Savage Natives and Their "Bone in the Nose" Inferior Cultures

More ignorant multicultural bashing from Ad Orientem.

For any multiculturalists still reading, this gem from Jonah Goldberg:

In Defense of Elitism

About a decade ago, one of the Smithsonian museums here in Washington had an exhibit on the history of human civilization, or something along those lines. I didn't see it, but a friend of mine went and his description always stuck with me. One of the displays was a comparative timeline of different cultures. At, say, 1250 you'd see what the British, the Japanese, the Chinese, or the Arabs had come up with. The sight that really struck home for my friend was a beautiful Renaissance Italian clock, with movable gears and a stunning hand-painted face with a sun and moon alternating for AM and PM. The clock came from the 15th or 16th century, I think. But that's not really important. On the same timeline for African culture there was a wood mask with eye- and mouth-holes cut out in some "novel" way. The little explanatory card on the wall tried to make it sound, somehow, as though the handcrafted clock and the mask were similarly impressive accomplishments. To which my friend responded, roughly, "Are you high?"


I may have gotten the details a bit off here, but the substance is obviously true. Some things are better than other things. Some cultures are better than other cultures. Some things are more worth studying, celebrating, and emulating than other things. Or as the late William Henry III put it in his wonderful book, In Defense of Elitism, "It is scarcely the same thing to put a man on the moon as to put a bone in your nose."


I can't respond to Ad Orientem's disdain for Africa except that to say to the more reasonable that the level of culture and technology in 13th century African was no different from much of Europe

Anti-multiculturalists do not realize that it was Arabs that preserved Aristotle's works and others and it was from the Arabs that Aristotle returned to Europe and that the Arab, North African and Sub Saharan African peoples were in constant interaction.

They also are ignorant of the fact that there were centers of learning that some have called universities in Africa and in sub saharan Africa most notably , Timbuktu.

These ignorant people also do not realize that Roman and Italian history records (Vatican records) record the diplomatic visits of sub saharan dignitaries from the 15 and 16th century on. They are also unaware the technological prowess of many of these cultures. The same bigotry that drives these people is of the same thread that makes people call the early middle ages the dark ages.

Another extremely significant fact of sub saharan history is its astronomy and mathematics. Many of those cultures had a value or the place holder or whatever you call it, "0" in their number system, see this page that talks about the Yoruba. That is significant. They understood to a remarkable degree issues about the number system. More on African mathematical history.

I haven't seen the mask about which Mr Ad Orientem speaks, but one thing he seems to not realize is the intricacies and technology involved in artwork and metal carving. Bronze figures are an indication of sophisitcated metallurgy. More on African scientific history can be found here.

Mr Ad Orientem speaks out of ignorance and bigotry, "bone in the nose." I am simply amazed that he didn't do more research before posting something so provocative and insulting. It is at times like these that I am unsure of being Catholic. Ad Orientem is not alone in this, I once heard Dr. McInerny says something similar in regard to Catholicism at a talk he gave at Catholic University of America, he said something to the effect of "Catholicism (or the faith) is Europe and Europe is Catholicism. His idea here was that we, as Catholics, need to abandon the quest to study other cultures and return to western civilization.

Is there a place in the same church on the same pew for elitists such as Ad Orientem and descendants of savage natives with bones in their noses like myself?