[CLUE-Talk] "barbarians"

[G. Richard Raab]

On Tuesday 2004 January 27 09:45 am, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 06:20:34 -0800
>
> Randy Arabie <randy at arabie.org> wrote:
> > Uhh, gee, we are NOT barbarians!
>
> By some standards, we are. Europeans tend to look down on the U.S.
> because we still use the death penalty -- I'm not advocating that
> particular viewpoint, but according to quite a few countries we are
> "barbaric" because we have the death penalty. (We are not the only
> country that still has it, of course.)

Not only do we have it, but we and china make heavy use of it (only third 
world countries do it as much).
In a per capita measurement, we outdo china by a long margin.
The funny thing is that we are the heavist user of the death penality (in 
developed countries) and it does not seem to be helping.





> I wouldn't be at all surprised if the same idea came up in a number of
> school districts in the U.S., following 9/11. Weren't trenchcoats
> summarily banned in many high schools after Columbine? I know my younger
> brother was told he couldn't wear a trenchcoat to school in Pacific.
>
In fact, a number of schools have proposed having kids do uniforms again. 
Personally, I do not think that it is such a bad idea.
But the french (and others) would probably consider us barbaric.

> > Spain...bull fights?
>
> Mexico as well, I believe... and England still has fox hunts.

Clubbing Seals in Canada (Many Americans did that).
Wolf killing in alaska by airplane (yeah, thats sporting).
Ever been to a cattle or chicken slaughter house?
Or for that matter to a normal American feedlot?
Most other places consider it very barbaric the way that we treat animals that 
we eat.

And ask the Indians what they think of our eating cattle (but hey, many 
Americans think the same way about other cultures eating of dog or horse).

-- 
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cheers
g.r.r.