[AGL] Why 'merkins don't vote

[Wayne Johnson]

I am sure that language is a factor, Frances, but not the only one.  

Prior to the infamous "Raj", India was subject to many different invasions, most notably the Moghuls.  Being subjected to tumultuous and largely feudal governing systems isn't always the best way to organize economic structures.  Also, it may be that while northern India has the kind of terrain where the more common "industrial resources" may be found, they are lacking elsewhere.  Not all regions of the earth are blessed with the combination of geography and mineral richness that marks much of central Europe and the Northern US.

If your major resources are grass and in- or non-edible cows, that doesn't lead to economies with sufficient capital to "grow" in development terms.  Or at least much beyond agricultural commodities.  Coupled with a couple of thousand years of various "monarchal" systems, which are usually quite conservative in their own vicious way, "entrepreneurial endeavours" often meet with a swift and ugly fate.  Hence, you get Rajahs (whether Muslim, Indian or British) and millions of peasants and coolies.  

The purpose of the East Indian Tea Company was NOT to "develop" India's resources but to ship 'em out and sell 'em and take the money home to Mother England wherewith all those marvelously large mansions seen on the BBC could be built.  The Caribbean being another rich source of exposrt materials.

Of course the US and the Monroe Doctrine, helped us "develop".  For instance, we managed to consume most of the world's chrome resources for the sole purpose of decorating hideously deformed Detroit iron.  (Some exceptions - Hudson Hornet, being one.)

I highly recommend the work of Jared Diamond on these topics.

wjohnson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Frances Morey 
  To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
  Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 12:18 AM
  Subject: Re: [AGL] Why 'merkins don't vote 


  An Indian friend of mine told me that in India over 4,000 languages were spoken and he also said that this accounts for why that country hasn't developed.
  Frances

  Wayne Johnson <cadaobh at shentel.net> wrote:
    There is Mandarin which the "upper classes" or maybe "northern Chinese" 
    spoke, very beautiful to listen to, like silk sliding on silk, subtle 
    harmonies, lilting phrases. There is Cantonese which is more 
    "guttural"...at least to my uneducated ear and, I think, more Southern. 
    (Gung hay fat choy you all?) Somewhat singy-songy to me. What do I know. I 
    do know, on the other hand, there are dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of 
    dialects and sub-linguistic groups in what we now call "China". Being a 
    linguist there, must require astounding feats of hearing and memory. Hats 
    off to 'em, says I.

    What can one say of a nation of that size wherein almost everyone seems to 
    be a really good cook?

    wgJ
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: "Harry Edwards" 
    To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s" 

    Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 9:45 AM
    Subject: Re: [AGL] Why 'merkans vote for the GOP


    > technically there IS no Chinese as a language. There are several forms of 
    > Chinese, including Mandarin etc. Can't remember the others. In India it's 
    > Hindi, Bengali, Tamil etc. These 2 countries account for a mere 2 and a 
    > half billion people. twisty
    >
    > On May 6, 2006, at 8:10 AM, Frances Morey wrote:
    >
    >> Okay, I'm guessing that Chinese is the most widely spoken native 
    >> language. Is it measured by the size of the population that speaks it? 
    >> English is mightly widespread because of our exported entertainment 
    >> production--one German told me that his mastery of English came from 
    >> listening to rock 'n' roll.
    >>
    >> G'morning, Wayne,
    >> Austin has seen two stormy days, trees blown over, limbs down all over 
    >> town, and it is lightening again this morning. My little garden plants 
    >> survived and all the rain relieves me of having to water.
    >> Hope you are good. Keep on working to counter the ignorance penumbra 
    >> through teaching.
    >> Best,
    >> Frances
    >>
    >>
    >> Wayne Johnson wrote:
    >>> Dumb people do dumb things.
    >>>
    >>> Add Geography to the growing list of major intellectual non-events in 
    >>> the life of Young Americans. [Critical thinking? I didn't know criticals 
    >>> could think? Aren't criticals just black grasshoppers?]
    >>>
    >>> How can there be truly "free" elections when the voters don't know their 
    >>> ass from a hot rock. Geography? D'oh! History? D'oh! Politics? D'oh, 
    >>> D'oh! [Hey, he sounds like my old man, I will vote for him. Oh, wasn't 
    >>> she on ER? I will vote for her.]
    >>>
    >>> I mean like the really Important Things are like in the Mall, dude. 
    >>> Chill out.
    >>>
    >>> ------------------------------------------
    >>>
    >>> Thirty-three percent of respondents couldn't pinpoint Louisiana on a 
    >>> map. [I wonder how many people in LA can find their own state on the 
    >>> map. Or for that matter Texas.]
    >>> Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of 
    >>> countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another 
    >>> language is a necessary skill. [No wonder some people thought the 
    >>> Sandanistas were going to invade El Paso.]
    >>> Two-thirds didn't know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 people in 
    >>> October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.
    >>> Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. [My brother 
    >>> just got killed somewhere, dude. Hey, is that an Xbox?]
    >>> Forty-seven percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of 
    >>> Asia. [Bombay isn't if Florida?]
    >>> Seventy-five percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the Middle 
    >>> East. [Drive due East from Gibraltar. Oh, where is Gibraltar?]
    >>> Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely 
    >>> spoken native language. [Spanglish?]
    >>> Six in 10 did not know the border between North and South Korea is the 
    >>> most heavily fortified in the world. [Korea? Isn't that in South America 
    >>> somewhere? Oh, cool shoes, bro'!]
    >>> Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was between the 
    >>> United States and Mexico. [Well, this will likely happen soon if the 
    >>> Minutemen and other patriotic racists get their way.]
    >>>
    >>>
    >>> Source: The Associated
    >
    > 




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