CTP way too America-centric

[Chris Horscroft]

Even ignoring that the ancient greeks came up with the democratic state, and implemented it in a fashion centuries ahead of anywhere else, South Australia (which was then a self-governing colony) was the first "country" in the world to grant all women suffrage. New Zealand (which is still a country) followed 6 years later. The United States of America was not first into the modern idea of extending voting rights towards universal suffrage, not by a long shot. I think Italy was one of the first, again, well ahead of the US.

The Magna Carta is a ground-breaking document every bit as important as the US Dec of Indep. Yes it deals mainly with king and nobility, but what it established was that the law was superior to the king, and that the king was required to respect certain rights - both those of nobles and commoners. This was in the early 1200s - no other nation produced similar statements for 500 years (to my knowledge). Without the Magna Carta, the principles underlying all "Rights of Man" documents would not have been established (IMHO). Recent experience would suggest that US Presidents may still consider themselves above the law (Nixon, Clinton). Maybe America needs a Magna Carta?

The UK abolished slavery in the 1820s and 1830s, and Royal Navy vessels were permanently stationed off African slave grounds to intercept and prevent slave-trading vessels crossing the Atlantic from at least the 1840s. As I recall, the US didn't do all that much about slavery (besides promoting it) for another 20 years.

There is very little basis for setting up Democracy/anti-slavery wonders as America-based!


[This message has been edited by Chris Horscroft (edited October 26, 2000).]

[ChaingKaiShek]

On the topic of The United States not allowing 'everyone' to vote up untill the 1950s, let us also not forget how the British have infringed upon the rights of the Scottish people long before the United States was even conceived

To sit there and respond to everything with "Well that may be true, but the Americans..." Does nothing except prove you have been set in an 'anti american' way of thinking.

Your country has had its time to inflict wounds upon the surface of this world, and now it is our turn. I only hope I live long enough to see the day that "Great" Britian is nothing more than an American Provinence.

The entire point is, its a game.. It isen't going to be exact (Although its kinda nice when it is). If you want to play History, then either design your own game or read a book (Reading books afterall, it a much better activity..)

May your narrow-minded thinking lead you to your demise..

Anyways.. We will all just have to wait and see what kinda crappy new wonders Activision throws our way, I'm sure many of you out there will find some little thing to bicker about; to get offended over. I myself cannot wait for the game.

Personally I think that the "American" culture should not be able to be chosen, you should be the British first, and then maybe a new discovery or wonder will cause the change to the Americans. Afterall, its rather cheesy to pick the Americans and have to start off at 4000b.c.

-CKS

[Big Dave]

quote: Originally posted by Chris Horscroft on 10-26-2000 09:02 PM There is very little basis for setting up Democracy/anti-slavery wonders as America-based!

The problem here is again a lack of historical research by Activision. Yes, the Emancipation Proclimation is from the U.S. But the American Civil War (ACW) was not fought over slavery, as is mistakenly taught in U.S. schools. It was fought over states rights. But since most U.S. citizens believe that the ACW was about slavery this makes the Emancipation Proclimation a U.S. wonder.
Respectfully,

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Big Dave

My karma ran over my dogma.

[Adm.Naismith]

ChaingKaiShek, about of your opinion:

quote: To sit there and respond to everything with "Well that may be true, but the Americans..." Does nothing except prove you have been set in an 'anti american' way of thinking.

Sorry, I disagree. Lot of us have good opinion about U.S.A. people: why in neck every time we underline USA IS/WAS NOT the only true and good nation on earth, someone become so angry?

I think that whole world was, is and must will be more than only a nation (whatsoever) culture, language, habits, and so on.
As Civ game doesn't represent strongly enough, we are on a small planet more like in a small boat: better we learn to listen and respect the others, because I'm not so sure there will be any Unity Starship to save us to Chiron, Alpha centauri

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Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant

[ChaingKaiShek]

I'm quite sure that alot of you out there are not at all anti-american, but please also do not think I am pushing that the United States is the best nation on the planet and we should rule over all because even though it may look like that a little, its not what I mean at all.

I simply only wished to point out that alot of people here are quick to point out the flaws in the US but seem to 'forget' that which their own nation has done.

I also believe that looking beyond race, place of birth,(Nation you are loyal to!) etc is going to be key in keeping the human race around (I do not believe that we are going to be magically swept away to heaven by the savior of man. More power to those who do, I wish I could share your faith.). When the end comes it will be Man that triggers it and Man that ends it.

This is getting far beyond the topic of the post, so before we get shoved into the off-topic area.

I'd like to see other wonders from other areas of the world, to tell you the truth I dont find many of the US modern wonders very... wonderful.. Quite boring infact. The entire world has accomplished many things, and it would be great if they would be seen as "Human" Wonders instead of "American, British, Dutch, Chinese, etc Wonders".

