Grex Agora46 Conference

Item 185: US `blame another country' game.

Entered by cross on Fri Aug 29 15:27:11 2003:

cross Fri Oct 27 18:11:14 2006 Dan Cross,,, cross Fri Oct 27 18:11:14 2006 
cross Fri Oct 27 18:11:14 2006 Dan Cross,,, cross Fri Oct 27 18:11:14 2006 
cross Fri Oct 27 18:
16 responses total.

#1 of 16 by oval on Fri Aug 29 15:49:01 2003:

i blame portugal.

some more cut&paste for the fans:

Zinn cites Columbus' journal entries many times, including his reaction to
the initial encounter with the Arawaks: 'They would make fine servants....With
50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want (Zinn,
1).' This attitude led to enslavement, highjacking, murder and rape. The
Spaniards main goal was to prove to the royalty back home that the islands
were rich and loaded with resources, mainly gold. Columbus took some natives
back to show the queen (they died en route), and when he came back with many
more men and many more ships, they began a regimented system of slavery and
punishment on the natives of the West Indies. All reports speak of the
friendliness of the Arawaks, of their genuine kindness and hospitality, and
of their generosity. On his second voyage back home, Columbus took 500 slaves
to Spain, saying in a letter, 'Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on
sending all the slaves that can be sold (Zinn, 4)'; two-hundred died en route.

Columbus and his men were excited over the gold earrings some of the Arawaks
wore. This is what escalated the rapid, excited mad dash for gold in the
islands (they had to make money for Spanish investors). The men took slaves
and enforced mandatory mining on the natives, who, if found without the proper
coin around their necks to prove they had brought in enough gold, were then
murdered. A young priest named Bartolome de las Casas came along with this
new 'exploration' to the West Indies, and he noticed all the attrocities that
were happening - and he documented them. In his book History of the Indies,
he says '..our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy,(Zinn,
6)' certainly a far cry from Columbus' many religious quotations claiming his
groups following of 'His [God's] way.' de las Casas' writings conclude that
in the years 1494-1508, over three million native lives were extinguished on
the island of Hispaniola from slavery, war, and mining. The invasion of the
West Indies resulted in a complete genocide.



#2 of 16 by drew on Fri Aug 29 17:52:50 2003:

I didn't think one of those islands could accommodate 3 million people at the
native people's tech level.


#3 of 16 by tod on Fri Aug 29 17:53:40 2003:

This response has been erased.



#4 of 16 by dah on Fri Aug 29 18:37:55 2003:

Regarding in All Hospitality Two:  People get born:  Repopulation?


#5 of 16 by cross on Fri Aug 29 20:54:03 2003:

This response has been erased.



#6 of 16 by sj2 on Fri Aug 29 21:36:08 2003:

The British. Played Divide and rule all across Asia. Created too much 
trouble that go on to this day.


#7 of 16 by mcnally on Fri Aug 29 22:11:29 2003:

  It's all the fault of the English..  (but of course I'd say that -- 
  my last name *is* McNally..)


#8 of 16 by twenex on Fri Aug 29 22:42:02 2003:

It *is* all the fault of the English. If the English had got their fingers
out and beat the colonials in the Revolutionary War, America would only be
a (probably small) part of the UK/British Empire, everyone would agree with
the Irish, and 9/11 would have been called 11/9 and would have happened in
London.

Oh, and Dubya would have remained an obscure Prime Minister of the Province
of Texas.


#9 of 16 by janc on Sat Aug 30 04:07:48 2003:

Nah.  It's all the fault of Sumeria.


#10 of 16 by gelinas on Sun Aug 31 04:20:31 2003:

(No, he wouldn't have, because Texas would still be part of Mexico.)


#11 of 16 by jmsaul on Sun Aug 31 12:26:31 2003:

(Plus, he isn't from Texas in the first place.)


#12 of 16 by twenex on Wed Sep 3 17:42:21 2003:

Ok, so where's he from then? Florida?


#13 of 16 by gelinas on Wed Sep 3 21:12:48 2003:

Maine, I think.  At least, the 'family home' seems to be in Kennebunkport.


#14 of 16 by jmsaul on Sat Sep 6 22:14:36 2003:

I *think* they're actually from Connecticut, but they might be from Maine.


#15 of 16 by gelinas on Sun Sep 7 05:18:35 2003:

The only ones I'm sure of are the Kennedys, from Massachusetts, and the
Rockefellers, from New York (e'en though one of them has been the Governor
of West Virginia).


#16 of 16 by bruin on Sun Sep 7 14:11:05 2003:

RE #15 Don't forget Winthrop Rockefeller, governor of Arkansas in the 1960's.


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