The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Oh Brother...Where Art Thou?

Oh Brother...Where Art Thou?
Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Tuesday, December 23 2008, 19:12:46 (CET)
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Why are Assyrians missing from the professional ranks in the Humanities...or Liberal Arts? Why are they to be found, disproportionately, in the sciences? Why do we almost exclusively produce engineers, doctors, accountants with a few lawyers thrown in? Why are there no equally established sociologists, psychologists or, most glaring of all, historians? Surely there is nothing genetically lacking in the Assyrian child’s mind or skills which would explain this lop-sided representation in the professions? A mind that can become a doctor’s or an engineer’s can surely master a graduate degree in history...no? No. Not if that child’s mind is formed in an Assyrian community and taught it’s “inheritance”.

The dismal fancies which pass for history among us leave a child’s mind gasping under absurdities and prejudices making it almost impossible, short of an inner revolution, for the adult Assyrian to tolerate let alone understand the rigorous course of study required of true historians. Long before even approaching the modern history of the Assyrians the Assyrian student of general history finds him or herself feeling vaguely uncomfortable with the discipline and method of a study of history which seeks a broad understanding....which leaves behind prejudice and tribal loyalty for objective truths and thorough exploration, cross-checking, comparative analysis etc. It’s almost as if an inner warning tells him he is approaching dangerous ground...that if he does well, or excellently well, he will not be in the “proper” state of non-mind if and when he approaches the modern history of Assyrians.

In the sciences there is no such threat....everything “adds up” and correct answers don’t threaten or challenge tribal prejudices...engineering is “safe”....no matter how difficult and demanding neurosurgery doesn’t go against what he was taught as a child. Math is “safe” because as a child he was taught correctly...but modern Middle Eastern would be perceived as a threat...a challenge to Mom and Pop and Grandma....and “what about Semele” and “indigenous rights in Iraq/Assyria”?

To understand the damage done by the typical Assyrian upbringing one only has to imagine the Assyrian community teaching that 2+2= 12....or that the world is really flat after all...or that water becomes heavier when it freezes. A child raised with these “truths”...raised willing to cling to them no matter what and to suspect all who try to teach anything different as “enemies” who are out to “destroy Assyria” would not do well in science class....could not do well...and most likely would steer clear of even an introductory course...let alone seek an advanced degree in math or physics, biology or engineering. Fortunately for us our parents and community realize basic scientific truths so that no such damage is done to our children. But exactly the opposite is true where the Liberal Arts are concerned.

A good and “true” Assyrian approaches history, any history, like the child taught to believe that 2+2= 12 who then gets horribly frustrated in even a beginning class in mathematics...and the more the teacher may try, ever so gently and with reams of material to teach real answers and concepts the more suspicious and threatened the child becomes...and that same child grows into the man or woman who continues to spout the most amazing absurdities and believe them too. Because to disbelieve and seek better answers the Assyrian must repudiate parents, grandparents...many who “suffered because they were Assyrians”....and how can he or she do that without feeling like the biggest ingrate ever?

We would have produced no doctors or engineers if we taught the scientific equivalent of what we teach as “history”. Not a one of them could even have arrived at filling out applications to medical school...if they ever managed to even graduate from college in the first place. Our children’s minds are just as sharp and capable as the minds of any other children...but our upbringing and early training cripples our children in everything except a narrow aptitude for science and engineering....which is a pity.



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