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Originally Posted by grolsch
The India comment I made referred to their prism through which many have been able to see Western culture is the West. The highly educated Indians I meet (which are the vast majority whom I meet) use English with a decidedly British slant (grammar, vocabulary).
Hence the influence as they enter this century as a country with an overlooked but massive potential (possibly greater than China, in my opinion).
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No doubt about it in my view, India has done the hard part in forging a real nation state from its disparate elements, even though there are 'unhappy' regions to say the least. At least they have votes, access to media and the right to express their will and identity freely.
China, on the other hand... still in the grip of fascism, and the fall from that is never easy.
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Originally Posted by grolsch
As to whose language precedes whose, I know English is a latecomer, no joke. Isn't Sanskrit the mother of all known major languages? I'm not sure.
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All Western European languages except for Finnish, IIRC.
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Originally Posted by grolsch
As to no power ever being benevolent, I agree. As they act in their own self interest, giants swat a LOT of ants.
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Quoting myself, and probably someone else, "The problem with power is power".
Makes sense to me.
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Originally Posted by grolsch
Are mitigation, participation, and communication mere bagatelles?
I think not.
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Noooo, absolutely not. The Brits stole a march on the French by opening up schools, colleges and other such institutions to teach and encourage English as the *giggle* lingua franca for the mid-late 20th century. Whether it'll still be in such good form depends, for the most part I feel, on India and Pakistan.
Weird, huh?
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Originally Posted by grolsch
My adopted cousins told me of many more horrors than just the plague visited upon the First Nation Peoples', as they call themselves. Children separated from their parents, forced into schools where whippings would occur if they spoke their mother tongue. 40+ years ago, that one in particular remains a bill that cannot be paid.
My cousin, a fairly large man and full blooded Algonquin, greets me with a hug and a wry "Okay, you are one white man who can stay on my land. The rest of you go home!"
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I think there was a tad more going on than whipping.
Healthy kids were forced to play with TB infected kids, beating so severe they ended up in deaths, sterilisations without consent, etc, etc...
It really makes me feel sick.
Then I see idiots on British TV saying our Empire was benign. Not good.
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Originally Posted by grolsch
Still, 30 years ago, could Obama have been a serious candidate?
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Maybe, given the US's antipathy to Carter.
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Originally Posted by grolsch
I think our progress, while still bloody, is informed by those very mistakes of the past.
Serious discussion is occurring on alternative fuels in the US election debate.
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*raises telescope to blind eye socket*
I see no serious debate. I see posturing. (and sparkles)
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Originally Posted by grolsch
It's no longer left to the far, far, far out left, who essentially demand a return to an agrarian society.
Commercial spaceflight is around the corner.
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Agrarian spaceflight?
Go, Daisy! Go!
MOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo......................
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Originally Posted by grolsch
I think Obama has a chance to be a tipping point (as defined in Malcolm Gladwell's excellent book of the same name) as a Connector & Salesman.
I think Clinton was starting in the right direction, until he was hounded by a hysterical right to sticking his dick into everything he saw. Well, okay, he would have done that anyway, but I could care less.
Then Bush.*Cue dramatic music*
Did the Presidency become something you bequeath to your retarded children? Unfucking believable.
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Representative democracy is a complete sham in most industrial nations, tbh.
I honestly believe that any form of first past the post in a population of more than a few million is tyranny. With single transferable vote PR, maybe 20m is the tariff.
Almost all nation states as currently formed are antiquated, creaking structures that need to be broken up into parts that govern themselves for the most part - under a supra-national body.
Not sure how that fits with my anarchist lilt.