Subject:
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Re: Military Lego Sets
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 4 Sep 2001 21:12:22 GMT
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Viewed:
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1081 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Victor Knight writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> > In lugnet.dear-lego, Victor Knight writes:
> > > In lugnet.dear-lego, Pedro Silva writes:
> > >
> > > > I consider that modern european civilization has a lot to thank the arabs,
> > > > who kept civilization during the dark ages. They were beaten off the Iberian
> > > > Peninsula because they did not want to fight, and instead they devoted to
> > > > science and the arts. On the other hand, my ascendants wanted to wipe'em out
> > > > the face of the Earth just because they had the "wrong" religion - and drive
> > > > the blokes out of Europe in the process. But I cannot claim that those who
> > > > gave me a language and culture were the bad guys... so I like the idea of
> > > > not clearly choosing a side.
> > >
> > > Um did you forget the Arabs came to the Iberian peninsula via war and rape?
> > > Talk about one-sided historical revisionism.
> >
> > If you're trolling, you just caught a live one.
> >
> > <sarcasm>
>
> <junk snipped>
>
> You can feel sorry for a group that invaded and then was tossed out if you
> want, but try not to be so biased and sorrowful in your description.
?
Who's sorrowful? Good or bad, it happened; it is the past, and one which I'm
proud of. BOTH sides of it.
And something I'd like to point out: the Arabs were not "tossed out", as
they did not "toss out" the Christians who lived here before them. Rather
they were "assimilated", both through cross-marriages and ressetlement (at
the time noone thought about Ethnic Cleansing to the same extent as in
Modern Times). The Kingdoms that emerged after the "Reconquista" were badly
needing population as vast areas of the Peninsula's Interior were unsettled
by the 12th century. So the logical thing to do was to "christianize" the
muslims (a very obscure process indeed, but also very successful), and then
spread them in deserted areas.
A recent study of a portuguese institution, concerning portuguese and
galician (Northern Spain) population showed that a substantial amount of the
people had african genes, both northern and sub-saharian. And yet we
consider ourselves "white", mainly due to our cultural afinities with the
rest of Europe. That should explain why we get tanned while the brits get
red... :-P
My point is that I cannot renegate a part of the past, because it is
"different". I dunno where you live, or what kind of background you have,
but surely there has been more than one people living there. What do you do,
you just choose the latter to belong to?
Nationalism as we know it is a recent phenomena (spelling?), in the old days
it was far easier for someone to mix among a different culture. That is what
happened here, and like I said before, I am VERY PROUD of it.
Pedro Silva <== a byproduct of cultural miscigenation in Portugal
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Military Lego Sets
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| (...) <junk snipped> You can feel sorry for a group that invaded and then was tossed out if you want, but try not to be so biased and sorrowful in your description. (23 years ago, 4-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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