Richardols:
No, it’s not, but when some poster claims a close tie between abortion and child abuse or other killing, Norwich was not out of line to point out that violence and its acceptance in American life long predated legalization of abortion.
BTW, “anti-American”? Was what he said a lie or was it a reasonable description of much of American culture?
Violence has been prevalent in every culture, at some point, around the world. Norwich’s assertion that America is somehow unique in this regard is ill founded. Go read a history book about Europe for a change. You don’t even have to go back very far. The 20th century was easily the bloodiest in European history. Two large scale World Wars, the Holocaust, the Spanish Civil War, the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Gulag system, and secret state police over 1/2 the continent. I didn’t even mention the Balkans or Northen Ireland. Fascism and Communism also came from the continent. Speaking of our enlightened British friends, was Air Marshall Harris’s de-housing campaign of WWII an example of enlightened sensibilities? The firestorm he whipped up in Hamburg killed more people than at Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Did I mention direct Colonialism of about 85% of the world’s land area?
Let’s go back further. The 19th century gave us the Napoleonic wars, the Crimean War, expansion of colonial empires in Africa and Asia, the Boer war, and the Franco-Prussian war.
Go back even further. The French Revolution - 'nuff said. How about the wars of Religion in 16th and 17th centuries, including the 30 YEARS war. How about the Spanish conquistadors? Why does the phrase “go medieval” on somebody automatically conjure up visions of excruciating torture?
My point is that America is not unique in the respect that aspects of its past have been unsavory. There’s hardly a nation-state or tribe today that doesn’t have its roots drenched in blood. The natives of the Americas that were displaced (some of them ancestors of mine) and died (largely from smallpox BTW) were not innocent nature-communing pacifists. They failed to repel the Europeans and the Americans because they were too busy fighting and killing each other to unite against the white man. The Spanish conquered the Aztec empire with 150 Spaniards because the Aztecs had built up such a resentment among subjugated peoples by virtue of their cult of human sacrifice that it was no problem getting people to join in the overthrow.
I just found the comment about American TV a bit too much. Having seen what European TV is like, the only difference I can see is that European TV is even more saturated with sex than American TV.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones…
Please if these were democratic voters you would be fighting for it to be illegal.That is a callous remark, in other words since America wants to kill the unborn we have to give the people what they want
Small sacrifices for the majority of oppinions, right?:banghead:
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