10 Things About Yourself

[En_Route]

they're doing something up there... I just know it

Yes, they're watching the white men trash their land and destroy their culture.

Maybe some cultures aren't worth preserving or at least could be replaced by something more conducive to human betterment.

[DeterminedJuliet]

Depends on your definition of "betterment", I guess.

[Amicale]

Depends on your definition of "betterment", I guess.

This. And it depends on how you define "worth", too. As well as "conducive".

[The Magic Pudding]

The societies that did the dispossessing, our societies of some centuries past, they weren't all that conducive to human betterment.  Not for the majority anyway.

[En_Route]

The societies that did the dispossessing, our societies of some centuries past, they weren't all that conducive to human betterment.  Not for the majority anyway.

I'm thinking in terms of today. It seems to me there is a woolly sentimentality that clouds any discussion of the eradication of a culture as if automatically this must be a bad thing (before someone else says it, however you may define "bad").

[Amicale]

The societies that did the dispossessing, our societies of some centuries past, they weren't all that conducive to human betterment.  Not for the majority anyway.

I'm thinking in terms of today. It seems to me there is a woolly sentimentality that clouds any discussion of the eradication of a culture as if automatically this must be a bad thing (before someone else says it, however you may define "bad").

The question is, even if we could come up with a hypothetical culture that the majority (except that culture, obviously) agreed was worth replacing or "eradicating", how would one go about doing this? Re-educate them all? Re-locate them all? Take their land and their possessions? Go to the extreme of ending their lives? We've seen from the past that stronger, more 'developed' cultures were arrogant enough to assume that they were better than the cultures they looked down on. I say "arrogrant enough" because who's to arbitrarily say that one culture is intrinsically, absolutely better than another? Yet, past societies that were further "advanced" made that distinction. Generally it sounded like "Our God's the true god, our technology beats yours, and we think we know more, so now you're at our mercy."

And so they chose to eradicate, displace or entirely replace the cultures they thought weren't worth preserving, generally through removing their human rights, their possessions, their children, and sometimes their lives.

I don't believe any culture in the world deserves to be wiped off the face of the map. No, that's the business of those who believe they have the "absolute truth^TM", and those who want to remove the rights of fellow human beings.

[Firebird]

7. Feel uncomfortable around jews.

Care to elaborate here?

[technolud]

I like teenagers, including my own
I like gardening
I like cars
I can fix almost anything.  Its a curse.  Sometimes I get mad and say bad words while I do it.
I almost never get bored.
I'm totally comfortable with being an atheist.  Just seems so right.
I'm really glad I found the Happy Atheist Forum, but it is a little scary.  
I was born without the sports chromosome
My wife keeps me sane.
Everyone in my family, including Laszlo the dog, is smarter then me.  But I try harder

[Asmodean]

I'm really glad I found the Happy Atheist Forum, but it is a little scary.  

Note to self: A less scary disguise is in order. Perhaps one with a clown's nose... Clowns can be scary though, so perhaps not... 

[Amicale]

I'm really glad I found the Happy Atheist Forum, but it is a little scary.  

Note to self: A less scary disguise is in order. Perhaps one with a clown's nose... Clowns can be scary though, so perhaps not... 

I honestly think that Stephen King's "IT" is the reason clown phobias developed in the first place for people in my generation.

And no, I will not post the picture here. It may cause someone to spazz.

[Asmodean]

[Amicale]

Quick, everyone, get your toddlers and young children out of the room before Asmo has to stay up with them all night because they wake up at 2 am screaming their heads off.

[Asmodean]

Yes. Asmo and Pennywise, they eat worlds. And children. 

[Ali]

Quick, everyone, get your toddlers and young children out of the room before Asmo has to stay up with them all night because they wake up at 2 am screaming their heads off.

Forget about T, I may wake up screaming after that picture of IT.  *shudder*

[En_Route]

I'm not a fan of cultural relativism. Some cultures are barbarous and their mores and values create  far more unneccessary pain and suffering than liberal, democratic cultures. So it is not a matter for lamenting if they are displaced. Of course how they are displaced is another issue and that has to be weighed in the balance. I'm simply saying that all other things being equal the disappearance of some cultures should be a cause of celebration.