>>>> Brad De Long writes
[...]
>My bet is that medieval theocracy was preferable, especially since the PRC
>functionaries tended not to speak Tibetan...
>
>On the other hand, I can't help but feel that China's future has at least a
>good chance of being *better* than medieval theocracy...
>___________
>
>Sounds like the nadir of landlord existence. The nadir of human existence
>would be more coincident with the thousands of years of peasant and slave
>suffering at the hands of landlords, including the European chattel
>slavery and colonialism of recent centuries. Is Roderick MacFarquar
>Chinese ? My guess is life black slaves under white slavery/capitalism
>was as bad as any you name and worse than some.
It's interesting that the death tolls under Stalin and Mao are considered indictments and convictions of entire social systems, whereas incidents like slavery and genocide in the U.S., the potato famine in Ireland, several centuries of colonial brutality by Europeans ahd Americans, etc. etc., are considered anomalies or youthful indiscretions.
Doug