Beirut Explosion

I had one of those too, as a child. Like you, I now cringe at the thought of it.
Also like you, though, I still wear it sometimes. A recent photo...

 

Back on the thread track. There’s only one thing anyone can say with any certainty re History, Wars and the like and it’s this: (Hold the front page) Humans as a species are not very nice.

 

The Irish also suffered more than just the Norman pale , plantations and other cruelties as from Cromwell but the sort one saw throughout western Europe in the wake of the Reformation, the rise of Protestantism, new religious philosophers espousing radical ideas and adherents. The story of how many Irish were shipped to the Caribbean before Australia was used was news to me a while ago and the use of Irish women as slaves used in breeding programmes to produce as it were a better type of slave. When one looks into the often cobwebbed corners of the history books there are many rather abhorrent and nasty facts that emerge. However no nation on earth no matter how it has been derived from amalgamation, conquest or in very rare cases peaceful annexation has a morally clean history because all nations are comprised of their citizens. And as we know humans are often rather nasty pieces of work to each other. The ego drives them to strange desires.

The good news is as in Steven Pinkers Enlightenment Now the world is slowly but surely improving in most areas including the decline in armed conflicts. Science and humanism is the way forward consigning religious magic dogma and tribalism to the past.