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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 8584052" data-attributes="member: 4534">And I'd have to remind you that feudal Japan, however we define feudal, is not feudal England in the 12th century or France in the 10th.  Even in Japan itself, what they were doing in the 11th century wasn't necessarily the same as it was in the 14th century.  Looking at Japan or any other kingdom/country and holding them up as the feudal standard is just an exercise in futility.  I've got two questions.  Who is this "we" you're talking about?  Feudalism, however we define it, was scattered throughout many different cultures, geographic locations, and time periods. And you make it sound like there was some concerted organized effort to end feudalism that took the better part of a thousand years.  While I didn't specialize in medieval history, I would have expected to have heard of such a movement. What was the movement and who was involved?  You also make it seem as though history is heading towards some great progressive goal and that just simply isn't the case.  I'd rather live in ancient China than today's North Korea, Stalin's Soviet Union, or Nazi Germany.  Through no effort of my own, I have it pretty good living in the modern era so I don't give ringing endorsements for any period in the past.  I would not be happy to suddenly be transported back to 19th century America, 13th century England, or 8th century BCE Greece.  I'm no so keen on looking at the past through rose colored glasses, but at the same time I think it's a mistake to look at it as a crummy place where misery abounded (though that happened sometimes).  They were human beings and they had joy, they had fun, they had seasons in the sun even if the stars they could reach were just starfish on the beach.  Yeah, you're right.  I've never participated in a D&D game where the object was to overthrow the monarchy and install a dictatorship of the proletariat.  But then in most "good" kingdoms, the people enjoy the same rights we expect in western liberal democracies.  It's fantasy after all.</blockquote>

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