Do we play favorites when talking about evil nations?

[Striton]

Of course. I bet the reason most countries even instituted common core history standards is as a kind of propaganda. Nobody's going to admit that they or their allies are complete d**cks,

[Kractero]

Public schooling really plays with developing minds. Pretty propaganda-prone.

[Striton]

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[Old Tyrannia]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

[The Wolven League]

Good and evil are relative.


And public schools in the U.S. tend to not go into genocides and such much, at least in my expperience.

[Alyakia]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

my schools were completely devoid of any coverage of the british empire. our leaders still occasionally like to go on tangents about how the british empire was a force for good that spread democracy. i only ever hear about crimes the british empire committed in response to people saying things like this. frankly it's bullshit, this "oh we get told we're evil constantly". we don't. most people in this country still think the british empire was a positive force. most people have never heard of the famines or the torture. we don't get fucking told it enough.

in fact, one of our biggest propaganda coups that continues to this day, that i fucking guarantee you yourself will proudly boast, is that we were much better than all our competitors, the nicest empire there ever was... as we rape people with broken bottles. do a straw poll of what people think when they hear of the nazis, the french empire, the belgian congo, the spanish empire and the british empire and i guarantee you that people will be able to think of a lot more crimes committed by the other empires than they can for the british. and hint, it's not because the british crimes never happened.

[Radiatia]

If you're trying to insinuate that my love of the British Empire is based on anything other than objective fact, or trying to contradict the reality that Britain is the greatest nation that ever was, then I say for shame to you!

Seriously though (I am incredibly drunk at time of writing) while I accept that there is a degree of whitewashing of western history over atrocities committed, it's still a far cry from any of the industrial-level slaughter that the Nazis, et al. engaged in. Sure the intent might have been there in the past, but the Nazis and the Soviets (and Khmer Rouge, and several African nations) had the technology to create genocides of proportions hitherto unknown.

EDIT: I can't comment on the public education system because it's been far too many years, and far too many quantities of drugs and alcohol, since I was a part of that and as such I simply don't remember what I was taught. But considering I was educated in New Zealand under a Labour government, I can imagine it would have been along the lines of "all white people are evil."

[Ethel mermania]

And I have yet to see a history course that does more than simply glean over the Japanese internment in a few sentences.

You probably have not been to college yet. I would say the way we treated the Indians was far worse, but plenty of college courses cover it as well.

[Hirota]

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

At least we were equal opportunity. We've committed genocide on Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Middle easterns. *shrugs*

Every country, ancient history and modern, has brutal talking points. Literally nobody on Earth has a squeeky clean past, but that doesn't mean we should dwell on past crimes. Recognise them, learn from them, and move on.

[Maichuko]

Yes the mongols left a trail of death and destruction across Europe and Asia that left most of the arab world destroyed. The soviets killed hundreds of thousands of people that they suspected of being disloyal to communism. China's "cultural revolution" killed 30 million. Really as I get older and learn more about history the less I hate hitler and his Germany. I disagree with his racial policies but otherwise I see a lot of good things he did for the country.

[Ardavia]

I disagree with his racial policies but otherwise I see a lot of good things he did for the country.

Like what?

[Crockerland]

The reason being that Ottoman/Nazi crimes were in the 1900s, British/Spanish/US crimes were in the 1700s and 1800s, and Mongolian "crimes" were in the 1300s.

[New Axiom]

If you think about it, America is a real dick. Now, look, I love my country, but, like you said, we play favorites. In WWII, we took hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese immigrants and put them in "internment camps." We invaded Vietnam for money. We invaded Iraq multiple times-but, in my opinion, the 1991 campaign was most justified. I love America, but still.

[Tolko Temnota]

The reason being that Ottoman/Nazi crimes were in the 1900s, British/Spanish/US crimes were in the 1700s and 1800s, and Mongolian "crimes" were in the 1300s.

