chapter 24

The book ends very strong, asking us the question,” what is history all about?”, of course we discussed last week about those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, but at the same time those who fail to know the past are doomed to know if they are affected by the same thing that happened in the past.  It’s great to look to the past for answers as if to put us in the shoes of our ancestors and wonder how would they respond to a conflict or to even just remember what they went through in order for us to be here today.

Many great thinkers of the past have justified why we looked to the past for answers, but in no way should we always look to the past for answers, it should be a way for us to figure it out and then apply that knowledge to our existing knowledge and then make an informed decision.

All in all, history will always be there for us, good or bad everything we need to know is right there and available.

chapter 21,22,23

I’ve never been a fan of the words, “ those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” I’m more afraid of those who do remember the past, they remember how said event did not work in the past, they rebrand it and add their variation to it in order to give it to us in the present. I would like to say that those who did not know the past in the first place are doomed to become a victim of the same event. We look at the events of World War II and the atrocities Hitler imposed amongst the Jewish people, even though it is not to the extreme of today, many people remember the teachings of the third Reich and impose these atrocities of their fellow man.

Hindsight is of course 20/20 we all fall victim to this. It is easier for our advanced selves to judge our former selves with such reverence. We love it, we have learned so much from learning the hard way that we look back and say, “ ugh, those uncivilized humans” we look at the downfall of the USSR and note how communism destroyed that society, well, I remember back to my financial management class in which we explore the decision making skills of CEO’s. What we found is that a CEO will make whatever decision he/she has to make for the best interest of the company with the available information at that time. The same can go for any country and any president, unless of course they are serving their own self-interest.

To move into the next session, I rather enjoy the unfinished stories. They offer discussion on the future and allow us to shape it accordingly rather than the over-analyzation of the past in which we ho hum about what other possibilities a leader could have made. Even though how our ancestors started is vastly different, we have the ability to continue their legacy.

reading response #5

Well, we first talk about eurocentricim and how it overwhelmingly influenced many civilizations. What we see here is a clear understanding of the double-edged sword. On the good side, it got everyone on the “same page” many cultures were lost and completely unknown, the European nations went out, explored, and reported back, opening up everyone to new knowledge of Islamic cultures, Indian and Chinese cultures. And on top of that left a little of themselves there for those nations to learn about Europe. This is essential to the spread of lifestyle and the exchange of ideas.

Now it could be said that we left a little too much of ourselves there, maybe even over stayed our welcomed and intentionally tried to change these cultures that have survived many of years prior to our faces showing and yet somehow the European influence convinced them that their way of life was, subpar, only because it did not fall into the European mind set.

Next we look at globalization and markets then and now.  To sound cynical, unfortunately not much has changed. Then we had high volumes of consumer goods being exported to other countries at a significant price, harvested by people who worked for less than what their work was worth and normally in subpar conditions that are not fit for humans. Also many who are forced to work in order to well, breath. Today we see many places in third world countries working for pennies on goods we are willing to spend of upwards of $500 dollars. Here in America, we are willing to pay undocumented workers $5 an hour to harvest our goods and then complain because they are taking jobs away from the American people. Our history is full of people in charge willing to pay bottom dollar for labor in order to shore up their profits, unfortunately it isn’t even history repeating, it’s on going and is set to continue as long as profits drive motivations.

Finally looking at culture borrowing. You see this a lot in America where people practice Christianity, but picks and chooses what to believe also with a sprinkle of Buddhism and just a dash of Hinduism. There is a hipster mentality that goes with the purest though, say for instants with Islam, many Muslims denounce the attacks that are perpetrated in the name of Allah because that’s not how Islam is, many people who follow the exact letter of the law may view someone who does not go to church as a non believer. Overall I that people just have to deal with aspects of their culture being a part of another culture. In today’s society we see that a lot in fashion, many of what was viewed as “street” or “ urban wear” has become mainstream ideas of individuality and comfort, where as 15-20 years ago it would have meant you were brought up in a bad household or were part of a gang

chapter 11,12,13

Starting with chapter 11, we get a great sense of how Islam played a significant role in the development of afro-eurasia. Despite our view of Islam today, it was very forward thinking back in the day.  Albeit a rocky start, their contribution to science has been well documented especially in medicine (i.e. mapping the circulatory system).

