For the discontinuity at 0, off the top of my head I would point to the relative success of uncolonized Western Europeans and their descendent colonizers in the US. Japan is another example. Do you believe Western Europe and the US to be more successful than colonized countries in Africa? Within the US, do you believe that descendants of Western Europeans are more economically successful than colonized Native Americans and blacks descending from slaves?
> I'll generally ignore the "I hate descendents of people distantly related to colonisers sooo much"
You're mischaracterizing what I said. Some of my best friends are descendents of colonizers and for that matter so am I. However, if we claimed that there were benefits for the colonized, we'd be just as self-serving as you and the person in this thread who suggested that it was really in Native Americans' interests to be colonized and the guys who wrote the paper.
Self serving? As far as I'm aware, the vast majority of my ancestors (mostly Italians, Irish and Greeks) never got their shit together well enough to colonize anyone. In fact, if I recall correctly, Ireland was basically a colony of England, which resulted in my ancestors fleeing the country to the US.
Oh, while we are on the topic: Ireland was a colony of England. Some Western Europeans were colonized, mostly by other European countries (e.g., "France" wasn't always a single nation). And while you are cherrypicking Japan as an example of uncolonized Asian countries, keep in mind where Thailand ("Land of the Free") got their name.
(Also, Native Americans were a very special case. Unlike most of the rest of the world, North America and the Amazon had no livestock. This rendered them uniquely vulnerable to communicable disease.)
"As far as I'm aware, the vast majority of my ancestors (mostly Italians, Irish and Greeks) never got their shit together well enough to colonize anyone"
> I'll generally ignore the "I hate descendents of people distantly related to colonisers sooo much"
You're mischaracterizing what I said. Some of my best friends are descendents of colonizers and for that matter so am I. However, if we claimed that there were benefits for the colonized, we'd be just as self-serving as you and the person in this thread who suggested that it was really in Native Americans' interests to be colonized and the guys who wrote the paper.