History on Fire

Griots: yay or nay?

2012-02-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

There are both advantages and disadvantages to griot-based history. The advantages include:

Increased accessibility as one does not need to be literate to understand teaching/story
Stories may stay alive longer as the spoken word travels faster among people than the written word
Personal flairs may be attached to stories, making them more interesting

Disadvantages include:

"When a griot dies, it is like a library being burned to the ground" - griots hold much knowledge, but if they die without passing it on, it is lost forever
Personal flairs may make the story more interesting, but it also may skew the facts surrounding an event
Griots face social barriers; for example, a griot from tribe X may not be allowed in tribe Y, limiting knowledge spread

Overall, I think that textbook learning is superior to griot-based learning. While I can say that it would definitely be interesting to have someone (I'm looking at you Whitten) come in and dance and sing in an attempt to articulate history to us, textbooks have several advantages. Textbooks can be brought essentially anywhere, may be biased but must be mostly objective to get published (or at least I hope so...), and are more straightforward than the old song and dance, my friend.

It's already over? But I never got to object...

2012-01-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed this activity overall. I thought that it was kind of hard, but I think that just comes along with the role that I had in the trial. As the cross examiner, there was only so much I could do to prepare beforehand, while some people knew everything that they were going to say. I think I did pretty well as a cross examiner. I think that I elicited a few confessions, though it was easy to tell who prepared for this and who didn't, as the ones who didn't prepare would confess to anything. I know there were things that I could have done better, but when I consider that it was all very in the moment, I think I did pretty well.
I think that the Mongols were not monsters. I actually view them as a very ambitious, mostly fair people. I actually consider their successes astounding. In the context of the time, it was amazing that a band of horsemen could could conquer most of the known world. It really shows that they were a tactical people in warfare, and benevolent leaders in government. While I would consider them guilty of terrorism and kidnapping, I would not consider them guilty of genocide. The mongols used tactics in order to create fear in their enemies in order to win, even against overwhelming odds, and I won't fault them for that. I would not consider them guilty of genocide because for the most part, they spared those who surrendered and very rarely, if ever, just killed people without reason. This goes against the very basis of genocide in my opinion, because in order to focus on killing a specific group of people, it would be without purpose. It was said in one of the videos that we watched that Genghis showed great foresight, and I think that his descendants inherited some of that foresight from him.

Genghis Khan: The man behind the horse

2012-01-23T17:23:00.000-08:00

While it is difficult to apply terms such as "good" and "bad" to people, I'll ignore that philosophic landmine for the sake of this post. Overall, I think that he was good. From what we've seen from the video so far, it seems as though his actions, while brutal, were not random or unjust. One of the professors from the video had the opinion that Khan had foresight when it came to who he killed/helped. In the slightly altered words of David Fincher, "You don't get to rule the largest land empire in history without killing a few innocents." Another factor that supports this opinion is that Khan had to please his people, who, according to the video, were constantly pressuring him to continue to conquer. And lets not forget: it was the man's dream to conquer the world. He was just following his dreams, and you can't fault him for that anymore than you could fault a little girl-become ballerina who always dreamed to dance (although in this case it was a little boy-become murderous warlord, but that's inconsequential).

Project Post

2012-01-12T18:53:00.001-08:00

First Crusade Glogster including xtranormal:

http://www.glogster.com/lukeschissler/muslim-reactions-to-first-crusade/g-6lq853rl83vbfq69siu3oa0

Third Crusade Glogster including xtranormal:

http://www.glogster.com/lukeschissler/muslim-reactions-to-third-crusade/g-6lq82gacel43gvk0nv7lua0

Fifth Crusade Glogster including xtranormal:

http://www.glogster.com/lukeschissler/muslim-reactions-to-the-fifth-crusade/g-6lq80ve24tu36gr41qk7fa0

Eighth Crusade Glogster including xtranormal:

http://www.glogster.com/lukeschissler/muslim-response-to-the-eighth-crusade/g-6lq7tak1jq5avnccabc1ga0

Project Day 3

2012-01-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today I wrote on Josh Rosenberg and David Huynh's blogs just giving some general feedback. I also decided to do four crusades, and to do the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th instead of my initially chosen ones as these made more sense given the research that I found. I chose to show my understanding in this way because I have found that glogster gives the user a lot of options when it comes to showing an idea, and I like that flexibility. No real problems have occurred thus far. Glogster took a little getting used to, but once I learned how to use it, I found it really beneficial to my project. My project did end up working as I envisioned, thanks to the sites of xtranormal and glogster, which provided the canvas on which I painted my masterpiece.

