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2010-07-04 14:13:50
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6502|so randum
Quite a simple thread with no centrepeice.

Disucuss the role Great Britain had in deveoping the political and social landscape that exists today. Consider British action (both military and political) action from past to present. And added to that, discuss if the U.K deserves it's role as a world super power.

Keep it civil, folks. How could a thread about GB go wrong? ... -un13

Last edited by FatherTed (2010-07-04 14:18:22)

Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella
2010-07-04 14:24:41
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6531|Global Command
The exploitation of Africa, imperialistic dreams of wannabe dictators, taxation without representation...

U.K is a ' super power ' because it says so, not because it actually deserves the title.

Thus.
2010-07-04 14:28:37
Jaekus
I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose
+957|5180|Sydney
Being of anglo-celtic descent and 3rd generation Australian, we're all fairly aware of how Britain played its role in how this country became what it is today, it's taught in primary school. We even have the union jack on our flag.
2010-07-04 14:29:54
jord
Member
+2,382|6680|The North, beyond the wall.

ATG wrote:

The exploitation of Africa, imperialistic dreams of wannabe dictators, taxation without representation...

U.K is a ' super power ' because it says so, not because it actually deserves the title.

Thus.
Actually if you ever actually ask a british soldier "is the kit as bad as they say" they will retort with a resounding "no". It isn't, at all.
2010-07-04 14:30:48
SEREVENT
MASSIVE G STAR
+605|6109|Birmingham, UK
Do you mean superpower as in today?
2010-07-04 14:31:29
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6531|Global Command
The best funded soldiers in the world right now are probably Hizbolla with the oil money.

been told that by a former Lebanese.
2010-07-04 14:32:12
Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|6709|67.222.138.85
How is this a debate and not an essay topic?
2010-07-04 14:32:25
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6502|so randum

SEREVENT wrote:

Do you mean superpower as in today?
Yes. the UK likes to see themselves as a superpower, is this justified?
Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella
2010-07-04 14:34:59
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6502|so randum

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

How is this a debate and not an essay topic?
have you ever done a uni grade essay topic? They generally ask you to discuss a topic and re-enforce your points with fact. This is a proper debate, not 'shout over whatever the fuck harmours RSS feed picked up from drudge'
Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella
2010-07-04 14:36:24
Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|6709|67.222.138.85
Like I said...this is an essay topic. Debate has a pro and a con. The latter part of the OP skirts with the idea of debate, but in general you are asking for a formalized discussion, not a debate.
2010-07-04 15:13:57
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6774|PNW

Aaaaand reopened.

myself, from another locked thread wrote:

'Discussions' are debate lite, without any specific set of rules and often 'won' by the loudest, most obnoxious individual who desperately wants that last word, and is usually what forum 'debates' come down to. DST can be improved with the application of at least some basic understanding of well-mannered netiquette. Without set teams (or just two opponents), a turn-based system and a moderator for specific discussions, it's about as close to 'serious talk' as we can get.
2010-07-04 15:37:04
Cybargs
Moderated
+2,285|6718

ATG wrote:

The best funded soldiers in the world right now are probably Hizbolla with the oil money.

been told that by a former Lebanese.
400 bucks a month?
https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png
2010-07-05 02:39:49
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6108|eXtreme to the maX
Like it or not GB has shaped most of the modern world - which is better than the possible alternatives, France, Spain or Germany.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
2010-07-05 02:56:48
Cybargs
Moderated
+2,285|6718

Dilbert_X wrote:

Like it or not GB has shaped most of the modern world - which is better than the possible alternatives, France, Spain or Germany.
Germany's costline is only restricted to the north, making it very very hard to for them to become a proper colonial power...

I'd agree that the English shaping the modern world is better than the alternatives...
https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png
2010-07-05 13:30:10
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|6583|SE London

FatherTed wrote:

SEREVENT wrote:

Do you mean superpower as in today?
Yes. the UK likes to see themselves as a superpower, is this justified?
The UK isn't a superpower.

It was. One of the most powerful superpowers of all time. But not anymore. Two world wars brought an end to any sort of British aspirations towards superpower status. There is one superpower at the moment and that is the US (you could also potentially count the EU as an economic superpower).

I don't think anyone in positions of power has such delusions of grandeur that they believe the UK is still a superpower.


Britains stint as a huge colonial superpower went fairly well - with a few horror stories, like the opium wars, thrown in for good measure. Despite what everyone seems to say about British colonialism being terrible, when you look at the commonwealth countries compared to most other countries colonised by the big European powers of that era, they look in a much better state today - the exception being the Middle East.
2010-07-05 13:52:29
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6531|Global Command

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Like I said...this is an essay topic. Debate has a pro and a con. The latter part of the OP skirts with the idea of debate, but in general you are asking for a formalized discussion, not a debate.
umm....ok.

That really is about the most ridiculous thing I have heard you type.


In this section we sometimes pontificate, postulate and gesticulate. A country with as long and storied history as GB, if it is a country can be debated, discussed, slandered and maligned for weeks with the content of the OP.

fm wrote:

This is an essay topic
Then what is this?
Or how was this thread close worthy when compared to or This..?
If this thread of yours was the standard on which the others above were judged you need to be closing your threads bud. I think you owe fatherTed an apology.



Has he offended you in some trival manner, or you had you heard he was feeling suicidal and/or you were simply be amused by your own antics? Either way your original close of this thread was in exceedingly poor judgement. Reopening it was not and I thank you for that.
2010-07-05 13:56:29
Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6472

ATG wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Like I said...this is an essay topic. Debate has a pro and a con. The latter part of the OP skirts with the idea of debate, but in general you are asking for a formalized discussion, not a debate.
umm....ok.

That really is about the most ridiculous thing I have heard you type.


