i think it is profoundly sad, profoundly sad, that the self-righteous legalistic morons who take it upon themselves to dictate what constitutes islam should be performing holy cleansing again these days. sufi islam, with all the glories of its practice, its chants and dance, its shrines, its texts, its rumi poets, its philosophical saints, has been victimized by puritanical schools like wahabism over the centuries, and now the marabouts' shrines are being destroyed, and the most inspiring of mosques, the vast heritage of texts going back 1000 yrs., are being ruined.
did christians do this?
well, try traveling in europe some day and view the statuary on the cathedrals or in the museums. ever wonder about all the genitals effaced, all those noses and arms knocked off, all those one-armed beauties, even headless statues? the greek and roman statues defaced by christians over the medieval period or late roman period. the catholic statuary destroyed in protestant reformation lands; the systematic destruction of churches and cathedrals in ireland and england by cromwell, leaving utter decimation in ireland. go to ireland today, and you will see the walls of the cathedrals, and inside...graveyards. i kid you not. cromwell invented the practice of decimation--killing one out of ten--to impose protestant purity on recalcitrant catholics. and for 250 years they were treated like slaves by the british, the anglican british who denied english catholics the vote.
nothing was sacred, at least in terms of art or statues, when the religious fanatics entered into warfare.
so what is happening in timbuktu is nothing new, and nothing specially islamic. it is a quality about humans who believe they are the holders of the truth, and who are willing to kill others so as to impose that truth.
censorship from religious fanatics? remember giuliani's response to the virgin painting, using elephant dung, by chris ofili? he tried to get it banned and shut off funding to the brooklyn academy of art because his constituents found it offensive.
ken
On 7/24/12 1:51 AM, La Vonda R. Staples wrote:
Cornelius! All of this destruction is making me crazy(er). What is the point? Can't someone reach out and touch these folks? What do you think the solution for the destruction of the world's monuments could be?
Was there a solution for the world's ancient cultures when the Christians came?
--
On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 6:40 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
is it yes or no or
am i supposed or
permitted to beat
about the bush
to the point
of indecision?
I x-pect all the militant, holier than thou
Afrikanists
to at least
be honest:
holler or
scream and shout :
Say it ain't so! The Great Pyramids of Egypt in danger?
http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/2012/07/22/say-it-aint-so-the-great-pyramids-of-egypt-in-danger/
Website for this image
Could be one of the signs of the approaching last days ?
Next : The pyramids of Egypt ?
First the Buddhist sculptures in Afghanistan,
then the desecration of Sufi shrines in Mali
and now this improbable news: Arab Muslim Clerics Issue Call to
Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre could not ever be happy with these
world heritage sites facing eternal destruction. But this is unlikely
to happen in Egypt, since the Great Pyramids are a great tourist
attraction and therefore a great source of contributing to Egypt's
economy….and moreover the pyramids are not objects of worship, not
even by the mushrikeen….
Should the United States ever become fully Islamized, whichever Caliph
or Supreme Leader that could then be ensconced in the White House will
probably either have to call out the National Guard to protect the
sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt
and Abraham Lincoln at The Mount Rushmore National Memorial …or order
their effacement…..
--
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--
La Vonda R. Staples, WriterBA Psychology 2005 and MA European History 2009
"If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough."Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, This Child Will Be Great; Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President.
--
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-- kenneth w. harrow distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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