[Zap]

Originally Posted by John Scott

Again, cup half empty. Violence will always be with us...

"Violence will always be with us" sounds a little half empty to me too.

John, I think you might be under the impression that I think it's all doom and gloom. I don't. I have hope for the future. I just think we've pretty much wasted our talents so far.
We've accomplished some great things. I agree. But we've also squandered a lot.

Here's a useless analogy for you...

Your son's teacher calls you one day and tells you that your son is brilliant. He's a genius. He's taught ants to build hospitals, he's taught gerbils to speak and he's just cured AIDS. The problem, the teacher continues, is that your son isn't really interested in those things. Your son just wants to goof off and eventually wants to become a game show host. Your son erased the formula that cured AIDS before anyone could copy it down. Why? There was no profit in giving it away. And that hospital the ants built, he destroyed it and set fire to the ant colony, killing them all. Oh, and the hamster... he killed that too, for fear of pissing off the guinea pigs.
Something wrong with your son? No. He's doing what makes him happy. That's a good thing to aim for in life and he'll be perfectly happy posing trivia questions to middle America but he could be so much more and you know it.

We're (as a group) pretty remarkable and capable of so many things, but we seem to focus on trivia, while we knock the crap out of each other.

Originally Posted by John Scott

Thank you for making my point. One might argue that an attribute of social evolution is learning from history and implementing safegaurds against repeating those mistakes. The UN and the international community have been doing that, putting international pressure on undemocratic regimes in order to prevent further genocides.

Yes, but as soon as it suits our purpose, we drop (or ignore) that international body like a hot potato. At that point, it becomes just another building in New York.

Originally Posted by John Scott

I am sure everybody, not just those in Africa, would agree we have far to go. But I am also sure that they would also agree that we have come a very long way, and to suggest we are devolving socially is seriously an untenable position.

I'm not saying we're devolving, but the word stagnant comes to mind.

Originally Posted by John Scott

They should depend on themselves to act in a way that puts pressure on governments to honor the rights of man. The US is no role model.

Although there really is no functioning democracy on Earth, the USA and "democracy" have become linked. Like it or lump it, that's the way it is.