[LINK] History matters

[rfmcdonald]

Over at Letter from Gotham, Diana Moon realized how utterly disruptive of all convention contact with the West can be, even when we Westerners don't notice it.

One. Invasions that we hardly remember--if at all--are still keenly felt in the parts of the world that experienced the invasion.

Two. This is one of those on-the-other-hands...with all due respect to traditional culture, don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've lost till it's gone, as they sing? In other words, many parts of the world have experienced violent revolution, and the people doing the revolting (mostly young men, and some young women) are violently dissatisfied with traditional culture. Because traditional culture suffocates them. When someone is being strangled, it's natural to burst free the bonds.