Between the Turkish invasion and the crusades, the Islamic nation has seen their fair share of violence and conflict, but has stayed astute in philosophy and outward thinking.  There has been a plea, for many years by the Islamic community for people to separate what they se on television to what Islam really is. At its core it is a peaceful religion, but just like any other religion, there is a subset of those who will die to protect their very word.

Into chapter 12, it is apparent that nomads were largely unpopular as people who moved from place to place pillaging and attacking in order to survive, then moving on to the next village to do the same. Of course, they did not take the time to write down these conquest so there is no written record of such acts taking place by them, thus pure speculation. Many of the Germanic and Asian tribes have been portrayed as evil bold thirsty savages. Sounds like a good start to a “historically accurate” movie.  But, all in all, much like the religious zealots I mentioned before, this was probably a small subsection of people who went and took advantage of those who trusted weary travelers and of course, first impressions are everything.

Finally to chapter 13, what we learn here is how world history changes the more we start to look for evidence. It has always been said that, “history is written by the winners”, which is true, but it has been rewritten by the researchers. What we see here is that with many of the stories and accounts being potrayed in history, eventually we are going to see holes in the theories and explanations. Now did these people do it intentionally? We don’t know, the eyes see what the eyes see, and given that many of these stories were accounts of accounts it’s easy to think that the truth could be stretched a bit or parts forgotten. 

It’s like one big game of telephone, the only problem is that we have to buy the next edition of the history book at cost.

commerce, culture,christianity

Looking through this first chapter I immediately compare the culture of commerce to how we have progressed over the years. It was that, then we relied on these worn paths between continents to provide us with exotics from far; spices, silks, fragrances all set up along the roads or shipped in and set along the harbors. We’ve come a long way since then. Using such commodities as currency as well, could you imagine trading a lamb for a dress for your wife?

These roads meant that merchants had to let their goods speak for themselves and it was truly buyer beware at this point. A man could claim the lamp he was selling contain a mystical powerful genie that would grant you three wishes and it was on the buyer to take that risk. Given today’s technological advances, you can confirm that claim with a few amazons’ reviews, albeit possibly negative for the false advertisements.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the Chinese culture. More so for the china of lore rather than the modern version. To be a part of the early Buddhist lifestyle would be a welcomed treat from our currently iLife. I do feel the western influence of lifestyle has tarnished the great view I have of china, although, its more within places such as Hong Kong, which until recently was still under British rule. Of course I don’t know how I would fair with life in Mainland China.

The biggest part of European Christianity I have learned in my lifetime, was the creation of the bible. When it came to creating the new testament bible many of the things that made the old testament were omitted in order to show a different side of god, the kinder, gentler all accepting god, through this process many of the controversial stories and accounts were omitted. Also it became first come first serve. If you got your story in by the deadline, the chances of you getting into the bible were higher, thus the bible became more of an advertising tool than it did the truth. The reason I bring this up is that during this postclassical era Christianity had to be able to relate to a wide variety of people in order to gain popularity through recruitment.

Although its hard to deny that through these efforts the eastern, more sophisticated thought process one over the western views of Christianity, even though both were subscribing to the same goal, strength in numbers through the eyes of god. 

Classical Era

Its amazing looking through the classical era and noticing the rise and predominate roll of religion through out the Eurasian area. These religions are made to help the people guide the people and over all support the community. Today, obviously, a lot of the meaning of the said religions of the classical era have changed a bit in perspective, yet, still holds the same principles they started with.

Religions such as legalism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism are more or less a philosophy rather than a religion, but many people flock to these beliefs with the same fervor as, say, Christianity. Religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam of course focus on what you can do to serve their perspective gods, of course now we learn that religious texts are basically written to persuade the people into their religions, during the classical era, much like today, it is a numbers game, the more people, the more funding, the more advertising.

Now as we move along these eras we start to look into the Eurasian social hierarchs, now of course the same religious text that spouted tolerance and equality was also used to enslave many and make others feel superior to others. Imagine being told that god demands you be subservient to another person, and you believe them, well, because that person was born into a family of wealth, you are told that your day of wealth and happiness will come either in this life or the kingdom of heaven?

You believe this because you know no other life. Many people during the classical era experienced this.

Even today it still happens in our “ modern” societies between those in Mainland China and Hong Kong to the overabundant caste system in India with the untouchables and even in America with the 1% vs. the 99%. Many of the artifacts from this period clearly depict the disparity of those who have and those who are born or raised into slavery. Unfortunately, the same life is depicted today in different form.

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