Is western civilisation better than aboriginies of the past? (1 Viewer)

[verdades]

So those tribal battles were...for fun?
Also, don't see why "ownership of land" is any worse a reason to fight than whatever they fought for.

More likely insults against someone in a tribe, hence the entire tribe fights.
The closest concept I can come up with right now would be that it's similar to someone being dishonorable towards someone else, or breaking custom - both concepts placed in the context of Aboriginal culture, not Western.
I'd say ownership of land is a worse thing to fight for, as it only serves to give a sense of power, especially as the Aboriginal people lived off the land as it was. While yes, it would have been because they were not developed enough as a society to require this sense of power, it still does mean that they didn't attempt to take over things simply for the power said 'taking over' shows.
The point of that also being, what does the power of taking over something achieve? In most cases, you've wasted a fortune on supplying soldiers etc, and in the end, you still have to make sure the land you have just taken over is productive - costing more money still. So it's reasonably useless. Although, it can be argued that fighting for an 'honorable' reason is equally unproductive. Though if won, justifies your belief, thus making you feel better about it all.

Sorry, can't think straight right now.

 

[cxlxoxk]

YouTube - midnight oil-dead heart



Favourite line: "We carry in our hearts the true country."

btw, i was born in australia, to asian parents, who immigrated here, my parents tell me of their hardship, i feel sympathetic for those who have had to deal with a even greater degree pain, suffering and disadvantage!

 

[Riet]

Aborigines > Western civilisation.

They didn't kill the land.
They also didn't kill each other off.

Wtf are you talking about?

Btw: they ruined perfectly good caves with shit drawings that a 2 year old european could have done.

 

[Riet]

yeah but not on an island by themselves

they had to build on the foundations they pinched from the arabs
who had to build on the foundations they pinched from the greeks & indians
etc.

western civilisation on an island alone would probably still be like the vikings
or aborigines

Umm the vikings built some of the best boats of human history prior to the invention of the steam engine.

Edit: Also they probably discovered North America (Canada) before the Southern Europeans.

 

[katie tully]

Face it guys.

They had the chance to develop the technologies required to defend themselves from the Europeans.

They didn't.

They were conquered.

The.
End.

 

[cxlxoxk]

We "conquered"...yes...but that doesn't make us any better, it just makes us stronger/more evil (conquering = genocide).

you are basically saying a murderer is better than a murder victim.

 

[big8oyjames]

Face it guys.

They had the chance to develop the technologies required to defend themselves from the Europeans.

They didn't.

They were conquered.

The.
End.

fucking racist.

 

[Rockyroad]

YouTube - midnight oil-dead heart



Favourite line: "We carry in our hearts the true country."

btw, i was born in australia, to asian parents, who immigrated here, my parents tell me of their hardship, i feel sympathetic for those who have had to deal with a even greater degree pain, suffering and disadvantage!

Yay I'm so glad you posted that song, it is one of my favourites.
I like that line too.
I like this one too:
YouTube - Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning
The chorus is so inspiring.

 

[that bloke]

Much is made of Aboriginals being in harmony with nature, of living off the land sustainably. Much is also made of their fire regimes in terms of maintaing the environment. Burning off the land is harmonious? it is manipulating the land, exploiting it to serve their purpose of controlling wildfire and creating new vegetative growth to draw in potential prey. This suggests they were willing to exploit the land to serve their own ends. Were they merely lacking the technology to exploit the land in an overtly destructive fashion?
Also, those fire regimes are responsible for influencing tens of thousands of years of biological evolution, particularly in terms of flora, and its distribution. Had the aboriginals never arrived, much of the landscape would look vastly different. The form that europeans found it in is the form the aboriginals cultivated.
I've had to read a lot into Abo fire regimes at uni and when you read so much of it then keep hearing about them being perfectly harmonious and non-destructive, it just don't sound right.

 

[Riet]

We "conquered"...yes...but that doesn't make us any better, it just makes us stronger/more evil (conquering = genocide).

you are basically saying a murderer is better than a murder victim.

Cool, we conquered The Huns and Japs too, so they're the victims?

 

[zstar]

Aborigines have all the greatest scientists and inventors.

They invented petrol sniffing.

