|
I am reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and have to keep putting the book down every 10 minutes to collect myself and remain calm as I see recurring threads in the book that might as well be labelled - "Democrats - read this. . . now! Or cease to exist."
Very early in the book he discusses the collision of the Maoris vs the Moriori in the Chatham Islands off of New Zealand. In summary, in November and December of 1835, approx 1,000 Maoris landed in the Chatham Islands, home of the Moriori. They walked through the existing Moriori settlements and announced that the Moriori were now slaves and killed anyone who objected.
Diamond - "An organized resistance by the Moriori could still then have defeated the Maori, who were outnumbered two to one. However, the Moriori had a tradition of resolving disputes peacefully. They decided in a council meeting to offer peace, friendship and a division of resources." Long story short - the Maoris slaughtered all of the Moriori , eating some and enslaving the others - "it was in accordance with our custom."
According to Diamond, the Moriori had only the simplest technology and weapons, were unused to warfare, and lacked strong leadership and organization. The Maoris were used to war, had more advanced weapons and operated under strong leadership; when they came into contact with the Moriori, it was they who were victorious although outnumbered.
I think the parallels are exceedingly obvious. Those of us who continually comfort ourselves with the refrain - "There's more of us than them" need to WAKE UP!!! It doesn't matter if there are more of us, if they are fiercer, bolder, and are not constrained by the niceties of what the rest of us consider civilized society.
Are we not constantly offering "peace, friendship and a division of resources?" Those tactics will take us no further than the Moriori - to extinction and a footnote in a history book.
|