Privileged Eurocentric Art and Culture Exhibition
Heroes. My 10-year-old daughter has to prepare a presentation for History class in school about a hero whose actions had a dark side as well. From the available choices she picked Paul Tibbets. Her friend will acquaint herself with Simon Spoor. In the next twelve weeks the children are bound to become more sensitive to what our history meant to other peoples and cultures. Hopefully they’ll have a more nuanced outlook on the world than the older generations. Grow up to be more understanding and accountable than their parents were.
At the moment there’s a Kickstarter campaign for a playing card deck in honour of Christopher Columbus: The New World playing cards.
I can hardly wait for their next deck celebrating Hernán Cortés.
Of course, outside of the caves that some of us still live in, statues of Columbus and the like are being taken down. My daughter's generation won’t erect new ones. Museums are starting to return stolen artworks and cultural artifacts to the ex-colonies. More voices are being heard, more groups are being represented.
We're at a turning point in history. Which makes me wonder if I should maybe back this card deck.
We live in an age where everything that’s privileged and Eurocentric is removed from our environment and from our daily life. I think our beautiful Colonial Museum (that’s actually called Tropenmuseum, or “museum of the tropics”) is ready for a makeover. Pretty soon their halls will be empty anyway. To have a reminder and warning for future generations of how the world once was, it's time to start a Privileged Eurocentric Art and Culture Exhibition – the Museum of PEACE.
No more heroes any more. But we’ll have peace at last.
No relationship (or very little) with the original post...
I went to see The Eternals this morning (I'm on vacation this week, but it doesn't feel like it because I still have to work; yet I wanted to at least have one morning of fun). Well, I did enjoy the movie a lot, but that's not the point.
The movie strives a lot to be 'representative'. And at some point the Eternals are found in Tenochtitlan, during the Spanish Conquest, and despair because of the events. They also decide to part ways (this is not a spoiler).
Later in the movie, they show up in Amazonia and say 'We were here the last time we were together!'.
That made me…
Zerbique, this is quite a lot. I can't really say that I follow all of your metaphors here, but I get the gist. This subject matter is clearly a bit of a trigger for you, and I can appreciate that. I know it can be difficult to engage on these issues, and I've seen these kinds of reactions professionally as well. I understand that individuals in your position can frequently feel attacked when these things come up.
You may or may not believe my comment about good faith dialogue, and that is of course your prerogative. I'm not going to try to change your mind here or argue it. If you're ever interested, I can suggest - without additional commenta…
Shit, Z, I dunno where to start, but I'll go with I think being a writer might be a 'calling' for you. I'm glad you told murjani3 where you stand and what you think of their attitude. No guessing on their part now. If everything you said is true, which I'd bet on that it was, I suspect it'll be difficult for them to assemble any acceptable 'defense' (not that you were attacking them, but they may wanna voice a 'rebuttal').
You're one profound dude, Z. I love it! 😀 I'd love to shoot-the-shit with ya someday. Well, you, Athena, and JW. ST is the only exposure I get to intellectuals. When you folks are contemplating complex philosophical issues,…
JW, what’s the best way to contact you? I have a few things I’d like to pass on as well.
As murjani1 duly reminded me, this is a privately owned and managed website and, as long as my opinions are inappropriate, they might as well be unwelcome. I will therefore refrain from expressing personal thoughts on matters that do not pertain to board games or comic books, and I already withdrew what I wrote (and I deeply apologize for the replies that got removed at the same time, this was not my intention as I had forgotten about this feature of Wix).
However, I am in a tricky position. Since I occasionally provide content to the website, its audience may conceive the notion that I am a part of it. So let me state things very clearly: I am not…