The World Celebrates the End of the American Civil War
Finally, we have a clear benchmark, a meaningful yardstick (granted all the other confluence of factors) to measure how long it takes for a nation to rid itself of deeply rooted racism in this globalized world. 147 years.
Read Friedman’s OpEd on NYTimes.
If we start counting from “back in the summer of 69“, then 147 years would mean the year 2116. Don’t think I can live so long… *sigh*
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/6/nation/2469131&sec=nation
😉
Yup, he didn’t say when.
why count from the civil war and not the independence?
uh… counting is symbolic to the intent, not really for the number. true to the spirit of buy low sell high, we want to find the lowest point and measure that until the highest point ma.
long long time ago, around independence, there were good things, so our generation read.
and ya, like i was explaining to you yesterday, the civil war was symbolic of the ending of slavery, which has no real equivalent in malaysia (or maybe can count independence from colonial powers as that?)
and yes you’re right that (now i’m armed with wikipedia..) the american civil war started because the north didn’t want slaves and the south wanted, and this messes up politics, policies, regulations, and therefore social economic forces. acw recreated the torn union with a proclamation outlawing slavery, thus marking the beginning of the healing of the north and south policies and social contracts. the process is long and arduous, which is probably why it was often used to compare how long it takes for a nation to rid itself of racial prejudices, both officially and un-officially. compared to m’sia, the opposite proclamation (nep) itself is still in place, making it harder to progress towards the right direction.
but now that i look back at the post, i was thinking since we have the internet, it really might not take 147 years after all. what i worry is more a china/india world that would further ignite racial identity in the country, making it harder to convince people or your intentions.