What should the activities of European explorers be viewed as?

 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
Should they be seen as historical achievements or crimes against humanity? On the one hand you have the absolutely monstrous treatment and abuse of the original Americans but on the other hand you have incredible inventions, scifentific discoveries and and the settlement of what would eventually become the United States (which I think should be considered one of the most historically important events -- ever).

Where do you stand?


FatherlyNick - fuck putin | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
more |
XBL: FatherlyNick
PSN: FatherlyNick
Steam: FatherlyNick
ID: FatherlyNick
IP: Logged

9,092 posts
If you know, you know.
I wonder if it would have played out any different if the Americas were discovered today. Would the explorers respect the natives and just show them off on National Geographic?


 
Verbatim
| Komm, süßer Tod
 
more |
XBL:
PSN: Verbatim-1
Steam: Jaco230
ID: Verbatim
IP: Logged

48,284 posts
Completely inexcusable atrocities and one of the biggest reasons to hate this country and humanity in general.

Deterministically speaking, nobody really deserves any credit for any discovery or invention ever made. Had Newton not revolutionized physics, someone else probably would've in his stead. Maybe decades later, maybe a century later, but we would've done it. It's just the way we are.
Last Edit: October 10, 2017, 12:30:56 PM by Verbatim


 
challengerX
| custom title
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: challengerX
IP: Logged

42,282 posts
I DONT GIVE A SINGLE -blam!- MOTHER -blam!-ER ITS A MOTHER -blam!-ING FORUM, OH WOW, YOU HAVE THE WORD NINJA BELOW YOUR NAME, HOW MOTHER -blam!-ING COOL, NOT, YOUR ARE NOTHING TO ME BUT A BRAINWASHED PIECE OF SHIT BLOGGER, PEOPLE ONLY LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE NINJA BELOW YOUR NAME, SO PLEASE PUNCH YOURAELF IN THE FACE AND STAB YOUR EYE BECAUSE YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PIECE OF SHIT OF SOCIETY
This user has been blacklisted from posting on the forums. Until the blacklist is lifted, all posts made by this user have been hidden and require a Sep7agon® SecondClass Premium Membership to view.


Genghis Khan | Heroic Unstoppable!
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Karjala takaisin
IP: Logged

2,059 posts
 
There's still slavery in Africa and Arab countries. So...yeah...


 
DAS B00T x2
| Cultural Appropriator
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: DAS B00T x2
IP: Logged

37,907 posts
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question. 

A black and white undestanding of history does no good for anybody.


MyNameIsCharlie | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: MyNameIsCharlie
IP: Logged

7,800 posts
Get of my lawn
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question. 

A black and white undestanding of history does no good for anybody.

Strange. I was about to post exactly this


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
Deterministically speaking, nobody really deserves any credit for any discovery or invention ever made. Had Newton not revolutionized physics, someone else probably would've in his stead. Maybe decades later, maybe a century later, but we would've done it. It's just the way we are.

The United States constitution could only have been written the way it is by the people who wrote it, who were a product of English colonisation. It could have been a very different situation had the Americas not been in the exact situation they were that allowed for the constitution to exist in its current state.

Even if I agree with your point, we would still lose some relatively large sum of time to less revolutionary minds in Europe. Weariness of a monarchy (a concept which wouldn't lose virtually all its meaning until the first World War some 200 years later), leading to a democratic election process and the independence and freedoms that the constitution [tries to] guarantee eventually led to the Civil Rights movement, the abolition of slavery (granted this took longer than America's contemporaries but for other reasons) and a bunch of other humanistic endeavors that had the constitution not been written (and not set an example for the rest of the world) would have taken far longer to achieve, if it was achieved at all. You can't sleep on the precedent the founding fathers set with the constitution.


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
There's still slavery in Africa and Arab countries. So...yeah...

I'm more talking about the Americas.


 
DAS B00T x2
| Cultural Appropriator
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: DAS B00T x2
IP: Logged

37,907 posts
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?
Of the top of my head, Hudson and Cartier.

Cortes I have a problem with calling especially evil though, given that what he was doing would have been perfectly normal in a european or north aftrican conflict too.


 
challengerX
| custom title
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: challengerX
IP: Logged

42,282 posts
I DONT GIVE A SINGLE -blam!- MOTHER -blam!-ER ITS A MOTHER -blam!-ING FORUM, OH WOW, YOU HAVE THE WORD NINJA BELOW YOUR NAME, HOW MOTHER -blam!-ING COOL, NOT, YOUR ARE NOTHING TO ME BUT A BRAINWASHED PIECE OF SHIT BLOGGER, PEOPLE ONLY LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE NINJA BELOW YOUR NAME, SO PLEASE PUNCH YOURAELF IN THE FACE AND STAB YOUR EYE BECAUSE YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PIECE OF SHIT OF SOCIETY
This user has been blacklisted from posting on the forums. Until the blacklist is lifted, all posts made by this user have been hidden and require a Sep7agon® SecondClass Premium Membership to view.


