MUSE LOG: Crusades |
Category: Gazette Columns 4 comments 20 May 2004 @ 16:01 by Aiden @69.33.46.10 : Killing in the name of Christseems like a sick farce! The cry of those who supported the Crusades became "Dieu li volt!" (God wills it!) The sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" was changed to only include Christiansmaking killing Moslems acceptable. Urban also promised that anyone who died in battle would be forgiven all their sins and would go straight to heaven. When the Crusaders arrived in Northern Turkey, they captured and looted the town of Lycea, where, as it so happened, most of the inhabitants were actually Christians. The rampaging continued into the Holy Land and in June of 1099 they reached Jerusalem, which was captured in July. The Crusaders slaughtered both Jews and Moslems in their places of worship. Massacres in the predominately Christian cities of Constantinople, Ephesus, and Antioch alone saw more Christians killed by Crusaders than all the Muslims and Jews in all those wars combinedexcluding the genocide following the capture of Jerusalem (which also included Christian victims.) Crusaders burned the synagogue, in which the Jews had taken refuge, killing about 6,000 Jews, and stormed the mosque, butchering an estimated 30,000 Muslims. They left a legacy of fear and contempt in the Muslim world. {link:http://www.brighton73.freeserve.co.uk/firstcrusade/Overview/Overview.htm|The story of the First Crusade} 26 May 2004 @ 12:47 by Sellitman @69.33.46.10 : The Sack of Constantinople And with the Fourth Crusade all pretenses of "noble" motives diedthe Fourth Crusade was encouraged, financed, and controlled by Venetian merchants for commercial reasons. The consequences were immense, but they didn't have anything to do with the reconquest of the "Holy Land." Instead, the Crusade resulted in the brutal {link:http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/sack.stm|Sack of Constantinople}, the richest Christian city in the world. The great eastern Christian Byzantine Empire was fatally weakened as a result, and eventually collapsed shortly thereafter. 26 May 2004 @ 21:22 by Aiden @69.33.46.10 : Bush's blunder—or was it? Throughout the Middle East, people's memory of the "Crusades" is of marauding thieves who oppressed the local population, which was then (as now) a mixture of Muslim, {link:http://www.msainfo.org/clopcont.asp?id=172&subject=24|Christians} and Jews. Did Bush know nothing of the meaning of the word "Crusade" or of what happened when the "Crusades" took place? To be fair, chances are that he may never even have heard of the sack of Constantinoplea sad commentary on Bush's education, background and fitness for office. Or did Bush know better and decided, very deliberately, to use the word "Crusade" anyway and hit a new trifecta by (1) casting himself as the archetypal "champion of good vs. evil," (2) gathering support and momentum for his war from the religious right, and (3) igniting the fires of Arab and Muslim humiliation and anger throughout the region, a possible calculated provocationit's no secret that there are "modern crusaders" in Bush's entourage, who for a variety of reasons, think that a "war of civilization" would not be a bad thing and are actually welcoming such a war (and actively encouraging it, even). Meanwhile, for many in the Middle east, sadly, this has been seen, yet once again, as a direct confirmation to them that America is "{link:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5040834|anti-Arab}." Al-Qaeda must be pleased. 2 Aug 2007 @ 06:16 by taner @61.9.136.101 : this shiz crusade? amerika take over muslim pop? hahahaha pleaaaase. us muslims and middle easerns are doin fine. all the "crusades" have got is Iraq. please try n take more... try turkey... we will show u sad fuks that are blinded by greed. Fuck tha world... Other musings in Gazette Columns 7 Jun 2004 @ 13:54: The Marauder's Map 22 Jan 2004 @ 14:04: NCN: 16% evil, 84% good ? 24 Aug 2003 @ 22:22: Interview with Baalberith 19 Jun 2003 @ 09:10: Straw Paws 11 May 2003 @ 11:23: Straw Paws 9 May 2003 @ 20:29: Aleatoric and Political Surrealism in the Age of the Internet 9 May 2003 @ 20:19: Un Amour de Swan
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