roam about with AK-47’s and probably wouldnt think twice about blowing my ass straight to hell. I dont know how to make a hand axe, what type of rock to get, or how to shape it, I dont know how to track animals in the congo, only have a vague idea of what lives there and dont know what kind of plants to eat, and if I did know how to survive in the wild indefinetly, I could just walk into the hills here and live out in the forest. They dont have the SFFLD here.
I was watching a show on the history channel yesterday about Man-eating lions in Africa, when they harrassed a group of workers building a railroad for 2 years. They work best at night.