Project Day 2

2012-01-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

In terms of where I have been finding my info, Google has been most helpful. In specific, the American version. I tried the Arabic version as you recommended, but to no avail: I found no links that were helpful even with multiple searches. I have also tried Bing!, but after using said search engine I realized why Google has remained superior. For this project, I also enlisted the help of my friends. On last Saturday night, we got together to od some research and work on the project. Those friends were Yerim Oh, Laura Simon-Pearson and Krutika Nayak (not in your class, but I felt bad leaving her out). The only real trouble that I am having with finding my information is that there seems to be ample information on some of the crusades, but almost none on a few of them. This means that for a few of the crusades I am going to have to be more vague when it comes to the specifics of the project.

1st Day of Project

2012-01-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

The Crusades that I have chosen for my project will be First, Third, and Fourth Crusades. I chose the First crusade in order to act almost like a control, as in a scientific experiment. As far as the crusades went, the first one was rather standard and not-surprising, so the Muslim response to this crusade will best contrast their response to the less-standard, more strange crusades. I chose the Third crusade because I though that the Muslim response to a negotiation rather than a war would be interesting. I chose the Fourth crusade because I would imagine that the Muslim response to the European crusaders attacking another Christian society would be one of comedy. Obviously, to accomplish this goal, some use of Google will be necessary, but I would also like to explore the other options and alternatives to Google that you have posted on your blog.

Wrong questions

2011-12-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

Mostly the questions that I got wrong were the ones that focused on china, Europe and India. Te reason for this is probably because I haven't gotten to review them yet. The questions focusing on Islam and the Byzantine empire because I've gone over those chapters in depth. After I go over the other chapters, I think i won't have any trouble with those chapters.

CLASS WORK DEC 6

2011-12-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

I like the poems overall, especially the poem "The pot is a god." The poems are both catch-y and rhyme-y, two qualities all poems should have. I do not believe that poems can be a good indicator of a society because the poets behind the poems can be swayed by individual biases. For example, if one poet belongs to a certain religion, they may exaggerate the importance of that religion in order to make it sound more important.

Is it time for poetry out loud already?

2011-11-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

The poems were a joy to read, especially with my Katie Han (poetry-reciter extraordinaire)and my table. The best part of reding poems is the attempt to read them in a solemn tone and the subsequent giggles that follow soon after. Now to the serious stuff. These poems have some similar themes. One of the themes that are similar is the moon, which is referred to in both the tang and the song era poems. A difference between them is that the tang poems refer to drinking and being drunk, while the song poems don't. Maybe the song poets just liked to party, and honestly I can't blame them for enjoying a(some) nice glass(es) of wine and then writing some awesome poetry about how drunk they were. Totally makes for a good poem. The song poetry also seems more concise, but that may just be because these guys weren't drinking copious amounts of booze. I don't necessarily think that the poems reflect society, I think that the poems represent the ideas and thoughts of the poet, which is a more introspective idea. Following that idea, I believe that poems can not be used to adequetly represent a society. Poems are formed partially baed on the bias of a poet, and it is not balanced by the other ideas of people from that society. For example, if a certain poet loved turkey sandwiches, and only wrote poems about them, that doesn't mean that that poets society is in love with turkey sandwiches (are you as hungry as I am?).

Spread of Islam

2011-11-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

I know that we were supposed to link a Showme, but I have a banquet to go to and showme refuses to cooperate, so a screen shot will have to suffice. My apologies in advance.

Conversions of Constantine and Vladimir

2011-11-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

I believe that the conversions of Constantine and Vladimir are very different in nature. To me, Constantine's conversion was much more spiritual than Vladimir's. Constantine claimed that he saw a vision that demonstrated the power of the Christian god, and this helped him claim victory in battle. After rising the position of empire, Constantine believed that it was God that helped him get to where he was. Vladimir, on the other hand, was already in a position of power when he converted to Christianity. Also, Vladimir sent out envoys to different places in the world to study other religions. He rejected the religion of Islam, because it meant making too many sacrifices. He also rejected the religion of Judaism because he believed that they had lost their god. His choice of Christianity also benefited him economically. So one could say that Vladimir's choice of religion was influenced by his desire to not give anything up and his want of economic gain, while the influence for Constantine's conversion was much more spiritual in nature and he had less to gain from it.

class work 11/8/11

2011-11-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

- It seems that most Bizantine art and architecture has a strong focus towards religion.The extension of the buildings into the sky reflects an idea of reaching and touching god in the sky. The large domes that are included on many buildings give the feelings of openness, and as the extend high, they give the sense of heavenliness. Although many of the buildings have extravagant features, many of these features are also functional. There may have been a belief among the worshippers that the art made a connection between them and their lord.
- A vast majority of the paintings are religious in origin, and crosses are widely used within the art.
- Many of the flamboyant colors used in the art and architecture may have been associated with wealth and high social class in that period of time, as it was difficult to acquire a large mass of these colors to be used within art.- There is a reflection of Byzantine architecture within America today. The major extent of it is restricted to churches and other places of worship, however.