In this section we sometimes pontificate, postulate and gesticulate. A country with as long and storied history as GB, if it is a country can be debated, discussed, slandered and maligned for weeks with the content of the OP.

fm wrote:

This is an essay topic
Then what is this?
Or how was this thread close worthy when compared to or This..?
If this thread of yours was the standard on which the others above were judged you need to be closing your threads bud. I think you owe fatherTed an apology.



Has he offended you in some trival manner, or you had you heard he was feeling suicidal and/or you were simply be amused by your own antics? Either way your original close of this thread was in exceedingly poor judgement. Reopening it was not and I thank you for that.
good call, atg.

it seems when FM wants to share his little pseudo-intellectual 'Nietzsche essays' with us, it's cool.

but as soon as another 'essay topic' comes up... too lowly to deserve proper comment from him.
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
2010-07-05 14:22:56
11 Bravo
Banned
+965|5239|Cleveland, Ohio
well this turned out well
2010-07-05 14:29:31
Jaekus
I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose
+957|5180|Sydney

ATG wrote:

Has he offended you in some trival manner, or you had you heard he was feeling suicidal and/or you were simply be amused by your own antics? Either way your original close of this thread was in exceedingly poor judgement. Reopening it was not and I thank you for that.
By the looks of the posts above I think un13 reopened it...
2010-07-05 14:32:51
Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|6709|67.222.138.85
As unnamed has already pointed out, the thread was not serious in the first place. There was no intention of actual debate here. The intention was to make this bastard child of a thread with no clear direction and then point to the cluster fuck that it would become as a reason why DST cannot handle any kind of debate.

Setting up a thread with a topic as broad as "discuss the implications of WWII" with no effort on direction is not a thread. Serious talk is fine. Serious talk also means putting a significant amount of your own content in the thread, or at the very least a topical idea like a news story that is something people care about that has obviously affects the world around us. This thread took about 30 seconds to put together. Debate is fine too. Despite the title, this thread did not have a pro/con side defined and was not designed with the intention of debate.

Comparing the threads that I take time and effort in to is just stupid. Perhaps a big reason why DST is in decline is because people can't see the difference between those topics I obviously spent time on and something like this.

And to top it all off I didn't close this thread in the first place.
2010-07-05 14:45:29
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6531|Global Command
Well, I apologize for the false accusation.

I linked to 2 okay threads by you and one crapper.
2010-07-05 19:04:23
Turquoise
O Canada
+1,596|6407|North Carolina

Bertster7 wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

SEREVENT wrote:

Do you mean superpower as in today?
Yes. the UK likes to see themselves as a superpower, is this justified?
The UK isn't a superpower.

It was. One of the most powerful superpowers of all time. But not anymore. Two world wars brought an end to any sort of British aspirations towards superpower status. There is one superpower at the moment and that is the US (you could also potentially count the EU as an economic superpower).

I don't think anyone in positions of power has such delusions of grandeur that they believe the UK is still a superpower.


Britains stint as a huge colonial superpower went fairly well - with a few horror stories, like the opium wars, thrown in for good measure. Despite what everyone seems to say about British colonialism being terrible, when you look at the commonwealth countries compared to most other countries colonised by the big European powers of that era, they look in a much better state today - the exception being the Middle East.
To be honest, most of Africa would be in better shape if the U.K. and much of the rest of Europe still ran it.  For example, Zimbabwe...

EDIT: To the anonymous karma person...  Your assumption that most of Africa would be better now had Europe never colonized it to begin with is true of many places like South Africa, however....   It's kind of hard to make that assumption in many of the areas that were extremely primitive before colonial rule.  For example, there are areas of Africa with several natural resources that, before colonial rule, were mostly inhabited by tribespeople living in what could be considered a Stone Age level of civilization that would be no better off as a people now without having been displaced and subjugated by Europeans in the meantime, because by this point in time, they would have simply been displaced and subjugated by multinational corporations, European or otherwise.

In short, it could be argued that a lot of Africa was just fucked from the get-go due to lagging behind most of the rest of the world in terms of civilization and technology.  This same argument could also be applied to the Native Americans and Aborigines, for the most part.

Last edited by Turquoise (2010-07-05 19:52:33)

2010-07-07 06:15:20
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6108|eXtreme to the maX
In short, it could be argued that a lot of Africa was just fucked from the get-go due to lagging behind most of the rest of the world in terms of civilization and technology.  This same argument could also be applied to the Native Americans and Aborigines, for the most part.
However their lifestyles were all sustainable, in balance with the environment and so on.
Still want to call it lagging?
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
2010-07-07 06:17:05
jord
Member
+2,382|6680|The North, beyond the wall.

Dilbert_X wrote:

In short, it could be argued that a lot of Africa was just fucked from the get-go due to lagging behind most of the rest of the world in terms of civilization and technology.  This same argument could also be applied to the Native Americans and Aborigines, for the most part.
However their lifestyles were all sustainable, in balance with the environment and so on.
Still want to call it lagging?
Only when the neighbouring Somali tribe comes in on 4 x 4's with AK47's and wipes those Neaderthol motherfuckers out.


Yee haa
2010-07-07 06:21:38
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|6583|SE London

Dilbert_X wrote:

In short, it could be argued that a lot of Africa was just fucked from the get-go due to lagging behind most of the rest of the world in terms of civilization and technology.  This same argument could also be applied to the Native Americans and Aborigines, for the most part.
However their lifestyles were all sustainable, in balance with the environment and so on.
Still want to call it lagging?
Yes.

Definitely.



Ducks have a pretty sustainable lifestyle in balance with their environment. You wouldn't use that as an argument that they are not lagging behind people in terms of civilisation and technology, because that would be silly.

 

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