in america you'll get food to eat
won't have to run through the jungle and scuff up your feet
you'll just sing about jesus and drink wine all day
it's great to be an american

ain't no lions or tigers ain't no mamba snake
just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake
ev'rybody is as happy as a man can be
climb aboard little wog sail away with me

in america every man is free
to take care of his home and his family
you'll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey tree
yall gonna be an american

sail away sail away
we goin cross the mighty ocean into charleston bay
sail away-sail away
we gonna cross that mighty ocean into charleston bay
--randy newman 'sail away'

newman wrote that song while developing a movie about slavery in which africans were recruited by hucksters promising them a better life in america.

like most humor, it works because it enables us to laugh at something so horrific the other choice would be to cry. i doubt the slave trade woulda been socially acceptable solely for economic reasons (altho they were obviously the major motivation). those who captured, transported and enslaved africans were able to justify what they were doing by virtue of saving the poor heathens' souls and civilizing them. spain felt the same way bout its exploits in central and south america. i'm sure every colonial state has done the same thing to some extent.

the problem in sudan--and in every other current troublespot in the third world--is the direct consequence of imperialism's arrogant elitist apologetic (going back to prehistory and before). to suggest more of the same as a solution is equivalent to curing mercury poisoning by feeding the patient nothing but swordfish.

for those who claim to be stalwart advocates of any type of freedom--but most especially individual freedom--to consider such a thing (much less defend it) boggles the mind. if tomorrow a race of extraterrestials arrived and decided to 'assist' us, id hope yall would join me in the insurgency.

You are right that tribalism is often portrayed idealistically, when it was certainly not that. However the subsequent colonialism was also anything but idealistic, and it did cause many of the problems in those places. It has worked better in some places than others. In New Caledonia, it was a lot less obtrusive and so has caused fewer problems. For the same reasons independence would be an easier step for them than African nations. In Australia, some Aboriginals have enjoyed the results of colonialism, but many haven't, particularly the thousands who were massacred by the British.

Have a look at Rwanda for an example of the problems of colonialism. Before the Rwandans were told by the colonialists that there was a divide between Hutus and Tootsies, they didn't see that divide. They also didn't have the guns to carry out the massacres we saw in the 90s. I think a democractic system that negotiates with and coexists with smaller tribal systems is the best way to go, similarly to what New Caledonia has to some degree and is working more towards.

Tootsies

Sorry...this made me laugh. I couldn't understand why Dustin Hoffman was in colonial Africa. It's spelled "Tutsie".

for those who claim to be stalwart advocates of any type of freedom--but most especially individual freedom--to consider such a thing (much less defend it) boggles the mind. if tomorrow a race of extraterrestials arrived and decided to 'assist' us, id hope yall would join me in the

I understand your point, and I didn't say that returning to colonialism was the great hope of all mankind. The Belgians (the late-bloomers, as far as European colonialist nations were concerned), for example, were horrible oppressors in Africa, I know. But I do know that for some it wasn't as bad as it was for others. The arrogant attitude could be forgiven, at least a little if you remember that you're talking about conqueror and conquered. There's going to be arrogance on the part of the vicotrs; that's life and that's just the way it is.

However the subsequent colonialism was also anything but idealistic, and it did cause many of the problems in those places.

True, true, and I could give a long list of those problems too.

Colonialism had good points and bad. But let’s not mix Colonialism with the spreading of Democracy. Far too many have placed the same stigma for on both of them, IMO.

Democracy is fragile and needs to be watched. It is so easy for a young Democracy to slip into a Dictatorship. During and after WWI young Democracies (Russia, Italy, and Germany) was warped and ended because everybody thought the job was done and went home. After WW2 we stayed longer and things turned out better. For all those wishing to cut and run in Iraq, just remember that if we don't help young Democracies to stay alive, we may end up facing something far worse then what was there originally. This also goes for all the eastern European nations too.

"The old momma Soviet Bear maybe dead, but she had cubs that could grow up to be bigger then her. That is why we are still here."
Quote from LTC John Roe during a briefing to me while stationed in Germany after the Collapse of the USSR.

That's My Two Cents