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Reply To: | paul.courtney2 |
Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2001 17:53:11 +0000 |
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Ned
People once said that about Hitler burning books. 20 or was it 40 million
dead (the Russian figures are now reckioned to have been downplayed) paid
the price for too many peple staying silent. There are still huge tracts of
land in Europe where there are so many human bones and/or unexploded bombs
fromt he two world wars that nothing can be grown from Verdun to Stalingrad.
We should also rememebr that historians, archaeologists and anthropologiosts
actively provided the intellectual rationale for Hitlerism. At least one
anthropologist was hung at Nuremburg and I would remind my American
colleagues that the intelectual roots of modern American anthropology and
archaeology come from exctly the same place his did- they just went
different ways and drew different conclusions.
paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ned Heite" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2001 5:20 PM
Subject: Taliban Iconoclasm
> Of course, It's a terrible thing to see major artworks destroyed for
> the sake of religion.
>
> But, what's new? This has been happening as long as there has been
> religion. While the Taliban actions are stupid, uncivilized,
> irreverent, and irreversible, they are a normal historical process.
>
> I question the wisdom of our taking a position on the issue.
>
> We are supposed to be social scientists or historians, observing and
> recording events, and I trust the specialists in Afghan art and
> antiquities will be making a record of the destruction. But would it
> be ethical for professionals in the area of culture history to
> condemn actions of the Afghan rulers? We are not theologians. What
> they are doing is a well-document process in the history of
> extremism, and they are creating an archaeological record that can
> later recover that record.
> --
> Ned Heite ([log in to unmask])
> **********************************************
> * *
> * Gardening season is upon us. We need *
> * help from all our friends. Have you *
> * hugged your compost pile lately? *
> * *
> **********************************************
>
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