The Fish for Civitates (Patron: imb39)
The Fish
Here's his paragraph...
Here's mine:Originally Posted by The Fish
I see the TW community, and particularly those members who post in the Thema Devia, as part of a group of people who have questions about society, culture, spirituality, and other important topics, and are attempting to increase their knowledge in these areas through discussion and debate. For such a eventuality to be realized, it is important to have a group of people who take on the responsibility to engage each other in an open, competent, and respectful way. Civitates are the frontline community members who keep discussions intelligent and civil, so that everyone involved in the community can increase their knowledge, witness differing viewpoints, and gain a better understanding of the world and each other.
Some examples of his work:The Fish from his first post astounded me in the sheer levels of detail and factual information in his posts. His manner has not deteriorated at all, if anything his prescence and posts have impressed me further. He is a very active member of thema devia and other community forums and already exhibits behaviour relative to civitateship.
I feel he is one of the most highest quality posters on the board at this time. He would be a great addition to the boards and the curia.
andIn any situation, it is possible to find one aspect that can be seen as positive. However, one must still look at the overarching situation to determine whether it was primarily positive or negative. The European colonization of Africa was, at least as I see it, an overwhelmingly negative situation. The colonizing act was incredibly brutal in itself. The subjugation of tribes, theft of land, and pillaging of natural resources were all done at the point of a gun. The Belgian colonies were so brutally run that even the British were scandalized (see "Heart of Darkness").
The social upheaval that European colonization caused has also had far-reaching consequences. Malaria, for instance kills millions of African children every year, but this disease was much less of a problem before European colonization. The reason is that most tribes, through oral history, understood that malaria was a problem around standing water, and was compounded if people lived in large groups. Thus, the tribes were composed of smaller groups, who tended to avoid large lakes or other bodies of standing water. During colonization, though, this small tribal system was destroyed, and people were concentrated in cities that were near water (this is especially true in places with heavy mining activity, like the Kimberly diamond mines). The result was a huge malaria epidemic that continues to cripple African economies and halt development.
Thus, European colonists did bring some beneficial technologies and ideas with them, but the colonialist endeavor was not altruistic: it was primarily opportunistic. Thus, any benefits that did result were mainly incidental; overall the colonial experience was one of misery and long-lasting instability for Africa.
I also think that the fall of the current Chinese government would cause massive economic problems for that country (and for those world economies which rely on it, which is most of them). The current Chinese economic miracle is so managed and controlled by the Chinese govt. that a large-scale domestic revolution would effectively stall development for a significant amount of time. This is why some investors are getting a little worried about long-term investments in China. They're still investing, but doing so with a wary eye on the future.
