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To: FreedomOfExpression

On July 1, 1916, 20,000 British troops were killed in the Battle of the Somme. That's ONE day.

That doesn't even count the French and German deaths that day.

And yet people treat trivial conflicts like Israel/Hezbollah as some huge deal.

You have to have a sense of historical perspective.

Relative to population, the depravities and atrocities and loss of life in Germany in the 30 years war in the 1600s was far, far worse than any war or terrrorism going on today; it's said there are parts of Germany that never recovered from that.

I never said the world was TOTALLY peaceful now, just that it's never been MORE peaceful - the world has always been incredibly violent.

But when you look at a world of 5 billion people, it's really striking how generally peaceful it is now, per population, compared to both earlier in the 20th century and even back further.

Of course, today, you can get your news of worldwide violence a lot faster and in technicolor.


61 posted on 09/22/2006 7:53:56 PM PDT by Strategerist (Those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves)
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To: Strategerist
Of course, today, you can get your news of worldwide violence a lot faster and in technicolor.

I always wondered how FOX new would cover the Gallipoli.

How would CNN cover London, 1666?

62 posted on 09/22/2006 7:55:38 PM PDT by Wormwood (Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.)
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To: Strategerist
Spot on.

So many people have no perspective. They think the world is going to hell and that it has never been so bad. They have no idea... Plenty of anecdotes, but no data to back it up.

I'd like to see a graph of violent deaths as a percentage of total population, by decade, for the past 1000 or so years. I am guessing there would be a pretty clear downward trend.
102 posted on 09/23/2006 6:56:06 PM PDT by shempy (EABOF)
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