QuoteReplyTopic: America's Contributions To Society Posted: 20-Feb-2007 at 21:20
Well I agree.
However, I always deffend Native Americans because many people and for long time, has considered them inferior human beings. It is time that change now and forever.
And yes, Native Americans are closely related to East Asians, particularly with Siberians and Mongolians.
and please tell me pinguin who contributed more,if you say it wasn't the eropeans than it should be someone else?(science,religion,society,politics,laws,literature,arts = civilization).
P.S You will always defend the native americans simply because you are from south america.
Let's be serious this time. You ask me, who contributed the more?
Just remember where civilization started in the old world: Egypt and Mesopotamia. That wasn't Europe.
Remember the contributions of the Chinese people to world technology. (think in paper, rockets, magnetism and things like that)
Remember the contributions of Indian people (Of India) think in arithmetics, the zero, chess, etc.
Remember the contributions of Arabs, Persians, Turks and other muslem peoples to science and tech (algebra, optics, astronomy, medicine)
Remember that since the end of the 19th century Europe is not the leader of the world anymore. Most the advances has been done in the United States, and today in Asia as well.
If you substract all of these, at the very least, you will notice that Europe, indeed, contributed with many things (some disasters as well), BUT, it is loss less that people usually think.
European contributions: Newtonian Physics, Calculus, Classical Music, Modern Art, Comunism, Liberalism, steam machine, and what else?
Parliamentary democracy, globalised trade, various languages,
continental legal system, common law legal system, the first automobile
(though better developed outside europe), massive advances in
mechanical warfare, industrial revolution, post colonial nation states,
a range of fine cuisine and alcoholic beverages, modern fashion, a vast
array of literature from many periods in human history, the first true
national armies, international banking and finance, transnational
sporting competition and a range of sporting events, the idea of the
world improving by dividing it up into highly competitive components
which are not under the single dominance of any one entity....
"European contributions: Newtonian Physics, Calculus, Classical Music, Modern Art, Comunism, Liberalism, steam machine, and what else?"
MY God! If these are the only things you know about european contribution than either you're at 3th grade in school or you haven't ever been to school.There are so many things that i don't know if it is possible to write them in this forum.
And i was sure you are going to respond to me like this-saying what all others contributed,but not answering me.I didn't asked who invented what,i asked who contributed more than the europeans-did the arabs,the chinese,the indians?One simple word.
And about the USA and other "colonies".European contribution to the world includes what the european colonies invented,because after all european colonizators or their descendants invented it thanks to european technology.And the asian scientist today are inventing things thanks to OUR science which started developing in EUROPE from the begginig of the renaissance.
I am pretty sure every "normal" country in the world has to be democratic,have a constitution and other things like that which came from the ancient rome and greece and the constitution from france and USA.
So if you wan't to talk serios,please DO IT.Avoiding my direct questions (what you've been doing since we started arguing) is NOT seriouse.
After all, people migrate to better places. Millions and millions of Europeans leave Europe for good and now live in the Americas. They told everyone how infamous was war, hate and hunger in Europe. They were glad they have left that place at last.
And we believe them...
Yes, Europeans have the idea they are the center of everything.
From the Americas we see Europe like a living museum that is growing old, while more dynamic societies are leading now.
I suppose one could conclude, as the following authors and statesmen do, that America, certainly in the post WW2 age and now into the 21st century has contributed a signficantly great deal; to include on occassion being willing to stand in the fore when it came to threats on modern western philosophy, individual and collective liberties, international security etc., even given it's past gaffes.
A Battle for Global Values Tony Blair From Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007
THE ROOTS OF EXTREMISM
Our response to the September 11 attacks has proved even more momentous than it seemed at the time. That is because we could have chosen security as the battleground. But we did not. We chose values. We said that we did not want another Taliban or a different Saddam Hussein. We knew that you cannot defeat a fanatical ideology just by imprisoning or killing its leaders; you have to defeat its ideas.
In my view, the situation we face is indeed war, but of a completely unconventional kind, one that cannot be won in a conventional way. We will not win the battle against global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as that of force. We can win only by showing that our values are stronger, better, and more just than the alternative. That also means showing the world that we are evenhanded and fair in our application of those values. We will never get real support for the tough actions that may well be essential to safeguarding our way of life unless we also attack global poverty, environmental degradation, and injustice with equal vigor.
The roots of the current wave of global terrorism and extremism are deep. They reach down through decades of alienation, victimhood, and political oppression in the Arab and Muslim world. Yet such terrorism is not and never has been inevitable.
To me, the most remarkable thing about the Koran is how progressive it is. I write with great humility as a member of another faith. As an outsider, the Koran strikes me as a reforming book, trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, much as reformers attempted to do with the Christian church centuries later. The Koran is inclusive. It extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition. It is practical and far ahead of its time in attitudes toward marriage, women, and governance.
Under its guidance, the spread of Islam and its dominance over previously Christian or pagan lands were breathtaking. Over centuries, Islam founded an empire and led the world in discovery, art, and culture. The standard-bearers of tolerance in the early Middle Ages were far more likely to be found in Muslim lands than in Christian ones.
The United States, Iraq, and the War on Terror Lee Kuan Yew From Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007
Summary: In spite of its diffculties in Iraq, the United States was not wrong to have removed Saddam Hussein. The outcome of the Iraqi enterprise will be crucial to the course of the "war on terror." And success is still possible -- if Washington takes a page out of its Cold War playbook.
Lee Kuan Yew is Minister Mentor of Singapore. He was Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. This piece was adapted from a speech he delivered when accepting the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in October 2006.
A Singaporean Perspective The basic feature of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War was inclusiveness -- a willingness to embrace any country that opposed communism, whatever its type of government. The United States contested the Soviet system and held the line militarily, and its consistent and comprehensive approach eventually led to the Soviet Union's implosion.
