The Reformed American Republic wrote:Gallia- wrote:
I'm saying that societies don't progress linearly. They exist within specific cultures.
If you argue that the Taliban are primitive you're falling into the trap that Edward Said mentions in Orientalism. The Taliban are primitive, feminine, effete, and barbaric. They need to be civilized by White Men who will brandish guns, shoot interlopers, and establish a reign that will convert these wayward savages to a more civilized and enlightened viewpoint. Except the British Empire and whatnot were clever enough to realize that the White Man's Burden is nonsense and just used their colonies for mineral wealth extraction. The United States has Mexico and Canada for this so it's hardly starved for imperial exploited labor forces.
It was just the US State Department unironically believing what a lot of people believe in this thread: That there is a white man's burden needing to be pushed onto the Pashtuns and Afghan Taliban because they are savages who live in mud huts or something I guess. It's raw, unironic colonialism with a tinge of benevolent racism. Yuck.
The Taliban are mostly savages, though I'm still for pulling out.
Yes, we know you're racist against Pashtuns. Most people can put that aside and hash out a deal with different cultures and belief systems, even if they find their beliefs distasteful, though.
You can't really reason with ISIS though, because they're ideological extremists, which is kind of like the United States State Department in a way.