OK, we all have our misconceptions. i get that.
but are there any that really get under your skin, whether trivial or substantial?
i have a pretty substantial one on my mind as i write this: most people know that martin luther was the man who started the protestant reformation. for this, he has earned his place in history as a reformer against the corrupt practices of the catholic church of his day and has been lionized.
yet few people are aware of just how rabidly anti-semitic he became in later life. and when i say "rabidly anti-semitic", i mean positively evil.
how about you?
ed
silverwhisper posted on May 23, 2008
| views: 290
Comments
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the_infernal_optimist said on May 23, 2008....
Hmm...I tend to get rather sharp when people talk about pacifism (especially as it supposedly relates to patriotism) and obviously have no clue wtf they're talking about.
Various misconceptions concerning certain religions (including the belief system I hold, but not limited just to that one) cheese me off now and then.
~Infernal
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diabolicdame said on May 23, 2008....
Wow.. that is a misconception. One that really bugs me is that Genghis Khan the Mongol conqueror is considered to be ruthless and barbaric when in reality he had done many great things like inventing the postal system and also held one of the biggest empires ever. On the other hand Alexander is 'the great' even though he was just as ruthless as Genghis, if not more, and killed a lot many people in his conquests and broke a lot many cities. Even killed his own friend in a fit of rage which he regretted later. But just because one was Greek he is great and the other was a Mongol he is barbaric! But thats how history is. Biased. The surviving people write history. Not the ones that have passed away. -
wombat said on May 23, 2008....
The only one I can think of off-hand is that my home town has stickers for cars that say "Birthplace Of Radio." I found out that an elderly hermit named Stubblefield had taken a working radio into town to show people--back before Marconi got the credit. There is a marker where he is burried attesting to this fact now--too little too late.Don't get me started on the Hitler theories! -
silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
infernal: ah, ignorance, always one of my big pet peeves. :> heh...it's been a while since i've heard someone use the expression "cheese me off". :>
diabolic: you know, perhaps it's b/c i grew up in the US but i'm not familiar w/ the innovations genghis khan brought forth. could you expound upon that?
wombat: oo, that's a nifty one! i always thought that nikola tesla got the credit for radio, but i guess i was wrong--thank you!
ed -
wombat said on May 23, 2008....
How come I have never heard of NIcola Tesla? Yet a third that invented the radio? This is cool Thanks! Maybe I will PM you with a bit of additional info...not sure. -
silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
nikola tesla has a wikipedia entry, if you're interested, wombat. :>
ed -
trueheart said on May 23, 2008....
The misconception that party affiliation has anything at all to do with religious beliefs. That if you are Democrat you must be a heathen. Only Republicans go to heaven. -
silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
you know, trueheart, that annoys the hell out of me, too!
ed -
Lucytorial said on May 23, 2008....
Ed - Kahn was an absolutely brilliant leader, he created a walled city, had artisans of every ilk, and peoples from many different religious backgrounds living in the same city, his son continued to rule after his death, they are still finding the city itself in Mongol, its fascinating how little America shows of the worlds history to its students....
The biggest misconception I find frustrating is that America tells its own stories without every telling the truth, the whole truth and everything of the truth! Kids are taught about only what America wants them to know, many countries do the dame thing but this frustrates me the most because America professes to be right and knowing in all things yet its not.
{now to qualify I am being generalising which in itself is highly annoying I know its a bad trait that I don't indulge my beliefs fully and explain myself fully}
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silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
ah, tobi-lee...only the fuckwits think that everything the US government says is true. :>
ed -
Lucytorial said on May 23, 2008....
yes I know, and not everyone is a fuckwit! but doesn't it strike you as a bit strange that a lot of Americans don't know world history, even world geography! like the news, American news is mostly about America, rarely do I see much at all about the rest of the world, even western countries?? *Scratching head* how are people to educate themselves when they are fed drivel??
tee he hehee The Internet!
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silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
you know, a lot of americans are spoiled by the fact that a lot of what our government does has a vastly disproportionately supersized impact on world affairs, you know?
ed -
antithesis said on May 23, 2008....
One that I strongly feel about is the misconception about race, that certain races are categorized and boxed in a certain way. Of course we all have our cultural differences, and one is obviously richer and more advanced than the other in terms of economy, but to judge a person's values because of his race, is not only a misconception but a blatant idiocy. -
silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
that's a really good one, antithesis. thank you. :>
ed -
Eilan said on May 23, 2008....
To add to what trueheart said, the belief that if you are a Republican/Democrat/whatever, then you support the party's platforms wholeheartedly.
On a running-related message board that I lurk on, a man who's a registered Republican was applauding California's recent Supreme Court ruling re: gay marriage. Another (more religious, FWIW) registered Republican lit into him, wanting to know how he could call himself a Republican when he *gasp* supported gay marriage.
He wouldn't have wanted to say that to my husband!
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diabolicdame said on May 23, 2008....
Ed.. they don't teach anything about that in India either.. I came across this in some discussions and personal research.. I shall explain more about it when I get back from my exam.. -
silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
eilan: to me that's always been an exercise in fucktwit-ism, to be honest.
diabolic: break a leg! i look forward to the time that you're done!
ed -
queenparanoia said on May 23, 2008....
people here think i'm "difficult" and make bad decisions in life...
i'm just misunderstood..
