Re:After 168 Years, Potato Famine Mystery Solved
by EGreg on Thursday July 13, 2023 @10:37AM
(#36709849)
From what I understand, the Spanish conquistadores were far more brutal than the British, who were in turn more brutal than the French, who actually befriended the natives and gave them horses.
Having said that, most people die from “mundane” things like influenza and famines, and not necessarily cruelty. Those are the things we all have to try to prevent the most.
Re:After 168 Years, Potato Famine Mystery Solved
by JumpCrisscross on Thursday July 13, 2023 @08:36PM
(#36717996)
There isn't a moral arc to history, but perhaps a moral regression. We tend towards goodness, simply because we each know more throughout time.
None of this was hidden. It's just that American political, British financial and Indian geopolitical history are rarely taught together.
As for India and China, there is no paucity of cruelty and exploitation in our histories, both of which contain periods of empire building, ethnic cleansing and striking inequality. A better takeaway is recognizing the common impulses our economic and political systems cause in us and how they may be foreseen and mitigated.
For example, the history I just recounted followed the Seven Years' War, in which the British (among others) beat the French and Spanish (among others) [1]. At the time, the Spanish dollar was the world's reserve currency and Britain a rising power. Guess how they framed their rise and predecessors' fall?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War