[Lady Blue]

I think it’s safe to say that every country and culture on this entire planet has an unsavory history if we but look. Most of history itself consists of one culture/race/religion/country invading/overpowering/killing off/conquering the guys across the road/river/lake/ocean for the purpose of gaining land/goods/labor/control because they feel justified/superior/greedy/or they just plain CAN.

Every culture/race/religion/country has been both the aggressor and the oppressed at some point in time. The aggressors have often oppressed their OWN. Sometimes the aggressors have gained or remained in control and won the battles, and sometimes the oppressed have risen up, revolted, fought and won.

When of the same culture/country, if the oppressed (the subordinate entity) stand up to the aggressors (the controlling entity), then the oppressed, by definition, become traitors and their actions treasonous, no matter what their cause may be. In the view of the aggressors (or ruling class) they are now enemies of the state, rebels, revolutionaries and heretics. In the view of the oppressed they are freedom-fighters, heroes and patriots fighting for a noble cause, which is usually by definition, freedom from oppression of some sort.

Our Founding Fathers, although (most, if not all were) born in America, were nonetheless British subjects. When they felt oppressed and decided to rise up against their sovereign, they became traitors to Britain, yet patriots to their cause. Benedict Arnold however, had the dubious distinction of being twice a traitor – first a traitor to the British for taking up arms against them, and then to the American Patriots for selling out and going back to the British side.

In simplistic terms, if victorious, the oppressed continue life with new found freedom and self-righteousness, in control of their lives and destinies. Life is good, prosperity reins. Inevitably, over time, the oppressed go through all the stages of the human condition and circumstance that now brings them to the doorstep of aggression, and so it goes.

Throughout history a given race/culture/country goes beyond its backyard and goes to great lengths to impose their will, religion and power, and corrupt, exploit, and steal the riches and resources of another given race/culture/country, as in the cases of the Zulu, Aztecs and Native Americans to name but a few.

We may not, as individuals, be at fault, or be a victim of these circumstances. But as descendents of one form of culture/race/religion/country or another, our human history is the same if we just look. Probably, without exception, we all come from being both the oppressors as well as the oppressed.

There is good, bad and mediocre in every single culture/race/religion and country in the world. No system, belief or practice is ideal or perfect. What worked yesterday does not work today and will need to change again for tomorrow.

We can’t even agree with our own family, friends, neighbors and leaders although we’re assimilated into a core culture from birth. We will always unite when in our own best interests and be in conflict for the same reasons. We're all selfish and generous. We're frail, yet strong. We're wise, yet foolish. We're human, yet monstrous. We're both right and wrong. We love, hate, kill and heal depending on which way the wind is blowing.

The US/Europe Cultural Divide is simply/complexly that we’ve always been the same/different and always were/will be for as long as humans have or will exist.