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lfbno7 said on May 24, 2008....
I knew that about Martin Luther. He was unusually pro-Jewish early in his "career" and hoped that the Jews would follow him into Lutheranism, but when they didn't, he became Hitleresque. On a similar subject, that of mistreatment of Jews, one "misconception", though it isn't really that, it is a vicious lying attack with no basis in truth, is that of the Holocaust deniers.
There were so many eye witnesses, so many American Christian eye witnesses, to the death camps. I myself saw the numbers on a man's arm, numbers that were placed there by Nazi Germans when this man was in a concentration camp. I know for a fact that the Holocaust did happen, and so does every honest, intelligent human being on Earth, but there remain many so-called Holocaust deniers, and the act of denying the Holocaust is nothing but an act of lying and evil. It is similar to denying that blacks were ever slaves in America.
All Holocaust deniers are demonic racists with no respect for humanity or the truth. To even "entertain" that possibility is an act of demonic racism. It's like telling a victim of a horrible rape and beating that it didn't happen and the person is lying. It's like telling the child of a murdered parent that the parent was never murdered, he just took a powder and ditched the family.
Holocaust denial is the vile act of a vicious fool and racist. -
fearing said on May 24, 2008....
Ed,
.....all the misconceptions about Christians. Don't get me started. ;-)
As for the Holocaust - my ex husband's grandparents survived the death camps. They are no longer alive but I sure wish I could have heard them talk about it. I never understood how someone could believe that just didn't happen.
@Queen - Never once have I thought you were difficult or made bad decisions. It's your life sweety - you gotta live it! ;-) Hugs.
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diabolicdame said on May 24, 2008....
http://anthropology.net/2006/06/11/genghis-khan-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802295.html
http://www.firstuunashville.org/news/sermons/2004genghis.html
These are just a couple of links I got off of google and two of them describe things from a book from 2004 about Genghis Khan.
Oh and he was not muslim but followed a sort of shamanistic religion like all mongols back then. Khan was a title, not a last name. It meant leader of some sort.
But the thing is its not just about Genghis Khan. My grouse is with the way history is presented. The victors write history and theirs is the only version we hear. So we only know a very biased version of events. In that manner figures like Genghis Khan get sidelined and civilizations that were once great and huge like the Persian civilization become 'evil' (did you see their monstrous representation in 300?).
I think anyone interested in history and anthropology needs to do their own research because what you hear generally is not only inadequate but biased towards our surviving religions and civilizations.
p.s: My paper went well! Thanks for your good wishes! 5 more to go now! :-)
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diabolicdame said on May 24, 2008....
That first url was supposed to be this..
http://anthropology.net/2006/06/11/genghis-khan-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world/
The one on my earlier comment is not working.. sorry.. -
lfbno7 said on May 24, 2008....
I would expect western writers to demonize the Mongols simply because they weren't western. It's a very racist thing to do. I actually enjoyed my life as a Mongol very much. My favorite part was killing and eating the women of Eastern Europe. That was so fun. -
diabolicdame said on May 24, 2008....
Hahahaha.. yeah that must've been fun Ifbno! lol.. -
Eilan said on May 24, 2008....
The assumption that people who aren't "religious" can't be decent, moral people. -
Lucytorial said on May 24, 2008....
DiabolicD, you know we learned all of that in school, in highschool! (secondary for those in the US).... its damn amazing that so little reality is out there.... man!
We even learned that if it wasn't for cook we'd be a danish ruled island, as well as the danes the chinese also found our coast line in the same century that the Danes and Cook did.
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diabolicdame said on May 25, 2008....
LucyT: Wow.. you did? Thats some good stuff they're teaching then.. you know like the real deal.. pretty cool.. -
queenparanoia said on May 25, 2008....
fearing: thank you fearing... =) -
silverwhisper said on May 28, 2008....
sis: i don't think you're either difficult or prone to making bad decisions--at least no more than the norm!
lbf: holocaust deniers are idiots, if you ask me.
fearing: any particular misconceptions? cuz i think it would be interesting to see you rant. :>
diabolic: will try to read those links when i have time, thanks! glad your paper went well, how about the others?
eilan: that misconception i often see in the hands of the stupid, to be honest.
ed -
fearing said on May 28, 2008....
You'd just laugh at me. ;-) -
silverwhisper said on May 30, 2008....
fearing: bah, when have i ever done that, pray tell?
ed -
sweetangel16175 said on May 30, 2008....
first common misconception is that hispanic is a race
hispanic is not a race, they dont have different features than the white or the african american.second common misconception is that racism has disappeared, vanished of the face of the earth.
third misconception is that ignorance is bliss
fourth very common misconcept is that muslims are terrorist
fifth common misconception muslims kill the infidel
if they do kill infidels then why are there christians and jews in the middle east?sixth common misconception is that you need to be thin to be beautiful
seventh common misconception is the media is always right and that people should listen to it.
so if the television told you to jump off a bridge and that is the only way you could be considered beautiful, wouldnt you start questioning that?eighth common misconcept is that emo people cut and that is how they get attention and they is how they express their anger.
believe it or not, emos are people just like you and me and they have no abnormalities, i mean yes, they do dress differently, but if you strip them from their clothes, you will find out that OMG they are humans too.
they express themselves though their clothes!
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