Community Chat

[Love to Run]

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

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@Stelladorable wrote:

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@Northray wrote:

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@occasionalrain wrote:

To the victor's, go the spoils. It could be said that we stole America from the British, and from the Native Americans and pilfered natural resources.

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Who is WE?  It was British citizens that settled in America TO GET AWAY FROM THE BRITISH MONARCHY, CLASS system.  Independent citizens of British nationality were escaping the British system, basically their richer, royal brothers and sisters!  But because the British monarchy was used to basically colonizing whatever land they felt like ( to be fair this was the way of all Europeans, consider the Spanish Conqistordors and their invasion of the central Americas) they decided to follow these pioneers and set up shop here too.  And then they decided they were in charge here as well.  And they were not the victors because the new Americans beat their butts and kicked them out.

As for the Indians, some tribes were friendly but most were not.  They were tribal, war centered, like Vikings, fighting for the right to be the top tribe - they warred amongst themselves for this very land.  So they were not a cohesive peoples that ruled this land and had set up a government, no.  So the coming of Europeans just added to an already chaotic situation.

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This is a completely western idea of how societies should be run. The first settlers here stumbled upon a people who had lived and thrived here for millenia, with no help from western ideas of what "civilized" means.

The Europeans and Scandanavians brought the chaos as they sought to conquer lands belonging to others.

There are many excellent books about how this was done and how natives were systematically pushed into smaller and smaller enclaves until culture, language, religion and finally the people themselves were gone or irrelevant.

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Did I miss where she said we came here to "civilize" the native people?

What she did say was that the Indians also fought each other for land.  It wasn't all peace and love before the colonizers came.  And again, as noted the English weren't the only colonizers.  In fact, the Spanish were the first to bring slaves to what later became the U.S. in the 1500's.

And in assigning blame for "taking land" - how many current countries  never fought over land?  Could you enlighten us with that information?

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The difference with the European invaders was the idea of land "ownership". Native people used the land, but did not seek to own the land. As a result, Native Americans were pushed onto reservations and deprived of their ways of life.

[Venezia]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

@Puppy Lips 

The British citizens pay less than a dollar/pound a year to support the Monarchy. I have never seen any Royals cutting ribbons. I have local and state officials in the US cutting ribbons. Are you aware that we even pay for our US Senators and Congressmen's haircuts?

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@occasionalrain - Thank goodness someone pointed this out.  It's what I think every time I read one of these threads.  And we also pay for "Gold Standard" healthcare for anyone who's ever served in Congress.  And a pension.  For life!

And all while "regular" citizens struggle to afford healthcare and to make ends meet.

Funny how people in this country don't seem to remember that.  (And the question remains:  what value do these Congressmen and women add to the U.S. economy?)

(ETA:  To be completely fair though, Royals do sometimes cut ribbons - for instance at the opening of a new hospital.  Things like that.)

[matty liz]

Boy, we in America have enough to be ashamed of with our government.  Let,s work on us then help others.  Can't believe such high minded judgements.

[occasionalrain]

King Charles has just pledged 1.95 million to environmental and inclusion charities. He has given the donations honoring Queen Elizabeth to pay British citizens' fuel bills. The Monarchy is quite charitable with both time and money.

[Anonymous]

**Closed for commenting**