Throughout millennia, what happened in the "center of the world" has driven and shaped global history.
10:57 -- Contrasting the poverty and backwardness of medieval Europe with the Muslim world. "Christians have no interest in exploration or innovation."
14:30 -- The one thing Europe had that they could sell ... slaves.
↑ USE THIS IN TEACHING THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM!
18:33 -- Columbus sparked a geographic "repositioning" that put Europe at the center for the first time. Europe tried to cultivate technological advantages to "systematize force and violence" because they couldn't compete in other ways.
20:22 -- Reading a passage from Chapter 13, about how "Fighting, violence and bloodshed were glorified, as long as they could be considered just. This was one reason, perhaps, why religion became so important: there could be no better justification of war than its being in defence of the Almighty. From the outset, the fusion of religion and expansion were closely bound together: even the sails of Columbus’ ships were marked by large crosses. As contemporary commentators constantly stressed, in regard to the Americas, but also as Europeans began to fan out over Africa, India and other parts of Asia, and then Australia as well, it was all part of God’s plan for the west to inherit the earth."
21:11 -- Despite the 500-year gap, the "mechanisms of conquest and seizure haven't changed" -- drawing a parallel between 16th century conquest and 19-20th century imperialism. British Petroleum's discovery of oil in Persia/Mesopotamia were "on the scale of the discovery of routes across the Atlantic by Columbus."
26:21 -- "That cycle of Europe sitting at the center taking what it needs and giving back poison to make sure the world becomes more destabilized poses very important questions about Europe's rise, present, and future."
34:25 -- Different views of "crusade" in the west (GW Bush) vs. east (OBL). Muslims see crusaders as duplicitous, using beliefs as a screen to get what they want; Europeans see them as glorious missions.
45:01 -- Great quote from the introduction by a Zhou king, "The ways of yesterday are not enough to understand the world of today." The key is to adapt, to understand -- not to resist it or to try to fight it or think you can stop it -- but to try to anticipate what might happen next, longer term consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment