Lord Lucan
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Re: Proud to be British
Aug 19, 2000, 18:54
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On the theme of recent discoveries confounding long-held beliefs about history, a while ago I read somewhere that an archelogical discovery in Egypt has turned on its head the notion that the people who built the pyramids were press-ganged slaves who were worked to their deaths. A burial site which had mummified remains of some of those who worked on the pyramids as builders proves that far from living a hellish existence, these workers were revered and held in high esteem by the Ancient Egyptians. It strikes me that our interpretation of history in many ways tells us more about ourselves now than the past. It is obvious that we have been incapable of envisioning such a mighty achievement as the construction of the pyramids as being at all possible without inflicting viscious cruelty on a mass scale. The Ancient Egyptians could obviously see another way which in fact did not involve this cruelty. Our inability to see this possibility does not speak well for our present-day societies.
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Annexus Quam
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Re: Proud to be British
Aug 20, 2000, 18:30
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I've heard of that, Lord Lucan. Modern Western Christian views of the rest of the world are typically patronising and sometimes racist, though very often in a subliminar way.
But there is also a historical "racism" based on the assumption that everything we do now is more evolved and progressed than at any time in the past, that's why negativity is the norm of most interpretions (savages, barbarians, un-progressed, un-civilised, etc). It seems that historians always want to be cleverer than the person they study, like a rock music critic.
Once you look closely, the psychology of man hasn't changed much at all, even lost much wisdom as the state of the earth suggests.
Although we may be nothing but material value our human spirit struggles on.
BE A SAVAGE!!! I say.
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Buzzard of Morfe
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Re: Proud to be British
Aug 20, 2000, 21:15
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Make soup from dem bones!
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Proserpine
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Re: Proud to be British
Aug 21, 2000, 12:33
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Just finished reading a brilliant book that touches on all of these kind of issues (ie. Modern 'civilised' man thinking He's so big & clever & great compared to 'primitive' barbaric savages).
I'd recommend anyone to check out Richard Rudgley's "Lost Civilisatoins of the Stone Age". It's very detailed & comprehensive but basically argues that humans have been, well - human, for much longer than the stuffy scientific status quo would have us believe & prehistoric people are not given anywhere near the credit they deserve. Also, it gives examples of how (in case we weren't aware already) 'civilised' scientists can be barbaric & inhumane.
As Erich Fromm put it, "Western science seeks truth through the dismemberment of life".
But it doesn't all have to be bad, to pick up on Duck Call (or rather Duck call's mate). It's ludicrous to think that evolution will inevitably result in destruction, & even more ludicrous to think 'fuck it I don't even have to make an effort then' - this kind of argument is obviously just a convient excuse.
It's not always science that is bad in itself, but how it gets used (& abused) by the big corporate machine.
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Annexus Quam
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Re: Proud to be British
Aug 21, 2000, 18:13
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"a convenient excuse" that's the word!
I am not against self-destructive tendencies as such, but anyone who says things like
"we all have to die"
should get a gun into their mouths if what they say is REALLY what they believe in. When trouble beckons, they are the ones who fight for dear life the most.
My uncle is desperate for his treatment to finish after a long life of ciggies'n'beer and "fuck-off's" to health warnings. He looked unrecognizable when I last saw him. He keeps his fingers crossed.
If you commit suicide, don't let others hand you the gun.
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