journal4

Reading the European representation of the indigenous people in the new world, I can not help wondering whether these early colonists gave a biased description of the local natives deliberately or unwittingly. It seems to me that people are inclined to be unconsciously egoistic in tackling the relationship with the others and their glorification or denigration of the others largely relies on their self-interest. The early colonists rushed to the new world with a strong economic motivation: to slake their craving for resources. But as outsiders they had no authority or tenable justification to appropriate the resources of the new world. The pursuit of self-interest was so predominant that in order to replace the local people as the new owners the Europeans had to figure out various justifications for their dispossession of the natives, which is regarded as banditry in their own civilized world. Thus, the reconciliation of their economic need with their conscience necessitated their biased representation of the local natives. Condemning the indigenous people as non-human or the humblest in the hierarchy of mankind, the colonists did not treat the indigenous people as their equals, claimed that it was their holy mission to take over the land and enslave and exploit the local people, and might feel comfortable when decimating and despoiling the local people. I feel how vulnerable the social morals and laws are when people are controlled and driven by the desire for materials. The Germans massacred the Jews and the Japanese exterminated the Nanjing people in china. They all justified their crimes as the ways to make a better world and create an ideal society. But as a matter of fact they both attempted to justify their pursuit of self interest. It seems that we can do nothing to stop these outrages as the economic propulsion behind their behavior is too tremendous. I feel pessimistic about the progress of human civilization because it seems to me that the great conflicts of civilizations are inevitable as the time goes by and these conflicts may bring us war, death and depravity. It is rumored that there will be a great conflict between China and the USA in the near future. What I am thinking now is not whether it will happen but when it will happen.