Ready Set Go

I've been reading Darwin (for Darwin class) and learning about African colonization (in Africa class), and for some reason thought of an image I'd seen once a long time ago.  I don't think it was this one exactly, but it's close enough:

It's from a book (Maury's New Complete Geography, to be precise) from the turn of the previous century.  For whatever reason, it made the people on the blog where it was first posted rather indignant.  Does it make these readers uncomfortable?  Why - or why not?

On a lighter note, while I was searching for the image, I stumbled into the land of Hetalia fanart.  Sampling from one of many deviantART galleries...

Which brings me back: have we changed? I think so...but how?

And "Greece got hotter" may or may not be an acceptable answer.