# Your conception of the world in an ancient village **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758 "2015-03-23T03:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/21 "2015-03-25T21:58:44Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Mountain? A very big hill; take into account that what’s considered a “mountain” in some places would barely rate a name in others. Saw a documentary called Beyond Belief where some American women widowed by the 9/11 attacks started an organization to help Iraqi war widows. In one scene the Americans are sitting in a tiny concrete house with some of the Iraqi widows, who are asked what they know about events of 9/11. They have never seen video clips or pictures. One of them says they’ve heard that on 9/11 some planes hit very tall buildings in America and killed people in the buildings. She emphasized “very tall” buildings, so someone asked if she knew how tall the buildings were. I don’t recall the exact number but she said something that was fewer than, say, 10 storeys. It occurred to me then that these women and indeed many people around the world who have never seen skyscrapers in pictures, much less tv, might think of anything higher than a few floors as really tall. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/22 "2015-03-26T03:29:57Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > They probably didn’t even have illustrated bibles available because they could not read and the clergy did not want to share. They had tons of sculptures in churches, though, including columns decorated with Biblic scenes. Images of saints have “atributes” which make them easy to identify: bald, bearded dude with a handful of keys = St Peter, who holds the keys of Heaven. The atributes are linked to what we know about the saint or to their patronages. Medieval Christians would be able to see pictures of lions in any depiction of the prophet Daniel, for example - whether the pictures look at all like a lion or more like a constipated pug with a perm is another matter. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/23 "2015-03-26T03:43:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Well, you relied a lot on pictures drawn by someone who had heard third-hand descriptions, or on third-hand descriptions; that’s how you get the epicanthic folds and flat noses of the Far East and those of Amerinds to be piled up under the same “race”. See photos, those people look very different; rely on descriptions from some big-nosed Mediterranean sailor and they sound very similar. The sea? A big lake that’s salty, you can’t drink the water. Mountain? A very big hill; take into account that what’s considered a “mountain” in some places would barely rate a name in others. Back about the time the US annexed Hawaii, in the late 1800s, political cartoons on the mainland often portrayed Hawaiians as looking like blacks. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/24 "2015-03-26T13:18:49Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Back about the time the US annexed Hawaii, in the late 1800s, political cartoons on the mainland often portrayed Hawaiians as looking like blacks. “Obama”? (you know someone had to say it… 😃 ) Yes, I’ve seen Japanese woodcuts from the 1800’s of “western style” clothing; not quite. Some fanciful Church carvings and paintings before the renaissance show Greek and Romans dressed like the local court nobles, and so on. SOme people knew and saw very little for antiquity, while Italians had plenty of roman carvings to gauge the correct styles. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/25 "2015-03-27T18:59:05Z")
> [@Lee\_Q](#): > > Saw a documentary called Beyond Belief where some American women widowed by the 9/11 attacks started an organization to help Iraqi war widows. In one scene the Americans are sitting in a tiny concrete house with some of the Iraqi widows, who are asked what they know about events of 9/11. They have never seen video clips or pictures. > > One of them says they’ve heard that on 9/11 some planes hit very tall buildings in America and killed people in the buildings. She emphasized “very tall” buildings, so someone asked if she knew how tall the buildings were. I don’t recall the exact number but she said something that was fewer than, say, 10 storeys. It occurred to me then that these women and indeed many people around the world who have never seen skyscrapers in pictures, much less tv, might think of anything higher than a few floors as really tall. I saw something similar where many rural Afghans that a journalist was interviewing didn’t know that the 9/11 attacks occurred and that they were the catalyst that caused the invasion of their country. One man, when shown a picture of the Manhattan skyline asked “Is that Kabul?” Not only did he know almost nothing about America, he knew very little about his own country. I don’t have the opportunity to search for the video right now but here’s an article I found quickly that reports: 92% of Aghans surveyed in southern provinces don’t know what 9/11 was. [http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904103404576556531604340742](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904103404576556531604340742) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/26 "2015-03-27T20:02:57Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > 92% of Aghans surveyed in southern provinces don’t know what 9/11 was. Whereas 92% of Americans asked about 9/11 couldn’t do the math. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/27 "2015-03-27T21:51:21Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I saw something similar where many rural Afghans that a journalist was interviewing didn’t know that the 9/11 attacks occurred and that they were the catalyst that caused the invasion of their country. One man, when shown a picture of the Manhattan skyline asked “Is that Kabul?” Not only did he know almost nothing about America, he knew very little about his own country. > > I don’t have the opportunity to search for the video right now but here’s an article I found quickly that reports: 92% of Aghans surveyed in southern provinces don’t know what 9/11 was. > > [http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904103404576556531604340742](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904103404576556531604340742) Here’s the video I was talking about. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJubz22D6AY) ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/28 "2015-03-27T22:03:17Z")
