Betsy DeVos is a shitstain of a human being

[Marek]

Sentinel island is exactly what I was thinking about.

Well then my question stands.

If violence is full on necessary to contact, since they kill everyone who lands, what is the purpose? And also how would you do it in practice if you were commanding Operation Loincloth or whatever?

And also, since straight up nothing is known of them, how can you assume genocide and child trafficking is a part of their lifestyle?

And also, am I being trolled?

Edit: fwiw if Sentinel island wasnt protected for the aboriginals being there it would instantly be harvested for palm oil. Like immediately.

 

[roker]

I live like 30 minutes from DeVos central, AKA Grand Rapids. Nobody likes her.

I lived in Kalamazoo for college and a few people I knew were from Grand Rapids. Eventually I made my way there and hung out and stuff. It's a weird city of religious fevor and conservative ideals. Hidden in between are the silent left. Not a fan. I call it Betsy's kingdom.

 

[LoneSage]

And also, am I being trolled?

No, but this could be a great War Room discussion.

We live in a time where expansionism has slowed to a crawl, relative to other times in history. For much of human history, that's just how it's been, take over the land, destroy the local people or assimilate them, repeat.

We look through history from the comforts of the 21st century and judge people with a lens on.

Native Amer-DISCUSSION TO BE CONTINUED IN WAR ROOM THREAD STARTED BY POPPY

 

[SouthtownKid]

Let the people see, let them chose, and protect their right to chose your way (and ignore them kindly if they don't want your way

Only this never happens. They just become fodder for multinational interests. They end up serfs to Coca-Cola and McDonalds, etc., trading their self sufficient culture for a minuscule "wage" and instantly going into debt to Coke and McD's on-site canteens stocked with overpriced goods they wouldn't need if they were still able to hunt and farm for themselves.

Thats interesting.

But to me it seems like the opposite of the "noble savage" train of thought, ignoble savage?

"Noble savage" isn't a train of thought. It's a pretty myth.

 

[oliverclaude]

This reminds me of a Parts Unknown episode in Congo: a native Congolese, who takes care of a ruined agriculture institute left by colonial forces, is telling Bourdain that it was better back then.

There are benefits of colonialism, no doubt, but they come at a price, with Prometheus' Torch wearing a trademark symbol to be sure and it's not like (child) prostitution isn't also an issue of those enlightened cultures which come in, despite it being punishable by law. It's just that at some point every piece of land was colonized anyway and turned into countries, whose "natives" are now proud of. In a global world, it's just a matter of time, till it happens.

BTW, there's a nice comment on this topic in Transmet, when Spider explores reservations for outdated civilizations. The Tikal reservation is due for shutdown in about ten years time, because cut off heads from a frequent religious ritual are thrown into the waters adjoining the city, which are considered sacred, which causes an awful lot of rotting in that water, which Tikal's natives drink and which will ultimately kill them. Satirical exaggeration, not without a certain point, though.

 

[evil wasabi]

Well then my question stands.

If violence is full on necessary to contact, since they kill everyone who lands, what is the purpose? And also how would you do it in practice if you were commanding Operation Loincloth or whatever?

And also, since straight up nothing is known of them, how can you assume genocide and child trafficking is a part of their lifestyle?

And also, am I being trolled?

Edit: fwiw if Sentinel island wasnt protected for the aboriginals being there it would instantly be harvested for palm oil. Like immediately.

I'm not going to sugar coat the act as white man's burden or lifting up the natives from the fetters of savagery. If aliens descend on earth and terraform the shit out of our atmosphere, so many people would hypocritically praise them from even coming to us, and sharing their ways. But what they would be doing is destroying countless human lives their selfish needs. Humans have essentially terraformed new frontiers and cultureformed the indigenous people to avoid another Jamestown massacre. We have been doing this through our movies, books, music. We do this through trade. We don't do it to help the cultures, but to realize opportunities, for better or worse, and improve our standard of living.

There's an idea I have been mulling over, that activism is mostly the tool of the beta-power to weaken the grip of the alpha-power. Once a power transfer occurs of a significant delta, and the beta becomes the alpha, the activism can be defunded and quashed. And perhaps all calls for equality and justice, are merely tools to change the hands on the reins of domination. This is because deep down, human nature, try as we might to distance ourselves from it, and elevate ourselves to some noble ideal, human nature is to be as primitive and basic as a chimpanzee, banding with other chimps to rape and destroy the bonobo tribe nearby. The idea that we are civilized and noble creatures is just a fantasy to comfort the dominated in their lifelong submission. But individually, we can try to aspire to be better than the chimps, and to protect the people around us from those with baser instincts. There's a balance though. We all live in this jungle together.

 

[norton9478]

I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!