La Vie En Rose for 2007 April 12 (entry 1)

(1) Thu Apr 12 2007 13:19 PST The wisdom of ages past: 1916:

To American readers the name Kossovo doubtless calls forth little recognition.

Mr Fortier Jones, you are hil-AR-ious, and you don't even know it.

However, I think his book makes a good point about sticking ones nose where ones nose does not really know all about what is going on. He continues:

But to every Serbian, Kossovo bring up an image of past glory when the present dream of every Serbian heart was a reality.

(Of course the difficulty for an historian in looking at nationalist histories is the discrepancy between historical "truth"—if there is such a thing—and what the general population believes to be their history. Which is one of the reasons professional history is so distrusted in places like, say, Ireland. But I digress…)

And later:

you can be assured the average Serb knows why [he is fighting]. Whether you believe in the Serb's ambitions or not, you instantly see that he believes in them, worships them, dies for them with a gladness that takes little account of self or family… If it meant sure defeat, they would still jump in and fight for their liberty until utterly exhausted. They can not help it; they are built that way. They may or may not be too extreme in this. It is well for Americans, who can sit calmly and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of fighting no matter what is involved, to realize that such peoples do exist.

The point I am trying to make here is less about Serbia specifically and more about a general world view. I think it just shows how easy it is to get accustomed to "our" way of thinking as if it were the only way of thinking, as if people all over the world don't think differently ten times over. Here we are taught, "it's rude to stare." In Turkey, staring is a national pastime. Who is right and who is wrong? No one. But when one goes to Turkey and feels uncomfortable because one is being stared at, one ought to remember that things are not always as they appear to one's self.

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Comments:

Posted by John at Fri Apr 13 2007 17:01

What the? I posted on here last night as I left work. I guess it didn't take.

Basically, I was saying that I think a lot of Americans have come to realize some people believe in fighting regardless of the outcome. WWII comes to mind: kamikaze, Bataan Death March, etc.

Not all Americans, but some.

Now staring. Well, I guess the Turks could all do with some snarfblats.