[quote=“SecretaryofEvil, post:27, topic:715758”] Here’s the video I was talking about. [/QUOTE] Going to check out this and the WSJ article. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/29 "2015-03-28T02:58:18Z")
I have run into numerous people here in Trinidad, even older people who don’t know what WW2 is or who were the combatants. This shocked me but my wife said why should they know or care? It didn’t effect them, there are some old era embattlements but that is it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/30 "2015-03-28T03:02:01Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I have run into numerous people here in Trinidad, even older people who don’t know what WW2 is or who were the combatants. This shocked me but my wife said why should they know or care? It didn’t effect them, there are some old era embattlements but that is it. Same in Thailand. Despite a certain poster constantly insisting that Thailand was at the forefront of the war, it really wasn’t. It rolled over to the Japanese early on, and any action here was minimal. It’s best remembered now for the Bridge over the River Kwai. And many young Thais have no idea about WWII, even the educated ones. Hell, Thais barely know anything about their neighboring countries. Those are all generally considered beneath them. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/31 "2015-03-28T04:21:20Z")
Well, unless you make a point to learn, as a westerner you may never hear about the Rape of Nanking or The Long March. In school we spent a lot of time learning about English monarchs and then the series of explorations and settlements that created North American society, but there are massive holes in our other learning --as to be expected. Other than Louis the Sun King and Mister Marie Antoinette, we don’t really hear about French kings. Ditto, other than Ferdinand and Isobel, we didn’t hear about Spanish monarchs. I bet not too many people could tell you about the Spanish civil war. That does not even begin to cover India or China or Thailand etc. Should we be surprised about backwater islands or foreign countries that don’t really worry about primarily western convulsions? (Trivia question - what month was the October Revolution in Russia?) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/32 "2015-03-28T05:19:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A hill doesn’t give you a good idea of what a tall mountain is like. Until you’ve experienced the sight of a mountain poking up from the horizon many miles away, to see it grow ever larger as you approach for hours, or even days if you are on foot, until you finally reach it’s base to see the top obscured by clouds, or having to bend your head as far back as possible to see the peak… The mountains I grew up with are nothing like that, being surrounded by other mountains; the closest one to being “The Peak Over There” is Moncayo and if you’re on it you can’t see its peak. Now, while I’ll admit that Moncayo and Aneto are dwarves compared with Kilimanjaro, they still kick the behind of most of what gets called a “mountain” in the UK. ETA to **md2000** ’s question: depends on whether you’re on the Julian or Gregorian calendar. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758/33 "2015-03-28T08:54:51Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Well, unless you make a point to learn, as a westerner you may never hear about the Rape of Nanking or The Long March. In school we spent a lot of time learning about English monarchs and then the series of explorations and settlements that created North American society, but there are massive holes in our other learning --as to be expected. Other than Louis the Sun King and Mister Marie Antoinette, we don’t really hear about French kings. Ditto, other than Ferdinand and Isobel, we didn’t hear about Spanish monarchs. I bet not too many people could tell you about the Spanish civil war. That does not even begin to cover India or China or Thailand etc. Should we be surprised about backwater islands or foreign countries that don’t really worry about primarily western convulsions? > > (Trivia question - what month was the October Revolution in Russia?) I agree, I was just giving an example of how even in our modern media saturated world if something doesn’t effect you it can go below your radar. How many westerners know about the series of wars and genocides in the Congo and neighboring countries that I have seen called the Great African War, the deadliest and largest conflict since WW2? And this is within living memory of most adults. > **[First Congo War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Congo_War)** > > Decisive AFDL victory >  Zaire >  Sudan Chad Ex-FAR/ALiR Interahamwe CNDD-FDD UNITA ADF FLNCSupported by: France Central African Republic China Israel Kuwait (denied) > **[Second Congo War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War)** > > Military stalemate > Mai Mai: 20,000–30,000 militia > RCD-Goma: 40,000MLC: 20,000RCD-ML: 8,000 > [@](#): > > The Second Congo War (also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War, and sometimes referred to as the African World War) began in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War and involving some of the same issues, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. However, hostilities have continued since then in the ongoing Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts. > > The deadliest war in modern African history, it has directly involved nine African countries, as well as about 20 armed groups. By 2008, the war and its aftermath had killed 5.4 million people, mostly from disease and starvation,[7] making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II.[8] Millions more were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in neighbouring countries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-conception-of-the-world-in-an-ancient-village/715758.md?page=1)