Saturday, May 13, 2006
Midnight in the Oasis
http://dim.com/~jbettin/air/index.htm
A really good spoof of certain educational reading
http://eastethnia.blogspot.com
I put this link because it was really synchronous after reading East Ethnia
and getting to see
Damir Niksic's art. The home page portrait of him in classic old National Geographic style for one thing is beautifuly executed!
http://www.damirniksic.com/top.htm
Damir Niksic
This was difficult to see visually, it was almost like a subliminal message... so here it is in a more readable format....
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 1912
THE CHANGING MAP IN THE BALKANS
By Frederick Moore
Author of "The Balkan Trail" and Correspondent of the Associated Press
...The Turks added to their Semitic blood some of the finest manhood of the races of Southeastern Europe. Turks whose appearance is thoroughly European and Turks with fair hair and straight noses are to be distinguished throughout Western Turkey from the distinctive Semitic type; and some of the best brains in the recent Young Turk movement are European brains.
The infusion of European blood had a certain minor effect upon the character of the Turk, but the greater change came upon the converts and their offspring. The blight of the Mohammedan creed, which impairs all better civilizations that it touches, affected the Europeans only less seriously than it had the Asiatics whom it reached.
When Europeans became Mohammedans they became to all intents Turks and called themselves such; they were no longer Greek, Servian, or Bulgarian, as the case might be. In spirit if not in blood they were wholly gone over to the other race. Such is the power of the Moslem faith!
* a few points to make, Turks are not Semitic! Their language isn't Semitic! Their social organization wasn't either until they became Muslim! In fact arguably Turks observe many aspects of the Muslim religion differently.
The other point is that in fact a lot, maybe most Balkans Muslims are in fact Slavs!
Damir Niksic is working with images and propaganda of the era of war against the Ottoman Empire. The referals in the National Geographic article to the 'Mohammedan creed wihich impairs all better civilizations that it touches' Plus did I mention it there's an element of anti-Semitism in the article!
This attitude in the National Geographic, had it now appeared in such blatent form would upset people and would probably result in law suits and protests. I have read a lot of old National Geographics and the attitude toward Hinduism was a littl better but not by much.
Basically anything that wasn't White, Western European Protestant Christianity was not respected, was written about in a disrespectful way, whether that disrespect was subtle, or blatant as this Geographic piece. It wasn't just in this publication, but the writings of other people from Northern Europe and North America visiting the Balkans countries.
Often these people were good writers and their books were and sometimes remain the only thorough descriptions of the region. Coupled with the dislike and disrespect for their fellow Europeans who happened to be Muslim, there is very often, a lack of respect for the Catholic and Orthodox inhabitants of the region. this seems to have a bit to do with the side the writer took in the Ottoman vs Austro-Hungarian Empire stuff.
Rebecca West's writings betray a lot of this as do Edith Durham's and other authors who were in the region.
Rebecca West on top of it seems to have had at least some tendancy to anti-Semitism. I don't think she had it in for ALL Jews, but I think she was at very least uncomfortable around Jews.
Damir Niksic does a good job of showing the ways the media of that era was used to manipulate attitudes. These are attitudes which have remained in one way or another.
What is really sad is that the National Geographic, then was one of the few readily available sources of information about other countries and cultures. If a person read it totally uncritically they would imbibe an awful lot of propaganda wjith the valid information and with the beautiful photography for which this magazine has always been famous.
The sad part is that so much of this went unquestioned so long, and I believe it was damageing to a lot of people, in the form of excuses for ethnic cleansing, and for lower levels of hatred and distrust.
And now for something completely different, Just for you Gospodin Vilim!
Dalmatian Riding a Bicycle
A really good spoof of certain educational reading
http://eastethnia.blogspot.com
I put this link because it was really synchronous after reading East Ethnia
and getting to see
Damir Niksic's art. The home page portrait of him in classic old National Geographic style for one thing is beautifuly executed!
http://www.damirniksic.com/top.htm
Damir Niksic
This was difficult to see visually, it was almost like a subliminal message... so here it is in a more readable format....
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 1912
THE CHANGING MAP IN THE BALKANS
By Frederick Moore
Author of "The Balkan Trail" and Correspondent of the Associated Press
...The Turks added to their Semitic blood some of the finest manhood of the races of Southeastern Europe. Turks whose appearance is thoroughly European and Turks with fair hair and straight noses are to be distinguished throughout Western Turkey from the distinctive Semitic type; and some of the best brains in the recent Young Turk movement are European brains.
The infusion of European blood had a certain minor effect upon the character of the Turk, but the greater change came upon the converts and their offspring. The blight of the Mohammedan creed, which impairs all better civilizations that it touches, affected the Europeans only less seriously than it had the Asiatics whom it reached.
