Unaware until today that yesterday stood as the 104th anniversary of death of bad King Leopold the Royal Deuce of Wannabe-Bad-Ass Belgium, as wretched a tyrant as ever lived and mayhaps the worst as he had empire envy: other European powers split most of the the world, and he only got the stinkin' Congo.
To that, he reacted with savagert all too predictable of a civilized Christian:
[Leopold thought, how could a country be influential if it didn't have darker peoples under its boot....The despot's nefarious forces, dubbed the Force Publique, invaded the Congo Free State and unleashed a horror many of us can't even fathom. The invaders raped Congolese women, destroyed homes and villages, sucked vital resources (rubber and ivory) from the country and, more infamously as shown above, cut off the hands of native peoples to intimidate those who didn't produce enough rubber to meet the quota or to show military superiors that bullets hadn't been wasted on, gasp--wait for it, animals. Those beautiful black hands, by the way, are still a presence in Belgium. I was in Brussels several years ago and a candy shop, near the European Commission's headquarters, was selling chocolate hands. No other customer seemed to recognize the odious irony of it all. But, then again, that's Europe for you: a lovely and historically rich continent spectacularly ignorant of its role in multiple genocides.] (Emphasis added because of sarcasm below, Also can't bare seeing pic at this link) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/17/1263307/-Rest-In-Hell-Dear-Leopold?detail=email
So US does count as more moral place than Europe 'cause we only have the blood price of one genocide on our heads.
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