Subject:
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Re: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 3 Jul 2002 21:49:32 GMT
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Viewed:
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3774 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Pedro Silva writes:
> > In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Joseph Williams writes:
>
> > > I'm in full agreement with taking into consideration previous civilizations
> > > as greater in influence than what is currently the USA of today. Take either
> > > China or Egypt, which are still very vital world communities today. Most
> > > everything we take for granted had some sort of origin in these regions.
> > > From masonary, writing, religion, and structures whose purposes we in our
>
> > I will be more inclined to agree that China has continuously been an
> > extremely important civilization, rather than Egypt (which is now only a
> > part of a much wider culture). But yes, you have a point - ultimately, those
> > who came before laid the path to our present-day greatness.
>
> On the other hand, what have they done recently? Have the Chinese or Egyptians
> contributed to the world anything of note in the past thousand years?
The Chinese sold pasta to italian merchants. They "invented" gunpowder (I am
not sure of the date, though). And they chose the ultimate path a great
civilization can afford to, they ignored the rest of us *because they could
afford to*. And up until 1842, noone even bothered them!
Currently, and adapting a quote from Churchill, China is "a riddle wrapped
in a mystery inside an enigma". Noone really knows what they are up to, but
it is easy to guess that China is quickly catching up with the more advanced
nations.
The Egyptians have been included in the Arab/Islamic civilization for the
part 1000+ years; still, in the domain of arts and sciences, numerous men
born in Egypt in the Middle Ages wrote masterpieces which were later read by
european scholars during the Renaissance. It may be of low visibility, and I
admit Egypt may have lost influence in more recent times.
OTOH, the answer to your question might just be "did they feel they have to?"
;-)
> At all time and in all places, every accomplishment is made standing on the
> backs of giants. That does not diminish greatness. What may diminish
> greatness is when it is achieved at too great a cost -- as you might argue WRT
> the US.
True for the first bit; the second half may be true or not, but it is not my
point to argue on that. I only mean to say there are "greater" nations who
are more often than not overlooked.
Pedro
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