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
Off the top of my head, Hudson and Cartier.

What made their approach different from that of Columbus?

Quote
Cortes I have a problem with calling especially evil though, given that what he was doing would have been perfectly normal in a european or north aftrican conflict too.

I was just trying to position him for the sake of framing the question, anyway.


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
If anyone has any interesting videos or reads that are on the topic of European exploration that might be useful to the thread, I encourage you to post them.


 
DAS B00T x2
| Cultural Appropriator
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: DAS B00T x2
IP: Logged

37,907 posts
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?
Of the top of my head, Hudson and Cartier.

Cortes I have a problem with calling especially evil though, given that what he was doing would have been perfectly normal in a european or north aftrican conflict too.
lmao what
14th/15th century spain walking in to Morocco or sailing in to the Balkans wouldn't have looked to different and he treated is conquest as a military campaign since it essentially was, as opposed to Columbus who was just being a dick for the sake of being a dick.


Turkey | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
more |
XBL: Viva Redemption
PSN: HurtfulTurkey
Steam: HurtfulTurkey
ID: HurtfulTurkey
IP: Logged

8,120 posts
 
There's no reason to treat those two concepts as mutually exclusive. Their actions can be viewed as morally repugnant from a modern viewpoint while also recognizing the impacts they had on the world.


 
challengerX
| custom title
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: challengerX
IP: Logged

42,282 posts
I DONT GIVE A SINGLE -blam!- MOTHER -blam!-ER ITS A MOTHER -blam!-ING FORUM, OH WOW, YOU HAVE THE WORD NINJA BELOW YOUR NAME, HOW MOTHER -blam!-ING COOL, NOT, YOUR ARE NOTHING TO ME BUT A BRAINWASHED PIECE OF SHIT BLOGGER, PEOPLE ONLY LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE NINJA BELOW YOUR NAME, SO PLEASE PUNCH YOURAELF IN THE FACE AND STAB YOUR EYE BECAUSE YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PIECE OF SHIT OF SOCIETY
This user has been blacklisted from posting on the forums. Until the blacklist is lifted, all posts made by this user have been hidden and require a Sep7agon® SecondClass Premium Membership to view.


 
DAS B00T x2
| Cultural Appropriator
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: DAS B00T x2
IP: Logged

37,907 posts
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?
Of the top of my head, Hudson and Cartier.

Cortes I have a problem with calling especially evil though, given that what he was doing would have been perfectly normal in a european or north aftrican conflict too.
lmao what
14th/15th century spain walking in to Morocco or sailing in to the Balkans wouldn't have looked to different and he treated is conquest as a military campaign since it essentially was, as opposed to Columbus who was just being a dick for the sake of being a dick.
What good reason was there to lead a military expedition against people who had never even heard of Spain? He was an asshole.
Because your king and God tells you to.

People were weird then dude.


Mmmmm Napalm | Legendary Invincible!
 
more |
XBL: Mmmmm Napalm
PSN: KeeblerElvesYaoi
Steam: KeeblerElvesYaoi
ID: Mmmmm Napalm
IP: Logged

6,198 posts
gurb
There was a lot of fucked up shit that the Europeans did. But at the end of the day no other group of people can say they haven't done the same so it's whatever. This is just how humanity is.

America is a great nation though, for all its shortcomings and the shit that's been going on recently. Does that excuse the evil that was and still is committed? No, but nothing really can. So there's no point in white people walking around self flagellating. I think as long as we all recognize the facts we can move forward.

Get out of here with your reasonable viewpoints.


 
Verbatim
| Komm, süßer Tod
 
more |
XBL:
PSN: Verbatim-1
Steam: Jaco230
ID: Verbatim
IP: Logged

48,284 posts
"anything that i agree with is reasonable"


Mordo | Mythic Invincible!
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Madman Mordo
IP: Logged

7,258 posts
emigrate or degenerate. the choice is yours
There's historical evidence to suggest that the Native Americans also conquered and killed an entirely different group of humans situated in America when they arrived via the Bering land bridge from Siberia.

Does that excuse the atrocities committed by the European settlers? No. But they're not the only group of people with historical blood on their hands. Humans are opportunistically evil by nature. Colonisation, much like anything else, can have its positive and negative impacts on a region.


