Top Ten Outrages of the Past Half Millenium

[Guynemer]

Two words:

Fear Factor

[Imran Siddiqui]

I wonder if since most of these happened in the 20th C, if the previous 400 years were much less bloodthirsty? Nothing from those times really stands out.

Naw, it is just that you recall the 20th C stuff more. There were plenty of bloodletting in the 1500-1600s with the religious wars in Europe. And then imperialism and expansion caused great deaths. A lot of it was gradual though, and not all at once. The 20th Century allowed us to kill faster and more efficiently.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by monkspider
No, it implies I'm creating a list.

Not when the thread subject is Top Ten outrages.


-Lonestar, "It's pronounced Doo-mahs"

[GePap]

It is understandable that 20th century outrages get top billing, given how little we relaively know about outrages prior to that- supposedly what French troops did in the Paletine in the 1680's was at the time though of as some of the worse war outrages EVER- like hell anyone knows what really happened then anymore, or cares.

Oh, and Vlad was prior to 1503, no? Plus he was small scale- even if he killed 50k, that ain;t much in the "outrage" game.

[Imran Siddiqui]

supposedly what French troops did in the Paletine in the 1680's was at the time though of as some of the worse war outrages EVER- like hell anyone knows what really happened then anymore, or cares.

Well you can just say that and not explain what they did .

Vlad was prior to 1503, no?

I believe the Impailer was more around 1200-1300

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Two words:

Fear Factor

I would expand this to include Reality TV in general.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I would expand this to include Reality TV in general.

No.. because sometimes it is fun to watch people get what's coming to them (like the first episode of Average Joe when the chick realizes all the dudes aren't good looking... or Joe Millionaire, when ther gold digger finds out the guy is penniless)

[DinoDoc]

You are a very wierd man, Imran.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by GePap

Oh, and Vlad was prior to 1503, no? Plus he was small scale- even if he killed 50k, that ain;t much in the "outrage" game.

Looks like I missed it by the skin of my teeth,
1431-1476.



Alright, fine, my point is there are lots more outrages that beat out "Post WW2 American Foriegn Policy"

[GePap]

Did I argue that point?

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Berzerker
Btw, ~30 million people died during the Taiping Rebellion so that has to rank way up there.

Is that the same thing as the Boxer Rebellion? Were the bulk of the dead killed by the Chinese government, the rebels, or western intervention?

Someone should have mentioned the African Ivory Trade. The sultans of East Africa were especially cruel to their porters. Some authors claim that one African died for each tusk of ivory brought to port. It is said that stragglers were executed along the way, and that once the ivory was deliverd to the island of Zanzibar the porters were forced to try to swim back to the mainland, a distance of 10 miles. Virtually none of them made it. The sultans justified their treatment of their laborers by claiming it to be a "holy duty" of the non-arabic black muslims to serve the arabic masters. They claimed that those who died in service were guarenteed a place in heaven, though not quite as good a place as that reserved for arabs. The estimated number who died during the ivory hunts may have been higher than 500,000 in some years. Over a period of nearly a century it really added up.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
I would expand this to include Reality TV in general.

I would agree, with the following exceptions: The Amazing Race, and Survivor (most of the time).

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by GePap
Did I argue that point?

No. You merely nitpicked it.

[Berzerker]

British Imperialism: What there Hell is this doing in the Top ten?

Slavery, Irish potato famine, Australian Aborigines, French & Indian war, American Revolution, Cromwell (he may have been before 1500), India and Africa, complicity in the Taiping Rebellion and Opium Wars, etc... You know, the sun never sets on the British empire...

[Drake Tungsten]

Is that the same thing as the Boxer Rebellion?

No. It's pretty complicated, but basically involved a pseudo-Christian group in Southern China winning a lot of followers and then getting all rowdy. Once they rebelled, the Chinese government stepped in and all hell broke loose.