The United States is a part of the Anglo-Germanic branch of western civilization with plenty of influence from the Franco-Latin and Helenic branches of western civilization. It is natural that our schools should teach western civilization with a local focus and thus they tech US history and then European history back to the Roman and Greek eras. We only learn of the Parthians and Persians from the wars they fought with the Romans and Greeks. We only learn of Egypt from the deep influence they had on the Romans and Greeks and through their occupations by the Romans and Greeks. Color and race have been problematic in the Americas but did not matter in other parts of western civilization. (You will want to point out the diversity of people was lower but that's because of historical difficulty of travel, but consider Julius, Anthony and Cleopatra). While creed has in the past been a part of western civilization as Christianity wiped out previous religions it no longer is now that we have freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Ethnic background is simple - We are ethnic Americans, ethnic Anglo-Germanic westerners, ethic westerners, ethnic old worlders, ethnic Earthers. This is a matter of culture not race and that's the cultural tree we come from. here. Ethnic cleansing in the Slavic region made it clear that "ethnic" is a matter of cultural choice not of race. (As I currently reside in Texas and we have a NASCAR track in Austin I'll point out race is very much cultural. We do rodeo barrel racing and NASCAR).
but when you go beyond that and start studying more than what happened before the Roman and Greek empires, things really start dramatically change when we look at the high cultures that came out of Africa.[/QUOTE]
I got a tiny spattering of Egyptian history in high school and even less about African civilizations farther south. You've discussed the Moors - I had to learn of the Caliphate on my own for any topic other than algebra. I only learned Armenian history because I lived in Pasadena for years and I was able to tap into Roman and Parthian history with Armenia being a buffer zone between those warring world powers. To learn anything about civilizations further east I had to do so on my own.
So I see local centrism where you see bias and suppression. The difference between the two is smaller than one might think. It's like that famous cover of New Yorker magazine that showed the distance between NYC and Jersey City, the distance between Jersey City and Los Angeles, the distance between Los Angeles and Tokyo as the same distances.[/QUOTE]
That is an interesting way to look at things. I agree with most of what you've stated... And I love the fact that you made a point to say alot of what you've learned you've learned on your own.
Side Bar: Humanity has to start with everyone accepting everyone else's cultural identities and respecting them... But that is not the case. Although I live in and love this country I still want the 40 million black folk in this country to know who they were before Africa was colonized... Not only that all Americans should know this history because of how this country was founded and built.
Also it's important to note how it also influenced American freemasonry. Prince Hall new exactly what he was doing when he named his first lodge "African "Lodge.
I do not look to bring up these topics everyday all day. But we as Americans, all Americans at some point should understand the real history of the world so that travesties like the African slave trade, the mass murder of Jews, the Slavic wars never ever happen again.
And because we mason can have a wonderful and intelligent dialogue lets me know we all headed in the right direction.
By the way, the dead horse was supposed to have been beaten on this topic lol.
Freemason Connect Mobile