Studying
History:
An Overview
HISTORY:
GOOD ADVICE FOR STUDYING AND UNDERSTANDING THE SUBJECT...
History is always, always complex and endlessly fascinating; it's never just a case of this happened - that happened... Oh. Right... Now I know and fully understand...
There has to be consideration of the range of perspectives, opinions, the bias that there will be from all sides; the social, economic, diplomatic, military, political, and geo-political perspectives.... And a determination on the part of the student to, as far as possible, curb the personal biases that we all naturally have...
And then attempt a reasonable, unbiased assessment of what you consider to be as close to the truth of the matter in question as possible....
(The caption in this graphic is by me; I found this picture online; my acknowledgment and thanks to whoever made it (identity unknown to me) )
HISTORY AND RELIGION ARE TWO OF THE SUBJECTS THAT I KNOW AND TEACH... BELIEVE ME: PEOPLE WITH 'A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE' ARE THE BANE OF MY LIFE...
As a kid I heard the well-known saying:
'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing'
...and I always wondered what it meant: how could having knowledge be a dangerous thing?
It's only in the age of the internet and social media that I now understand it.
Social media feeds the world a diet of 'a little knowledge' on deep, complex and important subjects; always from partisan, partial perspectives: it's just shallow, simplistic, manipulative rhetoric and propaganda, of course...
But it's dressed up as fact and / or substantial information... And an awful lot of people just run with it - mainly because it's endorsing the prejudices that they have to begin with...
Few people seem interested in looking deeper and gaining 'a LOT of knowledge'...
If they did, the world would be a much less dangerous place...
Instead, people are content with this 'little knowledge' - and it is indeed 'a dangerous thing'...
New paragraph
HISTORY: AN UNBIASED - AND MORE LIKELY - ACCOUNT OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
This YouTube channel really is excellent. The presenter's expertise is actually in literature, but this is at least indirectly relevant. What's especially good about his presentations is, that as well as being researched and presented from a position of geniune scholarly expertise, they are also impartial and don't attempt to reinforce any dogma or agenda.
THE BIASED REPORTING OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY:
Over the years, the destruction of The Library of Alexandria has been used as propaganda by various ideological dogmatists to defame this or that group or ideology that they oppose: it is said that the library was deliberately burned down by, variously: Julius Caesar in 48 BC/ BCE; Christians in 391 AD / CE; during Christian rule over Egypt in the medieval Byzantine period; and Muslims, after Egypt was captured by Islam in 639 AD / CE.
None of these accusations are accurate.
THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
Alexandria is a city in Egypt on the Nile Delta, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
It dates to 331 BC / BCE, and is named in honour of its founder, Alexander The Great (356 - 323 BC/ BCE)
The Library of Alexandria was established between 285 and 246 BC / BCE). It is said to have been the greatest library in history, and to contain the most comprehensive collection of knowledge from all over the known world.
It declined gradually, due to natural decay, over several centuries, and was demolished by decree of Christian Egyptian Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria, in 391 AD / CE; by which time the library was very much in decline and may not even have contained any books, papyrus scrolls, or parchments.
This posting is just another chip away at the plague of brow beating, finger wagging rhetoric and propaganda in support of dogmatic ideologies - which currently blights and stunts education and true, free critical thinking.
Textual content: © Copyright MLM Arts 26. 08. 2024. Edited and re-posted: 05. 09. 2024