Thursday, February 22, 2007

Mainstream Media Perpetuates "Enlightened Muslim" / "Dark-Age Christian" Myth

Reuters today ran a story titled "Mediaeval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough". Do you think they (and other media organizations) have a macro to generate paragraphs that read like this?
While Europe was mired in the Dark Ages, Islamic culture flourished beginning in the 7th century, with achievements over numerous centuries in mathematics, medicine, engineering, ceramics, art, textiles, architecture and other areas.
I could swear that I have read that exact same paragraph countless times before, whenever some MSM story has appeared about Islamic contributions to civilization.

You know, because folks "mired in ... Dark Ages" create things like cathedrals and illuminated manuscripts, and produce thinkers like Duns Scotus and Aquinas.

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4 Comments:

At 2/22/2007 11:34 PM, Blogger Sir Galen of Bristol said...

Not to mention inventions like the plow, the stirrup, the university, and many more.

 
At 2/23/2007 5:37 AM, Blogger Jeffrey Smith said...

Harvard? You know, with the paeans to Islam, I really think liberals have some sort of death wish.
I've seen the sort of design they're talking about. They're magnificent, but hardly "quasicrystalline". They're also, along with a small number of miniature paintings and a handful of good buildings, almost the ONLY significant Moslem contributions to art. Try comparing them with an Irish manuscript of the same period.
The mathematics and science are greatly over-rated, as well. If you actually get into the details of what they were, there's not much there.
Basically, it's part of the death throes of the liberal worldview. If you can't get your way, indulge in a gratuitous attack.

 
At 2/23/2007 5:50 AM, Blogger Jeffrey Smith said...

There's an interesting contrast in reporting styles
at www.livescience.com/history/070222_medieval_tiles.html

 
At 2/23/2007 10:07 AM, Blogger Rich Leonardi said...

The revealing thing is that Christendom declared its "thinkers" saints while Islam declared theirs apostates.

 

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