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Topic: War (Read 1378 times)
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Gregor Milne
Administrator
Poster Monkey
Posts: 72
The best friend I ever had
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War
« on: November 28, 2006, 09:30:20 PM » |
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"For this land which you now inhabit, shut in on all sides by the sea and the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population; it scarcely furnishes food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder and devour one another, that you wage wars, and that many among you perish in civil strife. Let hatred, therefore, depart from among you; let your quarrels end. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulcher; wrest that land from a wicked race, and subject it to yourselves."
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Al Facinha
Full Member
Posts: 15
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Re: War
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2006, 02:02:36 AM » |
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Hear! Hear!
Now what is the relationship between wickedness, possession, the desire for possession and alleged wickedness?
Is there not such a notion as "giving a race a bad name" ?
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Gregor Milne
Administrator
Poster Monkey
Posts: 72
The best friend I ever had
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Re: War
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2006, 05:25:45 PM » |
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This was Pope Urban II on the Eve of the first Crusade.
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Al Facinha
Full Member
Posts: 15
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Re: War
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2006, 01:44:45 AM » |
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 I thought it was... indeed Bouthoul used it as a starting point for his theory that the Crusades - esp. the 1st one - had mainly as an object to quench the flow of fast-growing population in medieval Europe; in the same way the 19th century Empire builders were lured into "bringing civilization" to Africa. Now Urban II's message sounds ominous in view of 1) the demographic unbalance between "Northern" and "Southern" countries, 2) the unequal repartition of wealth in the world, 3) the fast-changing climate conditions that will fatally drive threatened populations into large migrations. The pretext of the "Holy Sepulchre" of democracy is very thin indeed for the rearguard actions of "developed countries". The crusade simile goes the other way. Is there not a tide in the life of men?... And if there are many Urban-style preachers, I do not think we have any Saladin in this part of the world.
Of course Urban's words can be twisted into literal use by either small nation, equally crowded between hostile grounds and the sea, equally competing for the City where the Holy Sepulchre happens also to be. That would be wicked indeed. 
If we had, say, a Congress of Saladins in the U.N.O, they might think about:
- Organizing migrations and the cultural changes that go with them, without patronizing the migrants;
- Making global World Trade a more active tool of development and progress;
- Toning down the greenhouse effect and general pollution of the atmosphere to stop - or at least delay - the desertification of large chunks of the planet;
- Saving energy...
But I'm afraid most of those bogus crusaders of the Northern World (Western if you like, or Democratic as they say) are looking towards their wars rather in the manner of King John... 
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