Originally Posted by dteowner
Boy, you're on a roll! More impressive textbook wisdom that has absolutely nothing to do with the original topic, nor the current tangent. Sounded extremely studious, though. I might have even stroked the beard I don't have once or twice. We had a special thread for Dattaswami wisdom; perhaps it's time to start one for JemyM impressive pronouncements.

History is full of situations where a government disarms a group of citizens/natives to quell dissent, promising greater safety, usually leading to rather nasty oppression of said group that no longer has any means to defend itself. The makeup of each group, which you find so terribly important, is utterly superfulous to the historical precedent. Check out China under Mao. Check out German Jews. Check out the American Indians that were pictured. Check out colonial Africa. Check out Darfur. Check out the Armenians. Check out Cambodia under Pol Pot. Need I continue, or can you find those chapters in your textbooks?

What about the Bolsheviks?

Many of the groups you mention were or were oppressed by groups who took up arms against the state, became the ruling class, then oppressed the people. The only societies who ever defended the rights of it's individuals regardless of association were states with constitutional human rights. Incidentally that's the kind of state revolutionaries of today do not want to have.