Anyways, Good day to you all.

Chaing

[red_jon]

I did not start the thread to create any anti-American feeling at all, just to bring up the point that the modern age seems to focus too much on the US.

Every nation on Earth has commited atrocities at some point or another, but it tended to be only the few in power who did it, not the citizens (for example, when the British used concentration camps in the Boer war in South Africa the people back home were horrified- this actually led to them voting for a different party).

This could be used in the game- the 'Age of Reason' in the original could be updated to more than one advance- man didn't change overnight with the discovery of one theory.

Plus, as well as the 'Emancipation Act' (or equivanlent) your government should have the option to stop slavery, before it is built (like the British did).

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...And if the British Commonwealth and its people live for a thousand years, man will still say "this was their finest hour"- Winston Churchill.

[red_jon]

Oh, and there are still millions of slaves in the world today (23 million I think).

Perhaps the 'Emancipation Act' (or equivalent) should only stop slaves in republics and democracies (and future equivalents).

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...And if the British Commonwealth and its people live for a thousand years, man will still say "this was their finest hour"- Winston Churchill.

[PRoy]

I think part of the reason various wonders have been chosen has been to partially explain the success of various civilizations at various stages of history.

It would be great if all of the more successful and influential civilizations who had a significant impact on history should be represented.

I would certainly include wonders related to Ancient China, Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and Rome, Medieval Christian Europe, Medieval Muslim Middle East, Renaissance Italy, Spain and Holland, Industrial Age Britain, Germany and Japan, and Modern US and former USSR.

I think there might be others, but if someone is willing to take a step back and have a realistic view of influential civs, the list is not exhaustive. I'm not trying to sound mean, but I think there are some people who are delusional about their nation's impact on world history. I was galled by the fact that CTP included politically correct choices such as Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Brazil, Jamaica, probably due to American domestic market which includes people from those places.

So while I think the US might be slightly overrepresented in the modern era, I believe it is meant to be a reflection of American influence, particularly in the wake of European decline over the last century. Much as I like Europe, they have been eclipsed and will remain marginal if they hold onto their divisive ethnic conflicts. The US has eclipsed the individual nations of Europe in industrialism, technology, entertainment, etc. The only thing they have more than we do is socialism, and I say they can have it, because that keeps them down. They mask their out-dated thinking by being overpermissive with sex and drugs, while eshewing basic human freedoms such as expression, self-defense and due process under law.

America sucks, but not as bad as the rest of you turkeys.

Anyway, I didn't mean to rant, but I couldn't help feeling this thread is more sour grapes from people who are simply jealous of the US, and who wonder why we Americans aren't trying to be like you in terms of language, culture, etc.

By the way, my own heritage is French, but you don't see me complaining. While the French have had some impact with wine, cheese, art, ballet, etc., as well as figures like Charlemagne, Descartes and Napoleon who certainly had influence, I can't point to wonders uniquely influential about France. MAYBE Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, or the ill-fated Maginot, but even these are only significant for a brief time before being overshadowed by greater achievements elsewhere. I think Charlemagne had more influence for a longer time than anything from post-Renaissance France anyhow, with the possible exception of the Napoleonic Code.

So if I can put my own ethnic heritage in perspective, why don't the rest of you give it a try . .

[PRoy]

I'd also like to add that I can understand why this thread was started by a Brit. In just under a century, Britain has gone from top superpower in the wake of Victoria to third world has-been under Blair, out of a combination of various factors including arrogance and ineptitude, but culminating in socialism.

I hope this is instructive to all of you, or should I say, any Americans reading this. I hope the rest of the world continues down the socialist path, and that Americans try to hang on to free market capitalism and individualism, because that will keep America strong.

Which is not to say that things might be great under socialism at first. But after a little while, once it sets in that you aren't really rewarded for extra effort, fewer and fewer put in the extra effort that makes all the difference, until you end up looking more like former USSR with its lines for toilet paper.

I tend to think that many anti-American viewpoints are rooted in this arguement. Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too, including too many of my own fellow countrymen. But the lesson in life is that if you want something you have to do it yourself, hopefully without a government getting in your way or punishing you for succeeding. In our current election cycle, we face the choice once more, and from the look of it America is coming back to its senses, and choosing freedom over socialism!

Vote Bush/Cheney!

[XMon]

Hahahaha!!!! You had me going for a paragraph or two! Whether you're Patrick Roy, P.J. O'Rourke, Pat Robertson or the ghost of Benito Mussolini...please don't confuse fascism with capitalism. Your rhetoric is almost impeccable and I congratulate you on that, but you showed your hand too quickly. So how in the past eight years, has this nation steered away from capitalism towards socialism? Forget I asked...I don't want to hear the BS... This is getting too off-topic anyway.

