For fucks sake... 1st off, whether or not this qualifies as a "meme", it doesn't fit the accepted norm of what most people expect to see when they click on "memes"

Secondly, and this may sting a little, but peace as we know it is a relatively new thing in world history. I've seen a multitude of other comments here proclaiming all those other genocides were okay because they were thousands of years ago. It's that "in my lifetime" mentality that just fucking grinds my gears. Through thousands of years of history, one genocide is cherry picked and held up as the worst ever, and the citizens who"benefitted" from it are supposed to pick up the tab? My ancestors weren't Spanish or English, and my family has been here for about 130 years having come from Germany in 1890. How much of the tab am I supposed to pick up?

Fact of the matter is, the only constant in human history is war. We're in a (relatively) peaceful era now, and that's taking into account Ukraine/Russia, Israel/Palestine, and probably another 20 or 30 wars I'm not up to speed on because I'm American and our media doesn't seem to actually inform us on world events from countries we don't buy shit from.

[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Human history is not really a constant war, but that is how Americans have been taught history: as a sequence of wars.

What's relatively new are the concept of mass conscription, economic warfare, and total war. The ability to enact war and destruction on a global and constant level is new. The brief cessations in conflict aren't peace, you're right, but it is also a newer concept that we are constantly in a forever war.

[–] rug_burn@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While I mostly agree, I never said constant war, but where I will disagree in a sense is, the prospect of total annihilation would have been a factor millennia ago had the technology been there. Pick your era, the Romans, the various Chinese dynasties, the English, etc... if they had the means, they would have likely used it, having zero regard for the impact it would have later, mostly due to a poor understanding of the technology. I do believe, at least between "the big three", meaning the US, Russia and China, nuclear war is an extremely potent deterrent to all out war. It's the "kids who want to be in the club" that worry me, everyone from NK to Israel. It sucks, but the atomic cat is out of the bag in a world we're all forced to live in, and the polarization of politics and other bullshit only work to drive that wedge deeper and push us closer to... bad shit.

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

I've seen a multitude of other comments here proclaiming all those other genocides were okay because they were thousands of years ago.

Where did anyone say it was okay because it was longer ago? Please point me to it, because I read the entire thread and did not see this once.

The genocide of native new worlders is historically unprecedented and that is fact. I highly doubt that genocides on the same scale, magnitude and horror are commonplace throughout history. I would urge you to support your claim with evidence or examples if you are going to repeat it, otherwise it is entirely baseless.

How much of the tab am I supposed to pick up?

However much it takes to bring up the status of the natives to what it would have been had they not been massacred and expelled, and undo the propping up of Western civilization on their backs. If you'd like more specific examples, I'd be glad to give them to you. Just ask.

We're in a (relatively) peaceful era now

Source? That's a pretty big claim.

load more comments (15 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

olny the Navajo didn't get fucked over

load more comments