Are you just making a joke, or are you trying to make the point that multiculturalism is, in a word, stupid? Because if it's the latter, I can tell you right now, I am not having any of it. We have been over this before. Oh, those old-school British were strong enough to be against suttee, your joke implies, whereas no "multiculturalist" these days *ever* speaks out against suttee, or female "circumsion", or burkas, or child marriages, or "honor killings", or Saudi Arabian laws against women drivers. Except, oh wait, they do! They just argue against it from more than the "might makes right" perspective that this "culturally confident" Brit is employing. Furthermore, if the British hadn't been so "culturally confident" back in the day as to take over India, and to exert their military influence in Iran and Afghanistan, they - and their European rivals - wouldn't have *messed up* those countries, and we wouldn't have as many problems today. Max just wrote you a whole mini-essay on the "Great Game" and related topics, and your
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My post offers neither support nor criticism of the quote; I simply thought it was a mildly entertaining anecdote tangentially related to the topic being discussed on the blog. Note, too, that I wrote favorably on Max's post and made a point to create a main entry to direct readers to it since it was otherwise hidden in the comments, although I still plan to quibble with him on a point or three
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(Side note for later reflection, there's a sort of evolution at play here, isn't there? "More advanced" civilizations end up with the means to take over and impose their advances on other cultures. It must have been unpleasant to be in Gaul when Caesar came through, but where would we be now if he hadn't?)By "more advanced" we mean more advanced *militarily* (and possibly economically) - not culturally, morally, or any other -ly - which calls into doubt the merits of the "advances" they brought with them. Caesar had his day in Gaul, but a few centuries later the "barbarians" had their day in Rome, too. For a while the Mongols represented the more advanced civilization when it came to military might. They introduced some political institutions to Rus while draining it of money and craftsmen. Speaking of draining money, there were the conquistadors . . . Yes, it must have been unpleasant in Gaul, and Rome, and Rus, and the New World. The further back in history we go, the harder it gets to be sure that colonizers and conquerors
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- It's possible that cultural and moral advancement yields technological and (thus military) advancement. There's a fair case to be made that this - in part - explains our triumph over the Axis and (most of) the Communists. It's debatable, I know
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