On-topic...my limited understanding is that many of the acknowledged *great* Wonders are already being used by Civilization II and thus CTP can't use them. Personally I don't care too much for Wonders and would be happy to see them reduced in number. They basically exist to give a civ a boost over the others and if the game has too many Wonders then they just pretty much dilute that intended effect.

Proposed Wonders:
Carnival (Mardi Gras): +3 Happiness throughout all
your civ due to the presence of naked women and
debauchery (go Brazil!).
Patrice Lumumba University: Enables the discovery of
the International Terrorism advance and the
creation of Terrorist units (yay to the former
USSR).
Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior: abolishes the
possibility of Ecotopian governments (props to the
the French).
Baywatch: creation of a TV show that the origin country
refuses to watch, but the rest of the world laps up
up hungrily, resulting in a -10% production for all
civs except the one that builds the Wonder.
Mir Space Station: A 15% increase in Science for 25
turns then one dead tile appears in a foreign civ's
city radii per turn for 10 turns as the debris
falls to Earth (Yo, Russia).
Apartheid: Did that Emancipation Proclamation ruin your
plans? No problem! The civ that builds Apartheid
can start building slavers again and can even
build a new unit called the Death Squad!
Microsoft: The civ that builds this wonder receives
10% of the gold of all other civs and all foreign
civs have their productivity reduced by 20%. The
downside? The civ that creates this Wonder has
their regard reduced by 40% as all foreign civs
have a forum to discuss their dislikes of the host
civ.

All of the above is tongue in cheek and not to be taken seriously.

A vote for Bush/Chaney is akin to letting someone drink all of your beer, sleep with your wife and shoot your dog. Or is it drink with your wife, shoot all your beer and sleep with your dog? Whatever...think twice before voting for the Great Satan (George DubbaU) and his fascist cultist minions like Patrick Roy...

[KhanMan]

The whole concept of "Wonders" is that certain civs built certain achievements that are better than any other civs' achievements. For as long as these wonders have real world names, there will be dispairities, and there will be smaller less powerful countries complaining about being under-represented.

The point is, no one should base their national identitiy on getting their quota of wonders, and, with the ease of changing the names, why should we care which wonders of the world other people think were the most important?

"It...is...a...game."
-KhanMan

[Va-Toran]

Just a quick point about democracy. The ancient Greek and Roman Republics are represented by the Republic government. The modern democracy, as represented by the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the USA, reflects modern democratic government, which is not just an American idea.

[MarkG]

quote: Originally posted by Va-Toran on 10-28-2000 04:20 PM Just a quick point about democracy. The ancient Greek and Roman Republics are represented by the Republic government. The modern democracy, as represented by the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the USA, reflects modern democratic government, which is not just an American idea.

since it's all about definitions, let's see Webster

Democracy Government by the people; a form of government, in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people collectively, or in which the people exercise the powers of legislation. Such was the government of Athens.

Republic A commonwealth; a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person. Yet the democracies of Greece are often called republics


so, excluding the last phrase since we are talking about what the athenian democracy WAS and not how it is CALLED, you probably see where i'm going....

[PRoy]

quote: Originally posted by XMon on 10-27-2000 11:46 PM So how in the past eight years, has this nation steered away from capitalism towards socialism?

While the rest of your post was complete drivel, especially supposedly humorous praise of the Soviet Union, which is completely asinine, and no doubt the result of poor breeding and socialist indoctrination, you did ask this substantive question. Of course you were afraid of an answer because you and the whole world knows the answer . .

Did you ever wonder how the Republicans gained Congress in 1994? It is specifically because a Democrat President, Clinton, and his Democrat Congress attempted to nationalize 1/7 th of the economy, namely, the entire health sector. The Democratic Party has not fully recovered from their mistake, and thankfully the electorate has overall shown far more intellectual maturity than you'll ever muster.

If you love socialism so much, there is a whole world out there full of it. Don't wreck one of the few places where people are still relatively free to succeed.

Socialism is for people who never grow up. Be a man, and stand on your own two feet, dammit!

[PRoy]

Anyway, getting back to the original intent of the thread, there is a reason why American wonders dominate the modern era. For the last 200+ years, America has been a magnet for freedom-loving people all over, including some of the world's best talent, who want to get the most out of their talents without being as shackled as they would otherwise have been. The American melting pot is the best combination of all races and ethnicities, and despite some tensions, has been the best model for achieving national strength through diversity and competition.

So while America certainly didn't invent representative government, her system has been the premier model for all peoples seeking self-determination and freedom.

And it is her system that has led to technical innovation and productivity unmatched in human history, and will remain so as long as we cherish what we have inherited from previous generations.

If the choice were left to some perhaps well-meaning but short-sighted individuals, our national inheritance would be quickly squandered, leaving future generations to suffer.

If your mindset is "live fast, die young", then by all means, get it over with, and leave the rest of us who care for the future, whether we'll be here or not.

Socialism is for children. Grow up, already!