Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jenny_Lyte
While all of that is true (and I am taking your word for it) did these things happen before or after interaction with Westerners? For example, many (many, but not all) wars between American Indian tribes were due to them being forced from their homes by European settlers and forced to encroach on the territories of neighboring tribes. War is human, regardless of color, nationality or level of "civilization" but I'd be willing to go out on a limb and guess that the Western world is responsible for many more wars than any primitive society. Again, this is all an educated guess. History's not really my thing. My knowledge in these subjects are limited at best.
|
Before and after - if you look at the history of Central and South America for instance, and their well documented empires, wars and human sacrifices, it's pretty evident they were every bit as brutish as Europeans, Asians, Egyptians, Persians, or any one else.
Many anthropologists would argue that "civilized" societies are much more peaceful than hunter-gatherer type societies - that we (the civilized) have largely evolved so as to be able to get along with one another, to live in close proximity to each other, to invest in shared resources, without resorting to violence in our everyday lives. Whereas many hunter gatherer tribes consider violence to be part of their everyday lives because they have never had to learn to get along with their neighbours in the same way "we" have.