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Dekshak again
One other small point ; the English/British have no conception of their own history, so, as you say, they are completely unaware of the persecutions of Catholic/Protestant/Jewish/other minorities in their own history.
History beyond about twenty years ago, that is. History, if taught at all in British schools, is a pretty perfunctory and heavily biased project.
posted by
ariel70
on January 12, 2007 at 10:35 AM
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Decshak
Thank you for your comment.
Permit me to make myself clear on this point of complicity.
As I've pointed out several times in here, mainly in connection with the present Iraq war, perhaps it is natural, and desirable that future generations should see it as a mere episode ... a comma in history?
Who of ( presumably ) your generation now knows anything much about, for example Ctesiphon, or Kut al Amara, where a whole British division was led away to captivity by the Turks in 1916? As I say, a mere episode.
To live in, and for, the present, and not dewll at inordinate length upon historical wrongs and atrocities is desirable and right.
But to deliberately ignore, conceal or deny them is not ; for when one does that one becomes a much an accomplice as one who denies knowledge of, say, a murder or a burglary.
It is quite clear in my mind that, for instance, those black people who deny that their ancestors sold their fellow countrymen into slavery are accomplices in the crime.
As we had no part in, nor control over the actions of our ancestors of all races, why not admit their wrongs, and learn to live together in an honest peace and mutual respect?
posted by
ariel70
on January 12, 2007 at 10:30 AM
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I see that you are thoughtful, educated, and interested in reporting on and
interpreting history -- attributes which I strive to share with you. However, I cannot agree that those who deny an atrocity ever occurred are accomplices. True, the Iranians denial of the Holocaust points to their present opinions of Israel, but the Iranians did not gas the Jews in Germany in the 1940s.
In another realm, I might point out that English forgetfulness about execution practices of Protestants against Catholics after Henry VIII is endemic to England but in no way makes the English forgetters accomplices.
posted by
WindTapper
on January 12, 2007 at 10:15 AM
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I vote to see the article.
These days there may not be slave ships hauling captives into servitude on distant shores, but there are uncounted millions of wage slaves spending their lives working for subsistence level pay, having no other options if they wish to eat.
posted by
Pat_B
on January 4, 2007 at 7:31 AM
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Ariel
as always, a superb piece. I fully share your view regarding the importance of history, and the need for 'objectivity' and 'impartiality' in the assessment of historical events.
Having said that, I am convinced that 'historical objectivity' can never be more than a partial achievement (and I am using the word 'partial' here deliberately in it's dual sense), and that, to the degree its is achieved, it exists only in the rarified air of our universities.
The many strands of what passes for 'history' in the popular mind are a jumble of sometimes conflicting beliefs that tend to be held with a degree of conviction not permitting of argument.
And it doesn't help, of course, that the study of history is held in very low regard in our North American high schools. History 'is all about dead people' or, better yet, 'dead white men'...
And yes, I would definitely like to see that article on Christian Slaves in North Africa!
posted by
Nautikos
on January 3, 2007 at 7:24 PM
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Ex cellent post .It is thought provoking .
posted by
afzal50
on January 3, 2007 at 5:57 PM
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Ariel
I just dropped in to tell you and the Lady Happy New Year and found this beautiful post. It is painful the way people alter history, ignore history, hate history and become the victim of history. Keep going loved it.
posted by
Justi
on January 3, 2007 at 5:22 PM
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