Class work 11/7/11

2011-11-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

Doc 1.
To: King Manuel, or anyone desiring the basic geography of Constantinople
By: Benjamin of Tudela
For: The description of the city of Constantinople and to add to the glory of Constantinople

Seems like a very factual description of Constantinople.

Doc 2.
To: To an outsider of the city
By: Robert of Clari
For: attracting people into the city of Constantinople

Seems like an exaggerated description of the city and it's wealth

Doc 3.
To: to an outsider
By: Nicetas Choniates
For: attempts To sway people away from a certain culture

Demonizes Latin in an exaggerated way so it probably biased.

Doc 4.
To: someone who is thinking about joining the culture
By: A painter
For: swaying people to join the city of Constantinople

Seems biased because it shows Constantinople as much larger than its neighboring state.

Doc 5.
To: show the splendor of the culture
By: a modern photographer
For: modern day historians

Doc 6.
To: try and convert the nonreligious
By: George acropolis ex
For: the nonreligious

It's straightforward, but still a little biased because it is trying to convert people

Doc 7.
To: tell the venetians what they get for helping the city of constantiple
By: Chrysobull
For: the venetians

This article seems very factual and not biased.

The most reliable document is document 1. The reason that I believe this is because it seems as though it is a very straightforward and simple description of constantiple.

You wanted a post....but baby I don't do posts

2011-11-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

This will be less of a post and more of a list
Excuse my reference to angsty teen music (you wanted a hit by LCD sound system)

Three things that went well:
1. Coordination, i.e. who does which parts
2. "Divide and conquer" strategy (nerdy I know) for doing the work
3. Proof reading the paper (spell check misses a surprising amount)

Three things that did not go well:
1. The choice of goods was constantly changing which created confusion
2. The "waiting until the last moment" strategy, which actually works well with the "drink more coffee" strategy
3. Uhh...Uhhh.... the map might have been made better I guess (<---- filler answer)

What was hard:
1. Map is physical so we have to meet physically to collaborate on it. Come on, meeting for projects is so 2005, this is the Google Docs age! I shouldn't have to move from my chair to do my project!
2. The scale seemed more like busy work than something that was important to our knowledge of the Silk Road

Collaboration!
It was good, my partner was very affable, and I believe that the work was evenly distributed and that both my partner and I produced a better quality of work because it was split between the two of us.

What I would do better, i.e. what would I do if I had a time machine
1. Save the President (which president you ask? ALL OF THEM)
2. Try to finish the map while we were together in school
3. Made sure that the products we chose were easily re-searchable
4. 1.21 Gigawatts!!

I refuse to use a venn diagram, deal with it (<---- rebel)

2011-10-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

These blog post titles should eventually have something to do with the actual topic shouldn't they?

Anyway, to the question at hand. I believe that Jesus's teaching are most like Zoroaster's teachings, as both put a large stress on charity. I think that Jesus's teachings are the least like the teachings of Taoism, which teaches a detachment from the world. Jesus's teachings instruct people to take a direct role in the material world, which places it at odds with the teachings of Taoism. Buddhism and Jesus's teachings are unrelated for the most part in my opinion, though I know Buddhism is unlike Christianity as Buddhism is polytheistic while Christianity is monotheistic. Christianity is like the views of Hinduism in the sense that everyone has a purpose, as in, people can help other people. Confucianism is much like Christianity, except for the fact that Confucianism does not place a stress on the afterlife, unlike Christianity. Both stress the importance of human kindness and helpfulness. The views of Socrates and Jesus are similar in ways; both stress the importance of virtue within people.

I'm too tired to think of a witty title tonight, so...yea....

2011-10-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

Empires form due to power vacuums that are left by the destruction of other empires or kingdoms. In the case of India, there was a void left by the removal of the armies of Alexander the great. This allowed other empires in India to form. In the case of the Roman empire, the Roman empire grew strong after the abolition of the last Etruscan king. In the case of (I know, real original opening) China, the Qin dynasty was allowed to grow after the destruction of the Zhou dynasty.

