So after wandering about like a long lost hobo without anything new to write about, I finally found something to say besides “Happy Thanksgiving.” And it’s actually related to this holiday, so it works out.
On one of the sites I go on, I was browsing the general chat boards and I found someone with a thread entitled “Happy Kill All the Native Americans Day” where conversation kind of took on the feel of how Americans or the “white men” are so terrible because we killed Native Americans. Maybe I’m over-reacting about this one little thread, but it goes beyond this.
It always seems like all the hate is directed at America, and it’s due to the fact that we’re the leading world power. If you look at history, the hate always goes to the leading country. Just like there’s always hate to the current leader of the country (although I think Obama needs it — but that is another story). People look at our history and point out the people we have killed and go “OH MY GOD YOU KILLED ALL THOSE PEOPLE YOU HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE COUNTRY.”
… Do people NOT realize that, like, EVERY country has blood on its hands at some point in time? I’m not saying killing is right. I’m not saying I’m proud to say I’m an American when I look at the Native Americans our founders killed, the land we took, or the innocent Japanese lives lost in the dropping of the atomic bomb, or how we put Japanese-Americans in concentration camps due to nothing but paranoia, and all the other times we were, well, not doing any good.
But, let’s take a look here.
The Native Americans killed plenty of the people who came to the New World as well, and they killed other tribes and other people. Okay, yeah, the settlers did come onto the land that was taken by the Native Americans. It may not have been taken in the way that they viewed property, but it was taken. So maybe this wasn’t the best example, but the point is that they killed people as well.
The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is not a proud moment, in my opinion. But let us please rewind a little and take a look at the fact that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was primarily a military base, yes, so there weren’t as many civilian deaths, but Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen because they were industrial locations, for the same reason. We also have to take into consideration that if America had not developed the atomic bomb, someone else would have. Although Germany wasn’t as far as we were, they were messing with the same stuff.
No, I’m not trying to justify what Americans have done in the past. I’m trying to even the playing field, because the reality is that war is not pretty. War does not have a total winner, because each side loses a lot. And for each side to lose a lot, each side has to deal many blows. Everyone is related to someone, no matter how distantly, who killed someone else.
Open your eyes and face the facts. No one is innocent in this kind of thing.
Edit / Created a few new icons. I really like this one right here, so much. We’ll see how long that lasts though. The icons I put up are under Icons > Movies > HP, Icons > Characters > Batman and Icons > Weather > Winter.
Also, since I forgot the questions before, here you go:
1. What else should I make for graphics, besides icons?
2. Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving, if you are from the States?
3. What are some things that irritate you that most people probably don’t care about?