Who'd ever think of using car gas for getting high?

Bloody genius!!

 

[big8oyjames]

Some notable Aboriginal inventions

• Stone tools - Aboriginal people are thought to be the first to use ground edges on stone cutting tools and the first to use stone tools to grind seeds.
• Boomerang - a throwing stick used for many purposes whose design allows it to return to the (skilled) thrower.
• Woomera - a spear throwing holder that acts as an extension of the arm thus allowing greater power and range for the spear. "Woomera" was adopted as an appropriate name for the rocket launching range and associated settlement in outback South Australia.
• Didgeridoo - a musical instrument whose sound is immediately recognisable. It first appeared 2,000 or more years ago and at the time of European arrival was used in the north western corner of Australia.

LOLZ

 

[Graney]

Aboriginies even failed at getting high. Unlike say, native South Americans, there are very few native substances of abuse in Australia, pituri is about the only one.

 

[that bloke]

Some notable Aboriginal inventions

• Boomerang - a throwing stick used for many purposes whose design allows it to return to the (skilled) thrower.

LOLZ

Their boomerangs only flew a curved path. It took white man to make one that actually came back.

 

[Riet]

And who cares anyway. Our mastery of aerodynamics invented aeroplanes.

 

[cxlxoxk]

And who cares anyway. Our mastery of aerodynamics invented aeroplanes.

which are able to be hijacked and crashed into our own buildings...

lol pwned...

more/less inventing doesn't make a culture more superior/worse than another.

Riet...watch "The Gods Must Be Crazy", you may or may not get a different perspective of our culture then...

clue: compare the differences between the People of the Kalahari Desert, and the Modern world - their similarities and differences.

I'll point out a quote

"Civilised men refuse to adapt themselves to their environment, instead he'd adapt his environment to suit him. So he built cities, roads, vehicles, machinery, and he put up power lines to run these labor saving devices, but somehow he didn't know when to stop, the more he improved his surroundings to make life easier, the more complicated he made it. So now his children are sent to 10 - 15 years of school, just to learn how to survive in this complex and hazardous habitat they were born into."

 

[katie tully]

lol @ referencing the gods must be crazy

fuck off you weirdo.

 

[cxlxoxk]

no, why don't you, no need for the swearing...

 

[cxlxoxk]

i generally have different opinions to people in mainstream society...so yeah...

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah yeah. The benefits of being able to travel anywhere in the world in under 24 hours greatly outweigh the infinitesimal chances of terrorism. I don't see where this point is going.

I'm saying what you define as a worser culture (middle east - al qaeda), is still able affect our technology...why can't we make it foolproof and untouchable, if we are so "superior". answer: we're not.

Are you saying that democracy is equal to theocracy in Iran or Saudi Arabia where people who are homosexual are executed? Those are equal?

homosexuals are executed because of extreme religious values/influence on politics/government, "government/politics" is is structure of society...not culture...

it's why honour killings exist in islamic countries...

Yeah but we don't shit in our food and die from starvation all that much. If you want to be a luddite, go ahead and turn your back on society, go wander into the woods and forage off the land.

Actually the film i mentioned doesn't say they die from starvation...it says they live quite contentedly in the desert, "forgaging of the land".

 

[moll.]

i generally have different opinions to people in mainstream society...so yeah...

Which is why you're a quack and no-one is taking you or anything you say seriously.

Homosexuals are executed because of extreme religious values/influence on politics/government, "government/politics" is is structure of society...not culture...

it's why honour killings exist in islamic countries...

And where do you think these extreme religious values come from? Religion is as much a part of culture as is local cuisine.
A society's collective decision's are influenced by their culture and belief systems, and despite the fact that it is a theocracy/monarchy in these countries, they are homegrown dictatorships, not foreign ones, and thus the belief systems of populace are mirrored within the actions of these governments, although they are taken to certain extremes.
Do you think a theocracy like the one in Iran could survive or come about in Australia? Of course it couldn't. Why? Because we have different culture and therefore an entirely different way of viewing the world.

Actually the film i mentioned doesn't say they die from starvation...it says they live quite contentedly in the desert, "forgaging of the land".

If you think their culture and way of life is so great then go join them.
I dare you.