tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post116817675691513938..comments2024-03-27T21:30:35.824+00:00Comments on UK Commentators: Another Liberal Myth Bites The DustLabanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168733372776145482007-01-14T00:09:00.000+00:002007-01-14T00:09:00.000+00:00"in the end LT the Germanic tribes overcame and Ro..."in the end LT the Germanic tribes overcame and Rome withered away"<BR/><BR/>yes, but after Rome had dominated the western world and mid-East for what - 500 years ? Compared against any empires since then that's not bad.Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168449873128576772007-01-10T17:24:00.000+00:002007-01-10T17:24:00.000+00:00Considering most of the documentation comes from t...Considering most of the documentation comes from the Romans its not supprising they won most of the time...<BR/><BR/>Rome fell in the same way Britain will fall, too many non-Romans in Rome, and a drop in the Roman birth-rates (due to them making their water pipes out of lead, which damages fertility, apparently)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168422562318084222007-01-10T09:49:00.000+00:002007-01-10T09:49:00.000+00:00But in the end LT the Germanic tribes overcame and...But in the end LT the Germanic tribes overcame and Rome withered away.<BR/><BR/>LurkerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168294819429560242007-01-08T22:20:00.000+00:002007-01-08T22:20:00.000+00:00Now be fair, Alex. If the Roman oppressors are to ...Now be fair, Alex. If the Roman oppressors are to be believed, my Celtic forebears weren't averse to a bit of human sacrifice.<BR/><BR/>Didn't do them much good when the legions arrived, either.<BR/><BR/>I'm leery of drawing too sweeping conclusions from such facts. After all, homosexuality was practised by high-ranking Greek and Roman soldiers - much to the disgust, say, of the Germanic tribes. Yet the Romans stuffed the Germanic tribes on most occasions they met, with the notable exception of Varus and his lost Eagles.Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168274891181295142007-01-08T16:48:00.000+00:002007-01-08T16:48:00.000+00:00Another Indian tribe expresses distaste at being u...Another Indian tribe expresses distaste at being used as a rhetorical device? I'm shocked. Shocked!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168252623798306472007-01-08T10:37:00.000+00:002007-01-08T10:37:00.000+00:00I for one wouldn't find it at all surprising to di...I for one wouldn't find it at all surprising to discover that Mesoamericans indulged in all manners of bizarre and dysgenic practices, including homosexual unions, human sacrifice, male child-nurturing, etc. After all, there must have been some reason why they remained subsistence savages, while we Euros unleashed the agricultural, and then industrial, revolutions.<BR/><BR/>As far as I'm concerned, the best answer to such assertions is a simple: and look where it's got 'em.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168216081659381362007-01-08T00:28:00.000+00:002007-01-08T00:28:00.000+00:00To begin with, the stories of tribes out there som...To begin with, the stories of tribes out there somewhere who have never heard of violence turn out to be urban legends. Margaret Meade's descriptions of peace-loving New Guineans and sexually nonchalant Samoans were based on perfunctory research and turned out to be almost perversely wrong. As the anthropologist Derek Freeman later documented, Samoans may beat or kill their daughters if they are not virgins on their wedding night, a young man who cannot woo a virgin may rape one to extort her into eloping, and the family of of cuckolded husband may attack and kill the adulterer. The !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert had been described by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas as "the harmless people" in a book with that title. But as soon as anthropologists camped out long enough to accumulate data, they discovered that the !Kung San have a murder rate higher than that of American inner cities. They learned as well that a group of the San had recently avenged a murder by sneaking into the killer's group and executing every man, woman, and child as they slept. But at least the !Kung San exist. In the early 1970s the New York Times Magazine<BR/>reported the discovery of the "gentle Tasaday" of the Philippine rainforest, a people with no words for conflict, violence, or weapons. The Tasaday turned out to be local farmers dressed in leaves for a photo opportunity so that cronies of Ferdinand Marcos could set aside their "homeland" as a preserve and enjoy exclusive mineral and logging rights.<BR/><BR/>Steven Pinker, The Blank SlateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com