Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple T  Unless of course the research were carried out by non-Brits. In America, even amongst the Ivory Tower of academia, there is a strange tendency for "minority" views to be presented very easily and adopted very quickly. However, the topic here has been how non-western "myths" are usually dispelled by western scholars and not vice versa. Think about how much credibility is lent to traditional chinese medicine while western pharmecology and procedure is championed. Then think about how many drugs became recalled or banned because it's discovered that they're harmful. Or, to make this issue one that personally relates to you, think about how the majority of Europeans and their offspring abroad look back on the Eddas as nothing but story but then genuinely believe that a guy named Jesus could turn loaves of bread into fish. The bulk of biblical scholarship and research is actually attempting to legitimize what the Bible claims, as if religious scripture were historical documentation. THAT is the phenomenon that this thread's author was driving at, and the one that I feel is undeniable. No scholar tries to shoot down the myths they themselves believe. |
Fair points all Tease, but you make the assumption that British attitudes are the same as American, which couldn't be much further from the truth.
Britain, like most northern European countries is a largely secular nation. Of course, there are still some people that believe in the Bible, but I think the vast majority of Brits would place the Bible and the Eddas in the same bracket. There is little to no serious academic research being carried out to legitimise the Bible because very few British academics would seriously entertain such a concept.
Similarly, British academia sounds as if it is quite the opposite of that in the US in that it is notorious for its reluctance to accept new ideas. It is capable of change and it is certainly capable of destroying its own myths, both just take a long time. A good example is the massive swing that has taken place among British scholars regarding our origins. There are very few academics that still believe the "English are Anglo-Saxons, everybody else is Celtic" myth. Any societal differences were more than likely due to purely cultural rather than genetic changes. In fact, many now argue that there was never any truly Celtic peoples in the British Isles at all.
Of course, every scholar has their own mythology to some extent but, despite this, and despite British academia's reluctance to accept change, I think you would find it very difficult to find a single academic who still believes in the Victorian view of the Empire you seem to believe is so prevelant. Much like the Germans and WWII, the British have spent the last 60 years being made to feel guilty for their Imperialist history, arguably rightly so. Perhaps, when it comes to the Empire, history has been written by the victors, but they have certainly not written a history that supports Imperialism. Quite the opposite.
.
Linear Mode