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
There's no reason to treat those two concepts as mutually exclusive. Their actions can be viewed as morally repugnant from a modern viewpoint while also recognizing the impacts they had on the world.

Well the "reason" for treating them as mutually exclusive is because that was the way my teacher formed the question for one of my classes. He asked, "Should the activities of the great European explorers in the Age of Exploration be viewed as positive historical achievements or crimes against humanity?"

I'd already written my response but the online discussion I was instructed to take part in was pretty lively so I figured it might make for an interested thread topic here.


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
There's historical evidence to suggest that the Native Americans also conquered and killed an entirely different group of humans situated in America when they arrived via the Bering land bridge from Siberia.

Does that excuse the atrocities committed by the European settlers? No. But they're not the only group of people with historical blood on their hands. Humans are opportunistically evil by nature. Colonisation, much like anything else, can have its positive and negative impacts on a region.

Yeah, I know. And even beyond that, the natives routinely fought with other tribes for whatever they could get, using often grotesque methods. Champlain tried to bargain with the Huron people but their coexistence was contingent on the defeat of the Iroquois.

That's a discussion for another day, though.


MyNameIsCharlie | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: MyNameIsCharlie
IP: Logged

7,800 posts
Get of my lawn
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?

The vikings. Some of the early Dutch explorers.

Not everyone showed up to conquer


 
Elai
| Gay Tupac
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Prehistoric
IP: Logged

19,072 posts
male, he/him

dracula can eat my whole ass!
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?

The vikings. Some of the early Dutch explorers.

Not everyone showed up to conquer

The Vikings were up around Greenland and Newfoundland, no? Both islands where indiginous people didn't live.


BaconShelf | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
more |
XBL: BaconShelf
PSN:
Steam: BaconShelf
ID: BaconShelf
IP: Logged

10,794 posts
 
There's no reason to treat those two concepts as mutually exclusive. Their actions can be viewed as morally repugnant from a modern viewpoint while also recognizing the impacts they had on the world.
I had this topic come up in my Visual Iconography lecture on scifi yesterday. Lecturer was talking about H.P Lovecraft and his influences on modern fiction stuff before going into how he was really racist and that gets forgotten by a lot of people, but should his cool writing be separated from his personal life?

OT more, I agree with Turkey. It's perfectly possible to respect someone's contributions to art/ science/ whatever while also decrying their shortcomings.
Last Edit: October 10, 2017, 06:10:41 PM by BaconShelf


MyNameIsCharlie | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: MyNameIsCharlie
IP: Logged

7,800 posts
Get of my lawn
Both, with leanings one way or the other based on the individual actions of the explorer in question.

Okay, so you have Columbus and Cortez on the evil side of the spectrum. Who would you say could champion the benevolent side of European exploration in the Americas?

The vikings. Some of the early Dutch explorers.

Not everyone showed up to conquer

The Vikings were up around Greenland and Newfoundland, no? Both islands where indiginous people didn't live.

There's a lot of evidence they made it as far as modern New England


 
DAS B00T x2
| Cultural Appropriator
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: DAS B00T x2
IP: Logged

37,907 posts
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Vikings by definition would have came as raiders or conquerors.


Super Irish | Legendary Invincible!
 
more |
XBL: Superirish19
PSN: Superirish19
Steam: Superirish19
ID: Super Irish
IP: Logged

6,040 posts
If I'm not here, I'm doing photography. Or I'm asleep. Or in lockdown. One of those three, anyway.

The current titlebar/avatar setup is just normal.
Vikings by definition would have came as raiders or conquerors.

They raided abbeys and churches in the UK and Ireland for hundreds of years, slaughtered a shit ton of people and then took back the women, or just raped them then and there.

As a result we have Ireland's capital (Dublin, coming from the Gaelic Dubh Linn, or Blackpool because it was a swampy bog until vikings settled there), several coastal towns around Britain, and some leftover traces of Nordic genes in the population.

Benevolent they ain't, but influential on the future of both countries. The Saxons had to ward them off in the North before getting to Hastings and dealing with William (the future Conqueror of Britain).

Everyone generally sees the Romans in a positive light, but then in Britain alone they nearly eradicated the Celtic languages and culture. They made roads and Bath though, so it's all good.





Genghis Khan | Heroic Unstoppable!
 
more |
XBL:
PSN:
Steam:
ID: Karjala takaisin
IP: Logged

2,059 posts
 
Africa should go back to colonization. It was way better off that way. Infrastructure would be built for them and they could learn how to use them.