From:	Strago strago@***.com
Subject:	Spirit of the land and it's people
Date:	Wed, 21 Jul 1999 21:59:32 -0400

Arcady wrote:

> One mistake: I mislabeled one civilization. I said African civilization, and it was
> labeled Islamic.



> Japanese culture is more borrowed from Chinese than Italian is from Roman.
> They've had very high level trade between them for thousands of years and it
> shows. Add in Korea and the similarities become extreme. They share the same
> folk legends, similar dress, and similar languages (Korean for instance is
> Chinese vocabulary with Japanese Grammar in about 60% of the language. And
> all three have the same base for their number names). Many foods and
> entertainments items are also shared with minor variations.
>

AHHH, but here's the rub: the original Sinic (Chinese, you are correct) and
Japanese languages are EXTREMELY different. As I'd said, the breaking distinctions
between civilizations are LANGUAGE (roots) and RELIGION. Culture does NOT factor into
it. I actually lost a few points on the Final because I messed this up.

> Western and Orthodox shouldn't qualify either. They're more similar than
> many of the 'Sinic' groups... Such as Samoans and Mongolians...
>

No, they weren't. Why do you think the situation in the Balkans is so extreme? You
have the ending points of 3 civilizations meeting right there: The Holy Roman
Christian culture in Croatia, the Russian Empire in Serbia, and the Moslem Empire in
Bosnia-Herzegovenia. Yes, they all speak a similar language, but the conflict has
always been between Muslims, Christians and Orthodoxy.

> I agree with the basic principle of there being a few 'greater'
> civilizations; but the breakdown given is to Euro centric in it's
> definitions.
>

I don't agree, and neither did the author of the book, but you are entitled to
your own opinion.

> Arcady http://www.jps.net/arcady/ <0){{{{><
> The Revolution will not be televised; it'll be emailed.
> /.)\ Stop making sense. Be an Anti Intellectual
> \(@/ Be Tao. Live Tao. Feel Tao. But don't do Tao.



--
--Strago

The gene pool in the 21st century needs a deep cleaning. I am the chlorine.

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