Israel/Palestine

Whenever I read yet another progressive rant blaming white Europeans for colonialism, I can't help but wonder whether they've bothered to really read history.

Colonialism still goes on, and not by those no-goodnik Europeans and Americans. I think that what the Chinese do to their minorities is a flagrant example of colonialism and would have a lot of DU progressives howling with outrage--if those acts were committed by Europeans.

I think it is entirely arguable that what the Indonesians are doing in Timor and eastern New Guinea is also colonialism. Again, I expect either crickets or blame-shifting from the perpetually-indignant.

I believe that what the Vietnamese have done to the mountain tribes living there also qualifies as colonialism.

And in Africa...Lots of examples there. What the Sudanese did to the folks of what used to be southern Sudan was another example. There are other examples in sub-Saharan Africa and there's something funny about it: the folks doing it don't have pale skin, they don't wear pith helmets, and neither French not English is their primary language. But to say so is considered naughty.

This is not to say that I'm excusing European colonialism or the colonialism practiced by us 'Murricans or by the various Latin American elites--I'm most certainly not.


I'm just saying that there's a lot more of humanity with very grubby hands than certain parlor elitists like to think.