"Cultural Relativity" versus "WHite Man's Burden"

[Badger Kyre]

This was the match [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130527903]

From a FB thread, by "burners" - that other spectrum of Geeks from the Escapists - arising from a discussion from a TED (ideas website ) posting.

Kyre Badger http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130527903
Cultural Relativity my ass... let me SEE someone do some shit like THISi, and my might is about to MAKE right.
MY ancestors were IN India, slaughtering the fucking THUGEES, btw, so when I say "white man's burden" I say it in the sense it was intended - the human need to impose "ORDER" - our concept of GOOD - on the "chaos" of the world.
Empirical data shows, I would shoot a thug in the FACE .
11 minutes ago · Like
Kyre Badger Yesterday's status, still true today:
"I want the Eric Cartmans of the world - (aaron, molley, gil, drake, all you coward bully rapist snitches and your ilk )
I want you to know, "God" put me here so there'd be thin ice for your fat asses to fall through when you throw your weight around."
5 minutes ago · Like
Anatol Wyss What the hell are you talking about?
3 minutes ago · Like
Kyre Badger READ THE LINK.
LIke I said, I would be forced to impose my Subjective Value of Good and Evil.
OR Die trying.
about a minute ago · Like

 

[Nickolai77]

I support military intervention for moral reasons. I.e, to stop genocide, to liberate oppressed people under a dictatorship et cetera. The problem here though is that military interventions in such countries can be very costly, and the ultimate victims are the civilians whom your trying to protect. In the end, a war you start could harm the civilians more than the evil regime ever was. (e.g-Iraq)

So, military interventions have to be taken with a certain amount of calculated risk, and as a last resort when other less risky options have been tried and failed.

Edit: What has white man's burden got to do with this thread?

 

[Badger Kyre]

That's actually the exact meaning of the White Man's Burden,
"This view proposes that white people consequently have an obligation to rule over, and encourage the cultural development of people from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds until they can take their place in the world by fully adopting Western ways. "

Which , more broadly , isn't about "white" but about one's own ideas of the inherent superiority of their own cultural values.

This thread didn't get any other hits, I expected more politicizing here, I guess the Xbox and ANime crowd are on that's on today, sometimes the old geeks and wargamers are on and it's pretty serious. Maybe poor time of day to post that.

Regardless, here's where it progressed in the original thread :

Spoiler: Anatols next posts

i think this topic will never end... ^^
i take it then that you believe that the wars that the US impose on others is the result of that beliefe?

Anatol Wyss EAST TIMOR AND KOSOVO
Just as Colombia was replacing Turkey as the leading recipient of US military aid, another tale of horror was unfolding that Washington could easily have brought to a quick end: East Timor. In 1999, Indonesia escalated the atrocities in the territory they had invaded in 1975, killing perhaps 200,000 people with the military and diplomatic support of the US and Britain, assisted by intentional ignorance." In the early months of 1999, Indonesian forces and their paramilitary associates added several thousand more to the death toll,4 while the ruling generals announced that worse would come if the population voted the wrong way in an August 30 referendum on independence?as they did, with amazing courage. The Indonesian military made good on its promise, driving hundreds of thousands from their homes and destroying most of the country. For the first time, the atrocities were well publicized in the United States. On September 8, the Clinton administration reacted by reiterating its position that East Timor is "the responsibility of the Government of Indonesia, and we don't want to take that responsibility away from them." A few days later, under strong international and domestic pressure, Clinton reversed the 25-year policy of support for Indonesia's crimes in East Timor, and informed the Indonesian military that Washington would no longer directly support their crimes. They immediately withdrew from the territory, allowing an Australian-led UN peacekeeping force to enter unopposed.5

Noam Chomsky: Hegemony of survival.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/hegemony_survival.pdf

Spoiler: Badger's next post

Kyre Badger ‎@ Anatol: "i think this topic will never end..."
please refer to what i said; regarding this dialectic earlier, that the conflict between these two motivations is a balancing act, both are valid - this is the essence of the "eternal questions" - anyone claiming to have a single policy or perfect ( or simple ) solution, is inherently full of shit.
see: Religions.
( by which i meant; their position is based on faith rather than reason, be it a "spiritual " faith or not. I wrote earlier admitting my own cultural bias and values )
"i take it then that you believe that the wars that the US impose on others is the result of that belief?"
this is what i believe : " this is EXACTLY why we have THOSE styles of wars - ( and why some that aren't, wave that flag to justify them to those who bear the brunt of the fighting )"
it can be a reason or a justification, the desire to impose "Good" - our culturally - influenced definition of it - is a basic motivation, central to the human spirit:
Let Marduk crush Tiamat, and Zeus and Athena slap the shit out of Typhon.

There is survival, but mere survival will allow us to let others suffer, or Evil to exist - some people are motivated to interfere...
Do politicians often use this noble motivation to manipulate?
I think I said that already pretty clearly.
If you are going to argue with me that there si no altruistic urge in humans whatsoever, I have had that argument, and consider it worth debating, but I also consider it a separate argument I won't have with you here, If ever.

I understand to some degree you are merely engaging in discourse, but I have a strange feeling that if one of the "wolves" was hurting you or your family, you would be VERY glad to have one of us "sheepdogs" jump to your aid.

Anyway, thanks for your response, 'tis a sad day when burners out-interest Geeks.