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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (223930)	3/13/2007 11:39:26 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

A very interesting parallel.

To: neolib who wrote (223930)	3/13/2007 11:51:11 AM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Neolib, the clarity of your thinking is admirable and I believe your assessment is accurate. Unfortunately, it is so taboo to speak of cultural or racial differences that we simply don't. That means that we must always assume that women and men, people of different races, and people of different cultures are inherently alike and thus the root of any apparent problems must lie in disparate resources, discrimination or inadequate education. That kind of thinking has its benefits. It takes us away from "us and them" kinds of thinking and it creates high expectations for individuals. What it doesn't do, unfortunately, is address some very real differences in right brain/left brain, tendencies and powerful cultural factors. Acknowledging those differences might not change them but it might help us deal with apparent inequities that arise from them. For instance, here in this country we should have better strategies for teaching right-brained children because many American Indian and many African American children tend to be right brained and our left brained teaching techniques may be leaving them behind. Internationally, of course, Bush has made it simple; if we kill enough of them to give them "freedom" they'll soon become different shades of us. In the end we may find that we've intermarried to the point where none of it matters. I'd imagine that scientist could extrapolate the date where we'd all be like Steve Martin in the movie "The Jerk" and, faced with anti-black racist comments, we'd all yell, "HEY, I'M a ...!" and be correct. My late brother in law made a practice of yelling that very same statement whenever he heard a racist comment directed to any ethnic group. He was white as a sheet but he had kinky, curly hair and he was a big man. The shocked reactions of men who'd made racist comments regarding African Americans was very rewarding. Ed

To: neolib who wrote (223930)	3/13/2007 2:04:53 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Which objective do you prefer to shoot for, that the unsuccessful neighbors take over the succesful state and take it "back to the bush", or that someone work on improving the neighbor's economic development so that they have better things to think about than killing the competition? btw, the majority of Israelis are not only not European themselves, but their ancestors never were in Europe either. Israelis of Ashkenazi descent are in the minority.

To: neolib who wrote (223930)	3/13/2007 2:29:37 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 281500

Nadine would have you living as a prosperous, white, armed to the teeth "boss man" running an efficient farm in Rhodesia while keeping the blacks down and in harness and call it good!

To: neolib who wrote (223930)	3/13/2007 4:09:56 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I think Dubai and Qatar do pretty well. travel2.nytimes.com I see many prosperous upper middle class professional black families and many dirt poor subsistence white farmers and coal miners. What we keep seeing is a snapshot in time and think that reality is static. At some point China had a very well-developed and sophisticated civilization while Europe was mired in dirt and disease. Before Walmartization took hold last century, China looked poor while Europe looked like the height of modernization. IMO. These are just phases and we can only see the phase that our lifespan covers. I do think there are problems in parts of the world where the climate is so harsh that subsistence is about all that can be achieved without lots of high tech investment. Will this change with global warming? Maybe. Perhaps the Netherlands will end up being submerged in which case commerce will be very difficult. :) What really bothers me about Israel is that people keep tip toeing around the problem because of the Holocaust. While that may be quite PC, it doesn't help anyone least of all the Israelis who are reduced to killing 1100 people in Lebanon while failing to get back their troops OR make their citizens feel any safer. If we looked at it as essentially a fight over land claims, there might be a compromise in the making...or not. At least it would be a different argument because the current one has been going on now for several generations and things are just as bad as ever. If we keep dealing with it as a 'clash of civilizations' or as a religious or moral fight then all compromises look like 'giving in.' We should knock off the hyperventilating and bring in the negotiators, lawyers (egads), bankers and surveyors while leaving the priests at home.