During human history, most developed civilisations around the world often tried “selling” a good life, political order, enlightenment, morality, or some type of spiritual uplifting, in one way or another, as a very valuable product — so valuable that it was worth killing for.
Between the 11th and 16th centuries, the Catholic Church waged a series of religious wars called The Crusades. The goal (or rather, excuse) was recapturing the Holy Land, and, of course, there were many other goals which European lords and clergy strove to achieve.
From the 16th to 19th centuries, the western world was spreading Christianity across the American continent. In return for the “gift” of the Holy Spirit and Christian “love,” Indians gave gold and ancestral land they lost in multiple genocides that reduced the Indian populations to a negligible number.
During the 19th century Victorian era (defined by the British as a long period of peace, prosperity, "refined sensibilities," and national self-confidence), Britons believed that they were bastions of morality and that they had a holy duty and obligation to bring morality to other not-so-civilised countries.
Behind this were well-established trade routes and military conquests, which gave the British Empire sway over 412 million people — 23% of the world at the time.
Germany, in WWII, had the goal of creating a race of pure super humans. The result of that idea was 50 to 80 million people killed, which was around 3% of the 1940 world population.
Over the last two centuries, the western world has been selling democracy as a product. Those countries that were forced to buy it... know the best results of this "worthy” goal.
This holy goal was always necessary to swallow the pill of the ugly reality; otherwise, just imagine how the public would feel, if you would say that your sons and daughters are sent to some foreign country to slaughter innocent people that look just like you or anyone else on the street of your town.
And when those other people did not want to accept the “worthy” presents, they were called savages and fanatics, they were deprived food, tortured, and often killed. Then, hundreds of years later, someone will come out to apologise for the crimes and atrocities of their grandparents.
Why apologise?
Will anything good come out of it?
Will those apologies bring all those people back?
Instead of an apology, how about stopping what we do in the first place?
We all know; before... it was land, now... it is oil — everything in the spirit of the age. So, what is going to be next: information, brains, energy, will, or maybe our mind and souls?
The ghost of evil “isms” has not disappeared. It is still there; it only changes form. That ghost is in every greedy human being, lusting for power, money and control.
I personally like to believe that there is no need for that anymore, and that there is enough in the world for everyone's needs, but not for everyone's greed, as Mahatma Gandhi once said.
If you liked this story, you may like my book.
Help me to spread non-violence ideas...
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