Posted by Julia from dhcp100030.res-hall.northwestern.edu (199.74.100.30) on Friday, April 12, 2002 at 5:47PM :
the video works!! it wasn't very clear on my
computer (it was blurred) but otherwise it's
ok. good job jeff. fred...good job too. i
think it's interesting that ross said it's
"evils of nationalism" that divide people like
us when we otherwise have a common interest, and you
are positing a new kind of nationalism
to ameliorate the very divisions made by the
different religious and cultural groups among
semites like chaldeans, assyrians, etc. in
essence i think you have more points of
agreement than contention in that both
you and ross are sensitive to the politicization
of history, and both of you want a neutral con
ception of history without judging the past by
today's standards. Both of you guys agreed that
an empire is an empire, and it does the kind of
things it does (capture people, etc).
The only problem with fred's argument is that
he split his views on Ancient assyria on three
levels: 1) assyrians were no different from
their contemporaries 2) assyrians were in some
respects more civilized and more humane to their
captured (implying that other nations didn't
do the same) and 3) the assyrian empire was like
any other, including the US or german, that
commits atrocities and deports people.
So...fred, my only question is which of the
three (if i conceptualized them right) is what
you agree with - because it wasn't clear in
the video, to me at least.
-- Julia
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