Humanity becoming...LESS violent? WTF??

I haven't seen why I should think I'm wrong.

I agree with Pyrkete. American Exceptionalism is in part a product of achievement-based complacency. We've seen it first hand. You're the self-proclaimed progressives of the world. Do you know what the enemy of progressivism is?

Congratulatory action.

I am an academic first and a progressive second. When in order to be a progressive I must convince myself of things that are untrue, I will cease to be a progressive.

I'm with USA on how things are better, but how we shouldn't stop to chill about it too long.

Who the heck is chilling?!

Apparently not you.

Tomu@Violence I believe will never die but it just updates its style for a new generation.

Or get different, safer outputs for it. Like Rome with the Gladiator games.

What the flying fuck are you talking about?

This is a thread about how less people are dying and how that's a good thing. Where do you get off taking what is in its very essence a good thing (unless you're a misanthrope or otherwise hate humans as a whole) and taking it and trying to blame the United States for the world's problems? These two things are not even related, it's like going into a topic about apples to find someone ranting about how much they hate wagon wheels.

I'm not blaming it on the US, I'm saying that the United States is an exercise in what happens when people stop trying to make things better and get complacent about their superiority.

We went from the most "progressive" country in the world in the 1900s-1910s to... not, in the 1950s. Why? Because we stopped and said "hey, we're doing pretty good, let's celebrate!"

And now look where we are.

Eh, we won WW 2. It kind of went to our heads :P

Yes, people being too happy is totally the cause of everything bad that happened from the 50's to the present day. There is absolutely no way there could be one or more other factors.

I am not fond of using that type of sarcasm, but seriously man look at what you're saying and read it back to yourself and ask if it makes any damn sense.

edited 28th Sep '11 4:50:25 PM by BlixtySlycat

No, a coalition of hundreds of nations—including three major players, one of which was the US—won World War Two. We then let it go to our heads and claimed credit for it. Yes, all the countries that won do that, but we're very loud about it, and totally convinced of the truthfulness of it.

Plus, you know, we went from doing pretty good to not doing pretty good...

Pfft. Nah, we won WW 2. Totally us. No one else contributed at all, all our doing. Yep. Mmm hmm.

In all seriousness, US History is not my strong suit, so I'll just let you have this one.

The myth of "America won the war" didn't start until our involvement in the Vietnam war, or at least not on any large scale.

If you consider "funding everything" to be the benchmark for winning, then the US won. If you consider "actually did a lot of the fighting" to be the benchmark for winning, the USSR won.

Or, you can be reasonable and note that everybody helped in their own way.

Anyhow, American Exceptionalism is complacency in action. Best example in history of a nation going from doing pretty well to living in the moment and having no clear plan for how to keep getting better.

I am not arguing with you that America won the war—we did not, and that we did is a myth, if you're just going to ignore my point completely I'll just drop the subject.

Okay, two things—

1. What is "American Exceptionalism"? You keep using this term and I'm just guessing it means "thinking America is teh best", but I don't really know because you're being rather vague with it.
2. what do you mean by "living in the moment and not having any clear plan"? We have plenty of plans, it's just that none of them work because everyone wants a Utopia right the fuck now-now.

edited 28th Sep '11 5:00:09 PM by BlixtySlycat

Eh, we contributed in later parts of the war, came out one of the two strongest nations in the world, topped Russia later, and became the world's super power. Then what happened wasn't unlike Britain and its reign.

American Exceptionalism.

Bad plans may as well be no plan at all. We were a world benchmark in the early 1900s, and then World War Two came about and we were rich—and carefree.

From that very article:

So, you're using it in the same way the latter highlighted group is. 'kthen.

What to you is a "good" plan, then? I want specifics.

Ah, but you have forgotten the most powerful weapon of all: words. Ideal citizens, denied even contemplative use of other means to achieve violence, will destroy each other with words. Unlike other weapons, the less you are allowed to talk, the more violent and rebellious you are, and the more enabled to use words when you can. With the internet, we have substituted physical violence for other kinds.

The 20th century less homicidal than any other? Citation needed.

Most people who use the term use it in that manner. It's also a much older concept. "A city upon a hill" predates the United States, and was in use by the Puritans.

A "good plan" would be off-topic. This whole spiel is probably off-topic...

Then PM me one.

I'll probably not respond unless I have something important to say, but I would like to see this.

edited 28th Sep '11 5:12:52 PM by BlixtySlycat

I'm not buying it. Humans have always been violent bastards, it's our nature.

Evolution is a slow worker.