Could've just as well been the Boston Molasses Party I suppose.
I mean,
it was, just not in relation to any national or international relationships.
As for the nationalist fervor, or jingoism or what have you, in this thread... yeah, right, whatever. The simple fact is all countries have committed terrible atrocities. Against their neighbors, against their ("their" in geographic terms) prior inhabitants, against their own (current, naturalized) inhabitants, against remote enemies, anything. Some worse than others perhaps, but ranking them seems a perverse activity, at best distracting from the fact that it's happened (or happening). Likewise, all countries can credit themselves with numerous technical, artistic, spiritual, whatever achievements; amazingly enough, countries are complex (pseudo-?)entities.
Now, there are two readings a person will take away from this:
1. "BoTh SiDeS", everyone else does it so what does it matter that we did / are doing it, and what does it matter trying to prevent others from doing it? Even if I could do anything about it, I still don't care. Turn on the television, I want to see how my football team is doing.
Or 2., acknowledging that that darkness exists
within all of us (or at least a sizable minority of us), and that we can better ourselves, to rise above that violent streak and treat one another with love and respect no matter who we are, or where we are from; and to monitor such events as (or before) they unfold, and hold our leaders accountable to reduce or eliminate such acts; and better research and understand why and how such events come to be: to understand systemic racism; cycles of poverty, crime and violence; to understand colonialism and imperialism, and their use of these behaviors and conditions as tools, to control and mold the populations they dominate; and so on.
And, in turn, if not preventing them from happening, then at least gaining and understanding of the economic forces (read: aristocrats, oligarchs, capitalists, corporations; take your pick) that drive these circumstances. Which, as far as I know, on a sufficiently grand (international) scale, can always be reduced to this as an explanation; the only limitation is that historical (or even current day) evidence may not always be available to
prove it. Controlling these agents, has always been a challenge; since they seek to control us (in turn, our wealth), it's only ever at best been a constant struggle, and at worst an utter defeat.
Tim