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siredgar
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New York, NY
Nov 2001
time: 00:19
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Hmmm, well, most people who speak English as a first language do so because of English colonization: South Africa, Australia, Jamaica, New Zealand, Canada, and many more including the U.S. Most of those who speak it as a second language, however, I would have to say do so because of American influence. That is with the exceptions of India, Malaysia, Singapore, Jordan, etc. It's also true that French, not English, was the language of diplomacy for a long time until U.S. power rose. But I still feel that the English legacy is quite strong. Nevertheless, I put the Americans at #4 because they've had linguistic influence, too.
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thinkingamer
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yes, it would. IF (only if) America's official language is French, the rest of the world would teach French as a sencond language.
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thinkingamer
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quote:
most people who speak English as a first language do so because of English colonization |
Good point SirEdgar, but due to English failure to maintain America, US became independent from England, and therefore all the countries that speak American English is American influence, not England's.
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jdjdjd
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of España
May 2002
time: 00:19
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Most of the large civs were made of groupings, ie, the USA, Chinese, Spanish, etc, at some point in their history (or maybe all their history). I don't think that should count as a hit on the Indians. Other points to consider for the Indians, Hinduism is the largest practiced religion in the world, the impact of Indian culture has effected the area in and surrounding India for thousands of years, and their Civ has withstood the test of time...while they may not be the greatest, they definetly are in the top ten or fifteen.
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Maelhavok
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Seattle,Wa. USA
Dec 2000
time: 05:19
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quote:
Originally posted by thinkingamer
[QUOTE]Which civilization? The New World Order. UU-Spin Doctors With the special ability to piss on your back and tell you its raining and to have (seemingly) everybody believe them, just look at thier polls[QUOTE]
Im sorry, but i did not understand this. Can u explain (or anyone) what u were trying to say? And what do u mean by New World Order |
thinkingamer- The short answer is that it is clear to me, civilization is an evolution based upon communication. This communication , or exchange of information, is rooted in language. So, if we can understand each other, we share a civilized frame of reference and we do not have to kill one another out of inability to understand one another. English is the world's language in this age of information (OK base 2 computer code is a contender but is somewhat inaccessable, but lookout, world translator is coming)
New World Order - An unproven belief that a secret society of the elite rich and powerful run the world according to their own unknown agenda.
The Unique Unit- is a bitter joke
Maelhavok
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Rosacrux
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In a Galaxy far, far away...
Oct 2001
time: 05:19
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Oh, hell, I'll give it a shot. Here we go:
- Greek civilization
It's something more than to what we refer to as "ancient Greece" - as "ancient Greece" we usually define the classical ages (practically two centuries) and the Greek civilization spanned way past them. It started off 2000 BC and goes along pretty fine even today, if you take into consideration that it's the foundation of the western civilization that's dominant today. Don't forget Byzantium, because it is actually a Greek civilization (Greek-orthodox, with Roman elemens, but Greek by any means).
- Rome, is actually a cultural offspring of the Greeks - the predominatory influence behind Rome are the Greek settlements in Italy. From those Rome got Democracy (which they adopted as Republic, aristocracy, the rule of the "better"), Alphabet and law-making. And Rome at it's peak, after the Greek conquest, became really a cultural powerhouse, but only by adopting the Greek culture (they didn't distinguish their culture and that of the Greeks, you'll find out if you dig into the sources).
Of course Romans went farther than the Greeks in law making, masonry and especially military technology and practice, and those distinct them from their mediteranean neighbours.
- China. Actually not much of a nation or a single culture, what we call "the Chinese civilization" survived admirably (and despite it fell under several conquerors over time) until today and is still a very influental culture nevertheless.
Durability and mass influnce is their strength in this "clash of the civilizations".
- Same goes for India. I can't understand Siredgar's objections, surely the Indians are quite above the Anglo-Saxon culture the English and American represent. They got a 5000 year culture and history behind them and untill you baby-civs (with less than 800 and 200 years of distinct history respectively) go past that point, you have no right of judging them.
- I could place here the Egyptian civilization and some of the various mesopotamian civs, and I guess they do deserve a place in the highest ranks (at least Egypt). I don't think any of our works shall stand 4000 years from now - but the Pyramids still stand. Isn't that something?
- Arabs: The banner Islam should be placed for those and several others (Turks, for instance). They are responsible for radical changes of this world, actually still active nowadays. Lately they seem to have lost contact with their times, but they have showed great adoptibility throughout the ages, so I guess they'll bounce back.
- Anglo-Saxon culture. The English and the Americans are the most prominent representatives of this culture, but they have a very long way to go until we can place them up there with those I mentioned before. Suffice to say they are in this list because of the impact they make in todays world, and nothing more. Actually, I wouldn't call the american mass under-culture garbage a "civilization" even at the point of a sword.
-The French culture, on the other hand, has given this world loads of things (pretty distinctive too) but is also very young and so can't be adressed but in a contemporary manner.
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SpencerH
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Co-Ruler of my patch of land south of Birmingham Alabama
Feb 2002
time: 23:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Akka le Vil
Perhaps because you don't know a lot about Indian's culture. It's always harder to judge things you're not accustomed to. |
Perhaps its because I know more about India than the people who are ranking it so highly.
quote:
Most of the large civs were made of groupings, ie, the USA, Chinese, Spanish, etc, at some point in their history (or maybe all their history). I don't think that should count as a hit on the Indians. |
The problem with that logic is where to draw the line whether it belongs to the civ or not. That argument has been used for including the US with England. We could go further back and include the franks and germans with the US with England (I guess under the german banner). If we do that you can forget countries and we end up with very few cultural groupings to compare. IMO, Northen Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Arabs, Indians, North American Indians, Central American Indians, South American Indians, Polynesians, Aboriginal Australians, and some kind of breakdown of the orientals.
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siredgar
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New York, NY
Nov 2001
time: 00:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Rosacrux
if you don't consider this as "evidence", then I think you got a serious problem. There is no need for evidences other than the pure existence of said culture for more than 5000 years
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No, I'm sorry I don't have a "serious problem", but it sounds like you may have one.
Using your logic, civilizations would be ranked by the number of years in existence. If that was the case, then England, Rome, and the United States would not be ranked up there. And yet, we all know that power and influence are the most significant factors. If not, wouldn't Korea which has also had 5,000 years of history would be ranked in the top 10 by these same posters, too?
Anyhow, please look up the word evidence and show me some if and when you can find it. Terribly sorry, but yoga, the "peace movement" (quite ironic considering India and Pakistan are on the verge of war), and the number zero (LOL) don't quite do it for me.
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15-05-2002 00:11
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