Warning: Tangent fast approaching!
The other day I was having a discussion with a friend about the new Indiana Jones movie and I got really worked up about something. I know, seems a bit odd to get upset about an Indiana Jones movie, but just pay attention and it might all make sense.
I have yet to see the movie, so he was explaining the plot to me and briefly mentioned that it was a bit sci-fi, less anthropological. He said that the movie hinted at the theory that the Pyramids in Egypt, mainly at Giza, were actually built by aliens and not man-made. I got really disgusted really quickly when I heard this, and reacted a bit harsh.
My opinion on such matters: I think it's shamefully Euro-centric to attribute a para-normal explanation an incredible monument built by non-European people. It's almost as if the white European-descent majority can't fathom how people so obviously "tribal" could accomplish something so extraordinary. Obviously if Europeans couldn't do something so seemingly immense, it just has to be aliens? I don't see the logic.
So then this friend says, "I can see where these people are coming from, I mean...where did these people go? Why did they disappear?" So many great civilizations have disappeared, and many of the disappearances can be attributed to conquerers (read dirty white people). When newcomers are introduced to foreign cultures, there are many exchanges that occur, and a major one is bacterial and viral. In other words, Europeans with smallpox and syphilis infected everyone. There are so many other theories to explain where these people went. War, famine, disease..you name it.
ahhh...wtf. People can seriously anger me. My anger is not directed at this friend. We had a really interesting and thought provoking conversation/argument. My anger is directed at the argument that it's more probable that effing aliens built one of the most marvelous examples of ancient architecture than it is that ancient Egyptians built it.
alright. sorry. had to get it off my chest. don't say i didn't warn you.
I have yet to see the movie, so he was explaining the plot to me and briefly mentioned that it was a bit sci-fi, less anthropological. He said that the movie hinted at the theory that the Pyramids in Egypt, mainly at Giza, were actually built by aliens and not man-made. I got really disgusted really quickly when I heard this, and reacted a bit harsh.
My opinion on such matters: I think it's shamefully Euro-centric to attribute a para-normal explanation an incredible monument built by non-European people. It's almost as if the white European-descent majority can't fathom how people so obviously "tribal" could accomplish something so extraordinary. Obviously if Europeans couldn't do something so seemingly immense, it just has to be aliens? I don't see the logic.
So then this friend says, "I can see where these people are coming from, I mean...where did these people go? Why did they disappear?" So many great civilizations have disappeared, and many of the disappearances can be attributed to conquerers (read dirty white people). When newcomers are introduced to foreign cultures, there are many exchanges that occur, and a major one is bacterial and viral. In other words, Europeans with smallpox and syphilis infected everyone. There are so many other theories to explain where these people went. War, famine, disease..you name it.
ahhh...wtf. People can seriously anger me. My anger is not directed at this friend. We had a really interesting and thought provoking conversation/argument. My anger is directed at the argument that it's more probable that effing aliens built one of the most marvelous examples of ancient architecture than it is that ancient Egyptians built it.
alright. sorry. had to get it off my chest. don't say i didn't warn you.