Wikipedia vs. Traditions & Encounters

2011-10-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

I prefer Wikipedia when it comes to reading about the religions discussed in class. The reason may be that my generation is used to being able to jump to any category desired instantly, and lets not forget, the sacred control-F command. An index in the front of the book is nice and decently helpful, but an index that allows you to jump to any given category instantly is much more helpful. However,the one thing I believe that the textbook has over Wikipedia is that the textbook's sources are more accredited. Whenever reading Wikipedia, one must do so with a grain of salt and a discriminating disposition, as anything added may be from a college level professor or a disgruntled teenager. In terms of a Wikipedia-driven class, most teachers won't even accept Wikipedia as a source today, so a class completely based around Wikipedia is most likely a ways off. One can dream though, eh?

Caste Duties compared and contrasted to the teachings of Confucius and Zarathustra

2011-10-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

Caste Duties According to the Bhagavad Gita has similarities and differences to Confucianism and Zoroastrianism. Some differences are that, while Confucianism focuses mainly on life on earth, this piece seems to refer to both life on earth and an after life. Another difference is that in Confucianism, people are judged by their virtues; in this piece it can be derived that people are judged by the battles they have won, not their virtues or characteristics. The fact that battles are so important in securing a place in the afterlife also means that this piece places the requirement for an afterlife on different things than Zoroastrianism. In Zoroastrianism, stress is placed on good deeds, good thoughts, and good actions; this conflicts with the idea that dying in battle is important to going to heaven. There are similarities between the pieces, however. One thing I noticed is that there is a blend of ideas between Zoroastrianism and Confucianism displayed in this piece. Confucianism places the stress on the world of the living, while Zoroastrianism places a stress on acting right in the world of the living to get to the true goal: the afterlife. In this piece, the idea that both the living world and the afterlife can be enjoyed equally, which is a blend of the ideas of Confucianism and Zoroastrianism.

Viva la gramática no! (long live no grammar)

2011-10-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

I believe that our blog posts should not be graded on grammar, length or style. I do believe, however, that if people write a post that is illegible, lik if I rote a post lik this OMG tat would b awsome!, the post should disregarded, or counted as a zero. I believe that there is a firm line: either the post is legible or it is not, and anything in between should not affect the grade of a blog post. In terms of length, I believe personally that less is more in terms of writing, and if an idea can eloquently be articulated in a smaller amount of words, there is no point to add filler. On the same side, however, whatever length it is, it must have quality. This is why I believe that the only one of the four possible grading categories should be quality. In terms of style: blogs are personal, writing styles are personal. Grading something personal using impersonal standards just is not fair. I believe that you should be the one grading the blog posts, though maybe with a few changes. That means either fewer blog posts that are worth more, or a less in depth assessment of the post. I believe that people can earn zeros even if they write something, and this is more of a fine line with your grading style as it is mostly subjective. If the post is totally irrelevant, then give that person a zero.

How Confucian teachings can help our government today

2011-10-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

Book III. 16 The Master said, “The gentleman understands what is moral, the small man understands what is profitable.”

I believe that this selection is one that the government of today needs to understand. More and more, during the news there is a story about how some politician is being "influenced" by businesses and corporations to swing legislation in their favor. This selection directly addresses that problem. Those who accept bribes from corporations are "small men;" they only see the profit and disregard morality. In my history class last year I learned about an award given to politicians when they had to make a decision that was unpopular, but was right in the long-term. In my opinion, no such award should exist. In my opinion, politicians should realize when they are running that they might have to make tough decisions that might lose them further elections. In my opinion, politicians should place the well-being of this nation above their own popularity. This relates directly to the quote because, in most cases, popularity translates into profit for many politicians (mainly in the form of campaign donations). Those that make the tough decisions in this nation are the "gentlemen," who may lost popularity or profit, but have done what is right. Those that are dictated by greed and who place profit over morality are the "small men."

Alexander the Great....More like Alexander the Best

2011-09-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Alexander was pretty great, there's no question about that. The question then becomes: was Alexander awesome? In my opinion; yes, definitely. Alexander was one of, if not the greatest, conqueror of the ancient world. Why do I say that? Well not only did Alexander conquer lands all over the current-day middle east and topple the Persian Empire, he also spread the cultures of many different civilizations as he conquered through cultural and ideological diffusion. Alexander also controlled one of the largest empires of all time at its peak size. As a general, he was outmatched. For example, he managed to defeat the larger army of Darius on several different occasions. One thing that is not so awesome about Alexander, however, is that his motives were driven by revenge. Although it is hard to question that Alexander wanted to rule a huge empire (who didn't in those times?), part of his motivation in conquering the Persian empire was to gain revenge for previous Persian actions. So Alexander is like 99% awesome and 1% just great; so pretty good overall.