Re: Career questions: databases
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:10:37 -0300
Message-ID: <4689be18$0$4318$9a566e8b_at_news.aliant.net>
Bruce C. Baker wrote:
> "Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
> news:4689b480$0$4318$9a566e8b_at_news.aliant.net...
>
>>Bruce C. Baker wrote: >> >> >>>"Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote in message >>>news:4689a98c$0$4336$9a566e8b_at_news.aliant.net... >>> >>> >>>>Bruce C. Baker wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>>"Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote in message >>>>>news:46899de5$0$4325$9a566e8b_at_news.aliant.net... >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>Bruce C. Baker wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>><snip> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>And two, Brits don't know nothing. If they did, then they wouldn't >>>>>>>>>have lost >>>>>>>>>their world empire, and wouldn't have needed us to bail them out in >>>>>>>>>WWII. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>Let's take that discussion further. >>>>>>>>Wherever the white man goes, everything is left is ruins. Starting >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>from the colonial times and following to the present day, consider >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>reading the histories of the Indian subcontinent, South America, >>>>>>>>Africa, the Middle East, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, with perhaps >>>>>>>>Iran >>>>>>>>and Venezuela to follow. And let's not even talk about the Red >>>>>>>>Indians. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Sorry, old boy, but actually it's "Wherever the white man has >>>>>>>/departed/, everything is in ruins." Seems that while the natives are >>>>>>>capable of enjoying the fruits of civilization, they aren't quite >>>>>>>capable of maintaining it. Pity, really. >>>>>>> >>>>>>><snip> >>>>>> >>>>>>Even that isn't necessarily true: see Japan. >>>>> >>>>>Quite right, Bob; I forgot Japan. BUT, can you name another non-European >>>>>country that has adopted western ways so well? >>>> >>>>China now that Mao's stupidity is over. >>> >>>They're on the right path economically; Politically, they haven't even >>>/found/ the path., >> >>We have plenty of examples to show us that western democracy is not >>required for making successful societies who can cooperate on a massive >>scale and for mutual benefit.
>
> Not /required/, but democracy certainly helps.
I see no particular evidence for your assertion and it sounds like a conceit to me.
Capitalism seems to trump
> state-directed economies, and it seems to work best when _individuals_ stand
> to benefit.
China has a capitalist economy without democracy or freedom. Your argument seems non sequitur.
>>The ruins of the world have cultures that conflict with creating fully >>functioning nation states. See, um, what's his face on consanguineous >>marriage... Stanley, um, Kurtz is it?
>
> Sorry, Bob; that ref was way over my head! :-)
I think his name is Stanley Kurtz. He wrote an article a few years ago on why transforming Iraq would not be an easy task or one achievable in a few years--let alone a few months.
Consanguineous marriage (mostly first cousin marriage) strengthens the ties to tribes and extended families over civic and national interests. When one looks at a map shaded according to the incidence of consanguineous marriage, the backward countries have a lot of it, and the modern countries have very little of it.
>>Tribal affiliation interferes with any sense of civic duty or national >>pride.
>
> We've gotten /way/ OT here. I wouldn't have responded to the OP's post at
> all had he not dissed /my/ tribe. It's a little disingenuous to bash the
> "white man" while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of western European
> medicine, technology, political traditions, etc.!
It's also delusional. Just because lots of propagandists and sophists say it doesn't make it so. With such obvious counter examples, his whole premise was absurdly false. Received on Tue Jul 03 2007 - 05:10:37 CEST