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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 2023

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I mean, I think this is overly simplistic. Did some people aim intentionally for genocide back then? Sure, probably. Did some people aim, agitate, and advocate for uplift? It seems like this was also the case, hence schools and churches. And of course, the natives as labor force is and has always been among the resources being exploited, where it could be, and this can also explain the schools. Iunno, I don't think you're wrong, per se, I just don't think any single strategy can explain colonialism, being as it was an emergent venture prosecuted by many interest groups. I'd expect most things that were done to fulfill multiple interests.

Yes, it is a simplification, if we're talking about motivations of huge number of people, of course there's a variety there. But - if we talk about the leading ideology of the colonial project, I think there was such a thing, and I think it was the ideological and moral basis for the actions of many people and governments. And I think it's possible to say that the drive to wipe out the original population was never a main motivation there - though once can not ignore that specific homicidal and genocidal actions did take place. But it wasn't the overarching goal of this project, that's not what Europeans tried to do.