Cynic wrote in
news:4vjg8455h2tahep419km21vfkq6b3vf039@4ax.com:
> On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:26:44 GMT, Paul Hyett
> wrote:
>
>>>Americans seem to think that it is a *good* thing for the people in
>>>foreign countries to be forced into adopting American values, because
>>>the American way of life is better than theirs (most Americans
>>>believe), so they are being done a favour.
>
>>The same arguments were applied to the British colonies in Africa.
>
> Yes. And they were just as wrong.
>
>>The native populations fought for independence as an abstract ideal, but
>>when they achieved it, they mostly found they had no idea how to
>>actually handle it. The result has very often been decades of bloody
>>civil war and/or brutal dictatorships.
>
> They would not have had to fight for independence if they had not been
> taken over in the first place.
>
>>I wonder if the population of Zimbabwe think they are better off now,
>>socially & economically, than they were when the British were in charge?
>
> I wonder if the population of Zimbabwe would be better off today if
> the country had been left alone and *never* taken over by a foreign
> country?
>
> The problems in Africa stem from our insistence that they follow the
> Western system of government. Each culture works fine on its own. It
> is the *mixture* that doesn't work.
>
What mixture? Zimbabwe is ruked by a thug who sends thugs out to kill his
opponents and steal the land of the white farmers that were supplying
Rhodesians with food.
That is no mix. That is thuggish tribal warfare with modern weapons.
Frank |