After the Cold War came the "war on terror." Islamist terrorists tried to bring down the World Trade Center in 1993 and bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Then came the attacks of September 11, 2001. In response, the United States attacked Afghanistan and routed the Taliban. Then, in 2003, the United States invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein and establish democracy there.
During the war on terror, however, the United States has not been as inclusive as it was in its war against communism. Aside from those in the "coalition of the willing," even most European countries have distanced themselves from Washington.
The United States did not realize, moreover, the depth of the fault lines in Iraqi society -- between Kurds and Arabs, Sunnis and Shiites, and the members of different tribes and local religious groups. These tensions were contained during four centuries of Ottoman rule, and the British, who took over from the Ottomans in 1920, put Iraq under strong Sunni control, centered on Baghdad. Now, because of the destruction of the old Iraqi society, for the first time in centuries, power is in the hands of the Iraqi Shiites.
Once again pinguin you simply avoid questions you have no answear to.it's obvious now you simply throw statements you don't want to defend.i won't ask you anything more because i allready now i won't get a direct respond.
Once again pinguin you simply avoid questions you have no answear to.it's obvious now you simply throw statements you don't want to defend.i won't ask you anything more because i allready now i won't get a direct respond.
Which one? I am just telling you a point of view. You have another.
Just remember that every single country of the Americas broke free from Europe long time ago, and since then we don't feel the need to proclaim it a "superior" civilization at all. Europe (for me, and for me of us) is just another center of power more, declining actually.
As an example, foreign trade in South America is almost evenly distributed between Asia, North America and Europe. However, the growth is seen in Asia. In there is where our people focus now. That's all.
America's huge contributions to prosperity and a secure industrial system has produced an impressive , increasing volume of carbon and nitrogen gases. These give all societies the sure outlook of a rise in temperature and a great boost to climate change, possibly collapsing the marvellous technical structure and humans.
Yes, the U.S. has contributed a lot with carbon dioxide. Europe, though produced a larger impact.
The degree of demographic alteration of the planet they did is amazing. Sending perhaps 100 million Europeans worldwide as colones or immigrants. Around 10 millions Africans as slaves as well. Killing millions of aborigines. That without countring the amazing destruction of the environment Europeans produced worldwide, and the large number of species extincted because of them. And they invented the steam machine, the internal combustion engine, and the medicine that produced the population explosion
but ofcourse the europeans are the worst.always.especialy when you aren't one.it's so easy and pleasant to talk against the europeans and mention only the bad things.why don't you make a topic "lets talk against the europeans" or "THE GREAT AMERICAN CIVILIZATION" .
Yes, Europeans have the idea they are the center of everything.
From the Americas we see Europe like a living museum that is growing old, while more dynamic societies are leading now.
Pinguin
You have some pretty messed up ideas about Europe and Europeans and what they think. You seriously seem to have an inferiority complex. You should come visit some day and see for your own eyes instead. Considering the vast amound of Chileans who has migrated to Sweden you maybe know someone you can stay with, and learn a little from.
They told everyone how infamous was war, hate and hunger in Europe. They were glad they have left that place at last.
So, the War of the Confederation, the US-Mexican War, the War of the Tripple Alliance, the War of the Pacific, the Cenepa War, the Chincha Islands War, the Contestado War, the Football War etc etc are all just imagination then?
You have some pretty messed up ideas about Europe and Europeans and what they think. You seriously seem to have an inferiority complex. You should come visit some day and see for your own eyes instead. Considering the vast amound of Chileans who has migrated to Sweden you maybe know someone you can stay with, and learn a little from.
Yes. Unfortunately many people has to leave this country. It was the fight between comunism and capitalism. Both European ideas, you know
Originally posted by Styrbiorn
...
So, the War of the Confederation, the US-Mexican War, the War of the Tripple Alliance, the War of the Pacific, the Cenepa War, the Chincha Islands War, the Contestado War, the Football War etc etc are all just imagination then?
Yes, those were great tragedies. But you can't compare the scale of destruction of the wars in Latin America with Europe. In the Falklands war, for example, 1.000 people died, and in the Chilean coup, 3.000 people. That's all. If you add all the tragedies you could come up, perhaps, with 1 million dead and fraction. In Africa the Tutsi-Hutu conflict or Rwanda took that number in on month of violence!
Compare that with the casualties of every single war in Europe since 1800, for example. How many do you have? 100 millions perhaps?
Yes. Unfortunately many people has to leave this country. It was the fight between comunism and capitalism. Both European ideas, you know
It's never your own fault, is it?
That's all.
You (intentionally?) missed the War of the Tripple Alliance, which reduced the male population of Paraguay with 90%.
Originally posted by pinguin
Compare that with the casualties of every single war in Europe since 1800, for example. How many do you have? 100 millions perhaps?
Since 1815, exactly 5 people have been killed in military conflicts in Sweden, demonstrators shot and killed by a group of conscripts at dalen in 1931.
Though I do see your point, Europe of today is very different. I really think you should go there and see for yourself instead of spewing out hatred all the time.
America's huge contributions to prosperity and a secure industrial system has produced an impressive , increasing volume of carbon and nitrogen gases. These give all societies the sure outlook of a rise in temperature and a great boost to climate change, possibly collapsing the marvellous technical structure and humans.
chimera
quite true as does any industrialized state the kyoto agreement aside...that happens to be convient cover for the rest of the world and in particular, now the PRC, who continues to be the worlds latest greatest offender, with it's massive restructure and expansion of their industrial base.. and expansive use of fossil fuels. As i said that makes it good cover. But it is also often forgotten or ignored by those who lay the entire world's ill fortune on the United States. Typical really.
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
S. T. Friedman
Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true'
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