[quote]lumbernac wrote:
All of the cultures you mentioned Dorso were very violent and were more or less civilized. The spartans were just a bunch of militant people. So were the mongolians and the greeks and romans. What separates this from all of them and even the romans is that their wars never really stop. Have you ever wondered where the term ethnic cleansing has came from? I’ll give you 3 guesses.
What makes these people uncivilized in my mind are :
A. Their wars dont really stop. As mentioned above , this would lead me to dis-beleive your claim that war in Africa was brought on by the Europeans b/c a long-lasting war w/ little gains on either side is a war fought just for fighting and most likely one caused by a lot of hatred.
B. The viscousness displayed in it. Yes all wars are horrible but they should take a vacation or something and decide not to fight for a few days. Heck, mabey they will stop " ethnically cleansing " each other.
Dude if they could put away the AK’s they would go a long long way towards modernizing their country and as it stands, looking at all the continents, all were plundered by the europeans to some extent but only africa is like this. Why? I dont think you or I know the reason and i dont want to mischaracterize the place b/c im sure that it has several really cool cities that arent marked by violence but by and large it seems to be a chaotic place. Thats what CNN tells me anyway - what do i know?[/quote]
You might want to pick up a few books on military history and theories of why and how humans make war. You will then find that Rome, the Greek city-states and the Mongols were at war almost constantly through most of their histories. Medieval Europe was the same way. These wars tended to be internecine, with a few city-states or families involved. The conclusion then is that humans of all colors are violent creatures. Including us modern Americans, whether we want to admit it or not.
In terms of understanding why humans make war, we are presently where germ theory was 200 years ago. We westerners tend to think of wars as large scale set-pieces fought in a conventional manner with a fairly distinct beginning and end. The reality is that most wars are small scale, ongoing and quite vicious.
You might also consider broadening your news sources a bit as well.