Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Do I Buy It? Hmm...

No, I don't buy Menzie's argument that the Chinese were in the North America first.  Throughout the video, I was convinced that all his evidence was vague enough for him twist it to fit his theory.  I understand that he is trying to prove a point but most of this evidence seemed like they were mere assumptions that can't really be proven wrong.  He blatantly says what he thinks without really proving it.  The information before his statements act like they're supposed to prove his point, but they don't really.  Like when he was talking about a merchant, he said that the merchant had to be DiConti and all the information before it alludes to it.  However, there is no proof that the merchant was DiConti.  I also don't believe the maps he was using to find the islands.  They are probably really old and unreliable and those drawings may not be entirely accurate.  It seems like mere coincidence that the map drawing and the present-day drawings look similar.  I also don't believe what is submerged in the water.  I can't see what it is in the video and I don't know what it is.  And I am convinced that Menzie probably has no idea either, except he hopes it can help his theory. I guess I mostly don't buy his argument because he seems  a little bit desperate to prove his theory. 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Buddies!

I would think that Tahiti and Hawaii had good political, social, and cultural relations.  The two way voyaging signifies these relations between the two islands.  The people of Hawaii were not opposed to Mo'ikeha marrying two of their princesses.  If there were political and social issues then he would not have been accepted and the marriage wouldn't have happened.  Their cultures were probably similar because there weren't any problems with the marriage mentioned.  The Hawaiians also respected Mo'ikeha's other wives and didn't have some uproar about it.  To be honest, if I was one of the princesses, I'd probably be pretty mad but that seems to be culturally accepted in Tahiti and Hawaii. The Hawaiians also accepted one of the Tahitians' gods when Mo'ikeha's son came. Hawaii also seems more open-minded because it easily took Tahiti's hula dancing and drumming.  Overall, Hawaii and Tahiti seem like they would (metaphorically) sit at the same lunch table because they seemed to have good relations with each other. 

Saturday, February 8, 2014

High School Girls and Europeans & Muslims

Based on high school girls, I think that the Europeans can't have a positive view of the Muslims.  This problem between the Christians and the Muslims reminds me of two girls I know.  These two girls are pretty similar but hate each other for no reason.  They fight, spread rumors, and treat each other poorly.  They don't really have a reason to hate on each other.  Both of these girls are super stubborn and it's nearly impossible to change their minds. The same is seen in the Europeans' and Muslims' disagreement except it's more extreme.  While reading the Christian documents, I was convinced that the Christians were just as close-minded as the girls mentioned before.  They have their strong beliefs that prevent them from seeing the Muslims' perspective.  They also have their own opinions and rumors that they view as facts, like Muhammad being a son of Satan.  These rumors could be destroyed if the Christians learned about Islam.  But the Christians don't seem willing to learn about Islam, all they seem to want is to get rid of it so Christianity can be dominant. The Christians also don't seem to like the Muslims because of how they were treated.  Since they were treated poorly, they feel insulted.  Most people when they're treated poorly or insulted hate whoever was hurting them.  They treat that person in the same way.  All of those accounts convince me that the Christians won't ever have a positive view ion Muslims because they don't want to communicate between each other and they've had enough bad experiences that they don't want to change their minds.  Both groups as a result probably don't want to change their minds either because then they have to admit that they were wrong.  They might have to question their religion and themselves and no one wants to do that. Overall, I think the Christian perspective readings support that the Europeans won't have a positive perspective on Muslims.