"The French are a bunch of surrender monkeys!"

Sander said:
Yeah, well, I was trying to ignore that, it doesn't look that good. ;)

Meh, brings up another thing: History is written by the victor. ONe of the most true things ever, in my opinion. Although the effect is severely declining lately...
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Well still on that point-

From- http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/specialprojects/voc/voc.htm

"However, this government charter secured the VOC more than a trade monopoly: it gave the VOC the power to colonise whichever territory it desired and enslaving the indigenous people according to market requirements and VOC political imperatives. This meant that the VOC did not merely get involved in trade wars with European and Asian powers from its headquarters in Batavia, but waged full-scale warfare on indigenous people in those countries that would not cooperate with its demands for tea and spices such as cloves, nutmeg and pepper, or who resisted the cash-crop economy that the VOC was forcing onto them. A prime example is the island of Banda in the Indonesian Archipelago. The VOC simply killed off the Bandanese, appropriated the island, and cultivated nutmeg as a monoculture, using slave labour from neighbouring countries.....

However the extent of suffering wreaked by the VOC in this period is incalculable. Many an East Asian country, such as Indonesia, that had been colonised by the Dutch because of the VOC project, still have to deal with the legacy of colonisation and slavery four hundred years later......

Four hundred years later, South Africa, like Indonesia, is still inextricably bound up with the European economy and is still struggling to come to terms with the violent legacy of the VOC."

Cruel history- that the age of imperialism is part and parcel of the beginning of economic globalization. Those folks in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific often had richer economies than in Europe. Indeed, I doubt any of the companies had as significant a share of trade as local commercemen. What made the companies different was that they came with cannon, and did business out of the barrel of a gun. Least we forget that the riches and splendor of Europe (and America) was born in violence.

But maybe this belongs on the imperialism thread.
 
As I said, we were bastards, incredible bastards. We were smart, economical bastards, though.
 
Actually its a very interesting bit of history. Cruel, yes, but interesting all the same.

Actually the Economist had some good articles on this very issue. I shall see if I can dig them up. Some recent books as well.

Likewise the commerce of spices, then of opium can also be compared with the traffic of narcotics and other addictive substances.

Oh here is the article site- if you can't access it and are curious, let me know and I will post-

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=179810
 
Further proof that the French are a bunch of surrender monkeys.

google2.gif


See? Even Google says so!

*Ozrat puts away the grave shovel*
 
"the french are a bunch of surrender monkeys"

"the americans are a bunch of imperialist invaders"

"the poles are a bunch of dumb fucks"

"the germans are a bunch of beer-drinking scheissorgie lovers"

"the dutch are a bunch of homosexuals smoking joints"

" the mexican are a bunch of short, beaners who wear sombreros and act like speedy gonzales"

"all russians are a bunch alcoholics and look like bears"

"jews are evil"

"muslims are terrorists"

Sorry to seem a bit drastic, but I'm fed up with all those stereotypes attached to nationalities... it just seems so stupid to me.

and before you start flaming me, i'd like to remind you that i'm polish, french and mexican, so basically if you believe that stuff, i'm a short dumb fuck who shits his pants when anything more dangerous than a cabbage comes into sight ;)

f*ck popular wisdom
 
Wooz69 said:
"the french are a bunch of surrender monkeys"

"the americans are a bunch of imperialist invaders"

"the poles are a bunch of dumb fucks"

"the germans are a bunch of beer-drinking scheissorgie lovers"

"the dutch are a bunch of homosexuals smoking joints"

" the mexican are a bunch of short, beaners who wear sombreros and act like speedy gonzales"

"all russians are a bunch alcoholics and look like bears"

"jews are evil"

"muslims are terrorists"

Sorry to seem a bit drastic, but I'm fed up with all those stereotypes attached to nationalities... it just seems so stupid to me.

and before you start flaming me, i'd like to remind you that i'm polish, french and mexican, so basically if you believe that stuff, i'm a short dumb fuck who shits his pants when anything more dangerous than a cabbage comes into sight ;)

f*ck popular wisdom
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That's too funny. I'm glad you have a sense of humor about all of this. Yes, those labels are a bit much sometimes. But they can be funny too.

How do you know if a Frenchman's been to your house?

Your home sticks, your garbage can is empty and your dog has been sexually violated.

Actually I would like to hear some american jokes.

Oh in Virginia we have West Virginia jokes, which basically go along like this-
Q. What do West Virginians do on Halloween?

A. Pumpkin!

Q. Why do ducks fly over West Virginia upside down?

A. There's nothing worth craping on!

Q. What do a tornado and a West Virginia divorce have in common?

A. Someone always loses a trailer.

Q. How do you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia?

A. If it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush.
 
Hehe, of course nationality labels are funny, until you're able to understand them as jokes :). Alas, far too many people ,at least in the soceity I'm living in, take them too seriously :(

Apparently they don't read Terry Pratchett enough ;)
 
Yes, I agree. People do take some offense at these. The problem is that some folks don't have a sense of humor.

This is one of the reasons why I think that the Catholicism and Judaism are better and more significant religions that say Islam and Southern Baptist- we have better jokes about ourselves.
 
Wooz69 said:
all russians are a bunch alcoholics
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Actually this one isn't far from true, unfortunately... Who can blame them for drinking insane amounts of vodka to warm up during long, cold winter nights?

And Ozzie, that is indeed old. Somebody posted it at the beginning of this thread already, I'm pretty sure it was Sandy.
 
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