Saturday, October 9, 2010

Tattoos On The Pubic Area

Depression blogosphere

I do not know why, but often when I come across blogs devoted to ancient sites or similar associations, I am overcome with a terrible feeling depressed . However, I should rejoice that there are people on the web to ensure that there is this ancient culture, yet seen the sites in question, my reaction is often : Pfffffffff ...

Take this week after very interesting exchanges with David Monniaux on his blog and on mine, I fell through the site of "La Fabrique of history," the sociologist on they were invited on Thursday, Philippe Cibois . He looks interesting and I confess I have not had time to review its block on "how it is that nearly 20% of an age in which the Latin 5, we end up with three peeled and shaved into final "I also admit that I'm pretty skeptical of his" history paintings ", given that sociologist and not a historian: I have not read in detail, for example, his presentation of Roman citizenship as a "Social Contract" Rousseau, but finally, after reading The Craft of citizen in Rome by Claude Nicolet I think that this formula, despite all the denials of anachronism that surround it, is alive and well.

This is often the fault of the usual proponents of antiquity: "See how they like us! They are like us! So you must know for us to know ourselves!" Nothing is further from the truth and I always wonder why, instead, you do not show how they are different , because that's what's exciting: they seem to like us because we're rehashing the primary since they are our ancestors, but in reality they functioned and thought it just as different from us that the Bantu or the Amazonian Indians. Given that usually attracts more people easily by the difference and curiosity, as by resemblance and mimicry, it is surprising that that argument is not used.

At the same time, not that much, because often, what interested developers of antiquity and, therefore, what they highlight is the illusion of similarity. There is a clear need to say that our world is directly derived from the Greeks and Romans (I understand, it's quite reassuring) and the public generally knows very little or no work, among others, John Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet. It must be said that even scientifically, they are quite the minority: many researchers continued to study "classical" in antiquity and it is true that it is quite difficult to explain to the Black Hunter college students (but with an extension of high school students would be possible): for cons, it seems to me that the work of John Scheid are so clear that it would be quite feasible show them how the religio Roman is far removed from what we call "religion."

's where I went on the blogroll site Cibois Philippe, who led me to the blog Antiques semper. I had already fallen over doing more general searches on the net is choupinou, titles are in Latin, messages not begin auete and χαίρετε, there are census TV programs of the week talking of antiquity (as large, because, well, Chateaubriand is a bit limited, I think, even if it can defend) and there is clearly also used by the person who holds it as a means of communication with his students and college students (?).

Besides the graphics, which is just as anachronistic as the previous site (the day the Antique world - including me, but I'm trying to make an effort - stop making sites as attractive as an article of Echos in comic sans ms, we have taken a big step), the contents of the site made me want to shoot myself in the head: what is it, be passionate about the ancient world? burrow in the dirt? watch religiously every passing epic films on TV ? We are in a conservation approach by a fatalistic withdrawal and not a dynamic research on antiquity is alive, it would be the show!

I have not peeled his own blogroll looking for interesting sites (already old reflex bibliographic searches), but it will come. Instead, I went to see the recommended reading: good, novels Odile Weulersse is nice, but when even children's literature and I can not imagine a kid surfing on this site, other thrillers are low-end Salambô appears nowhere ( Salambô , damn!) and the category "history" begins with ... Fustel de Coulanges: it smells like mothballs.

short, all that to say that if it is to preserve ancient in formalin, instead of showing how it can be exciting and alive in some ways, today, we can really not surprising that so few young people who continue Latin and / or Greek, who continue to be interested or who are sincerely convinced that this will give them something in life. Even me, if it's presented like that, all of a sudden I feel like po ...

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