The average person who lived in Europe during pre-Renaissance times was a truly fearful being. For not only did he fear Moors sweeping up the Iberian Peninsula while Turks threatened from the Balkans to take his life. He also feared for his immortal soul, via evil spirits at the command of Lucifer. Every turn in a path there could lay ambush and destruction while morality plays harped on these fears and proclaimed the road to salvation was through Jesus Christ.
One would think, people who could appreciate Raphael’s The School of Athens so many centuries after it was created and land men upon another celestial body would not suffer such notions still.
Unfortunately it seems a significant portion of Western civilization does think that way. However, instead of assuming all foul deeds are the machinations of Lucifer, they see one nefarious human mastermind behind each and every malodorous misfortune that befalls their various causes.
They think he casually manipulates the President of the United States to do his bidding or the bidding of other men. He is also thought to be the leak that leads stalwart defenders of the realm down rabbit holes to make them look like fools. Or he provides information those defenders need to sink the President. The theories and suppositions run the gamut and in the end it is all an incoherent mess but these people do cling to each wild theory tenaciously.
Who is this sinister figure that lurks behind the President’s chair whispering in his ear? Why none other than Karl Rove himself.
If I am supposed to believe that Karl Rove is that masterful from all the woolly yarn spun about his deeds, then they have failed to convince me. Because their description of Karl Rove sounds just like how morality plays described Lucifer. And to think people who consider themselves thinkers fall for this makes me question their critical reasoning processes. And the more they rave like the man on the corner screaming about the end is near, the more I think they are that raving man. Or I have been transported back 600 years.
4 comments:
hahaha they're all lucifnatics obviously, don't believe a word they say. (;
Excellent post Anna!
Hey Anna, you probably would know this...I was having a discussion with a few people a while back and we had a disagreement as to how Spain came to be known as the "Iberian Peninsula"...where does the word "Iberia" originate? Do you know?
Thanks for rescuing a rainy July 4th with a quest to further broaden my knowledge base. Nevermind the house chores that need doing. ^_^
Quick Google and get some info. Also went looking in Campbell's Masks of Immortality[still reading] and pulled out an old National Geographic map of Celtic Europe.
Apparently Iberians came across the Strait of Gibralter about 8th century BC. They dealt with Cathagenians[Hamilcar Barca anyone?], conflicted with Celts, inter-mingled with the Celts, then resisted Roman incursion[Celtiberians robur Hispaniae] before melding into the Roman Empire. The Iberian culture flourished in some form until the first century BC.
WOW going back to BC? Does this mean Iberians came from North Africa?
A few years ago I was having a discussion with my older brother (in Berber), we were talking about the history of the Moors and at one point he referred to Spain in Arabic calling it "aljazeera l'ibria" which means Hebrew Island. He said it was called that because it was dominated by the Jews before the Moors took over. I had never heard anyone else refer to Spain like that. Then a couple of years ago I was watching a segment about Moorish Spain on the history channel and I heard the narrator mention how Spain came to be known as "the Hebrew peninsula". After that I happened to get involved in a discussion about the Moors again on a message board. I mentioned the history Channel's reference to "the Hebrew peninsula" and someone called me a liar and accused me of being a bigot for making such a bizarre statement. It's been bugging me ever since and I'm a sucker for trivia, I just HAVE TO know. I did all kinds of searches, but couldn't find anything referring to "the Hebrew peninsula".
The Hebrew Peninsula huh. I guess I need to hit up the sources some more. But if I remember from some other reading, after Rome razed Jerusalem and Jews were scattered, some settled in Spain. Then after the reconquest of Iberia for Christianity some fled to places like Holland while others pretended to convert to Christianity. Will have do some more research, yay.
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