Basically this, I think. Humans tend to remember and have connections with recent events more than ones from hundreds of years ago, for obvious reasons. Deaths under the Mongols were far greater than under the Nazis, and people like Vlad the Impaler used far more gruesome methods of execution, but people don't remember those as much.

[Marcurix]

I wouldn't say it was glossed over, but certainly particular nations recive more focous than others depending on where you are. Nazi Germany doesn't have the same go-to in Asia as it does in Europe, for example.

It all depends were are you are.

[The Hobbesian Metaphysician]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

Which is nonsense since the people alive today didn't commit these crimes.

I get cautiously reminding students what happened without going down the slippery slope of collective guilt, but just blasting everyone serves no purpose.

[The Hobbesian Metaphysician]

If you think about it, America is a real dick. Now, look, I love my country, but, like you said, we play favorites. In WWII, we took hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese immigrants and put them in "internment camps." We invaded Vietnam for money. We invaded Iraq multiple times-but, in my opinion, the 1991 campaign was most justified. I love America, but still.

We hardly "invaded" Vietnam for money.

Over the course of President Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Nixon's administrations we went to the losing side of a civil war with blank checks because South Vietnam threw a hissy fit, and didn't want to hold open elections. Hell if anything we lost more than we made because the public became apathetic to the war, and just wanted us to get the hell out of a place that wasn't even our business to be in. All because of Presidential doctrine to contain the Soviet Union's influence.

[Genivaria]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

What alot of people don't understand is that reality is not like fairy tales where there is one clear villian and one clear hero.
The fact that an individual, culture, or nation is victimized by another does NOT mean that they themselves are poor virtuous victims.

Was what the Spanish did to Native Americans pretty shitty? Yes.
The fact that the Aztecs were one of the Spanish's victims does not remove the shitty things that the Aztecs did to their neighbors.

You can in fact be both oppressed and oppressor, they are not mutually exclusive.

[Genivaria]

Good and evil are relative.


And public schools in the U.S. tend to not go into genocides and such much, at least in my expperience.

Blame American Exceptionalism, I went to school in Texas so there was very little negative about the US that was said.

[Diopolis]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

There isn't one. There are fifty-some-odd different education systems in the US that mutually agree on how to count years in school.

[The Hobbesian Metaphysician]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

There isn't one. There are fifty-some-odd different education systems in the US that mutually agree on how to count years in school.

You are kind of right any time the federal government tries to advocate or actually enforce cohesiveness the states start throwing stuff like crazy.

[Kubra]

Absolute rubbish. The European colonial empires are constantly brought up as a force of evil and the reason for just about every problem in the modern world, whether that is true or not. The crimes of the British, French, Spanish and other empires are not "glossed over".

The US education system may approach things differently, but here in the UK we get told quite regularly that we're all monsters for what our ancestors did.

Which is nonsense since the people alive today didn't commit these crimes.

I get cautiously reminding students what happened without going down the slippery slope of collective guilt, but just blasting everyone serves no purpose.

the point of that collective guilt is to give moral high ground when discussing other post-empire euros
Now you can say " we're better than those french bastards, eh?"

[Diopolis]

There isn't one. There are fifty-some-odd different education systems in the US that mutually agree on how to count years in school.

You are kind of right any time the federal government tries to advocate or actually enforce cohesiveness the states start throwing stuff like crazy.

Now add in the private school systems, and the homeschooling ones.

[Genivaria]

There isn't one. There are fifty-some-odd different education systems in the US that mutually agree on how to count years in school.

You are kind of right any time the federal government tries to advocate or actually enforce cohesiveness the states start throwing stuff like crazy.

Huh imagine that, the people who say the Federal government can't do anything right always refuse to allow the Federal government to do it at all.

[Genivaria]

You are kind of right any time the federal government tries to advocate or actually enforce cohesiveness the states start throwing stuff like crazy.

Now add in the private school systems, and the homeschooling ones.

"Now children pop quiz, who was the greatest of our Founding Fathers?"
"Moses!"
"That's right children! Now everyone join me in prayer."