When Europeans became Mohammedans they became to all intents Turks and called themselves such; they were no longer Greek, Servian, or Bulgarian, as the case might be. In spirit if not in blood they were wholly gone over to the other race. Such is the power of the Moslem faith!
* a few points to make, Turks are not Semitic! Their language isn't Semitic! Their social organization wasn't either until they became Muslim! In fact arguably Turks observe many aspects of the Muslim religion differently.
The other point is that in fact a lot, maybe most Balkans Muslims are in fact Slavs!
Damir Niksic is working with images and propaganda of the era of war against the Ottoman Empire. The referals in the National Geographic article to the 'Mohammedan creed wihich impairs all better civilizations that it touches' Plus did I mention it there's an element of anti-Semitism in the article!
This attitude in the National Geographic, had it now appeared in such blatent form would upset people and would probably result in law suits and protests. I have read a lot of old National Geographics and the attitude toward Hinduism was a littl better but not by much.
Basically anything that wasn't White, Western European Protestant Christianity was not respected, was written about in a disrespectful way, whether that disrespect was subtle, or blatant as this Geographic piece. It wasn't just in this publication, but the writings of other people from Northern Europe and North America visiting the Balkans countries.
Often these people were good writers and their books were and sometimes remain the only thorough descriptions of the region. Coupled with the dislike and disrespect for their fellow Europeans who happened to be Muslim, there is very often, a lack of respect for the Catholic and Orthodox inhabitants of the region. this seems to have a bit to do with the side the writer took in the Ottoman vs Austro-Hungarian Empire stuff.
Rebecca West's writings betray a lot of this as do Edith Durham's and other authors who were in the region.
Rebecca West on top of it seems to have had at least some tendancy to anti-Semitism. I don't think she had it in for ALL Jews, but I think she was at very least uncomfortable around Jews.
Damir Niksic does a good job of showing the ways the media of that era was used to manipulate attitudes. These are attitudes which have remained in one way or another.
What is really sad is that the National Geographic, then was one of the few readily available sources of information about other countries and cultures. If a person read it totally uncritically they would imbibe an awful lot of propaganda wjith the valid information and with the beautiful photography for which this magazine has always been famous.
The sad part is that so much of this went unquestioned so long, and I believe it was damageing to a lot of people, in the form of excuses for ethnic cleansing, and for lower levels of hatred and distrust.
And now for something completely different, Just for you Gospodin Vilim!
Dalmatian Riding a Bicycle
# posted by Katja R. @ 11:49 PM 
Comments:
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Very good observations on West and Durham. The two women were patronizing and opnionated by the major rifts in global politics of the time. But at the same time they looked at the Balkans as a unique world that should be kept unspoiled by modernization - a sort of zoo for Westerners to marvel at.
P.S. I'm sorry for offending you with my suggestion to change your template :).
P.S. I'm sorry for offending you with my suggestion to change your template :).
@warchild, you didn't offend me by suggesting a change of template. I'm not very techie, I used one of blogger's off the shelf templates with the title customized by a friend from school.
I like this one because I can make it easier to read. My other favorite was the fake parchmente one. My Ghosts and Orthodox Business Blogg have that one.
The trouble with that one is it's pretty but you can't make letters show up and that's important!
West and Durham weren't even the most blatant. Maybe in a way it's worse that they weren't. It slides right by most people. Still it's bad.
I think some of what they both liked in the region, was that they valued the sponteneousness of life and the vivacity of the people in the Balkans.
These are qualities which have disappeared in much of the West.
The last effort to bring these traits back into Western life was the 1960s and it was socially repressed in a way I really didn't like.
Anyway it's up to people of the region to preserve things if and how they wish. Not every thing is perfect in the region and some things have to change.
Some change is going to just happen.
It's not up to foreigners to decide these things.
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I like this one because I can make it easier to read. My other favorite was the fake parchmente one. My Ghosts and Orthodox Business Blogg have that one.
The trouble with that one is it's pretty but you can't make letters show up and that's important!
West and Durham weren't even the most blatant. Maybe in a way it's worse that they weren't. It slides right by most people. Still it's bad.
I think some of what they both liked in the region, was that they valued the sponteneousness of life and the vivacity of the people in the Balkans.
These are qualities which have disappeared in much of the West.
The last effort to bring these traits back into Western life was the 1960s and it was socially repressed in a way I really didn't like.
Anyway it's up to people of the region to preserve things if and how they wish. Not every thing is perfect in the region and some things have to change.
Some change is going to just happen.
It's not up to foreigners to decide these things.
<< Home
