There’s a problem with going back in time with modern warfare to kill bad guys: We as Americans ended up here because at least some of our ancestors somewhere down the line were oppressed by their own people. And the rest of our ancestors were those oppressors.

The borders of nations today were mostly determined by the greedy takeovers from more powerful countries in centuries past. Brutal wars were fought to determine how big or small a country would be today. Hundreds of years ago, there was more “forcible negotiation room” when it came to one kingdom wanting to take over another. Now, the world is civilized enough to more efficiently gang up against the Bad Guys.

Though my degree is in English, I started out as a History major. One of the reoccurring themes I learned was that most of the world’s older famous monuments, buildings, and man-made structures were built by slaves, indentured servants, or some type of forced labor. These landmarks that are beautiful and intriguing, but also made possible through awful means.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World

 

By people who were once average citizens of a country that was taken over by a stronger one, or by those who were poor or less fortunate in their position in society.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_labor

Recently I have been fantasizing what it would be like to travel back to ancient, Medieval, and even more recently historic times with a modern army to annihilate the evil kings and tyrants and government leaders that abused their own people and neighboring countries. Tanks, machine guns, grenades, fighter jets. Blow away those corrupt enemies and their henchman. We would be indestructible against their sissy spears and torches.

Annoying irony waits ahead: Every evil nation (in the history of the world and present day) is made up of a corrupt government leader, his immediate supporters who seek shared power and protection through that leader, and the common folk who become enslaved or taken advantage of.

 

If I went back in time and destroyed any German, English, Mexican, Italian, Cherokee Indian, Greek, Dutch, or Irish men that were anywhere in my lineage, then I would probably disappear as well.

The slaves of Africa weren’t simply kidnapped by the Europeans; they were sold by the African nations themselves. The people with more political and social power took advantage of the poor and less fortunate, in essence turning them into endured servants, and over time, slaves. After hundreds of years of this process occurring within Africa, the sell of slaves became a profitable commodity outside the continent. Therefore, eventually the international slave trade began, peaking in the 1800’s.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_slave_trade

And essentially every continent and country has done something similar. From Russia, to Japan, to Egypt, to India, just to name a few. Slavery was present in Biblical times and it is still very present today. Taking captive either their own people or another nation’s, or both.

 

The stronger take advantage of the weaker. The poor are must answer to the rich. The irony is where all of our ancestors end up in that mix.

Whether the war is outside a nation or within, the human race has this history fighting and enslaving itself. We are the products of those people.

Each person who is alive today has ancestors who were the oppressors AND the oppressed. If it weren’t for both types in our lineage, none of us would be here today. None of us can truly say that none of our ancestors were oppressors.

 

In a recent visit with one of my wife’s aunts, we learned that my wife’s great-grandmother was an indentured servant from Ireland. Without that happening, my wife wouldn’t be here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant)

In the likeness of LOST and Back to the Future, if we went back in time and wiped out all the Bad Guys (the oppressors), we could cease to exist, because we would be killing our own evil ancestors. Even though we saved our good ancestors in the process.

There will always be rich people living along with the poor, powerful and weak. Even the structure of our capitalist economy shows a vague parallel of indentured servitude.