Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Between Islam and China, the West invented nothing!
Or so the snivelling revisionists and Marxists tell us.
by StFerdIII
Fascinating piece it was. The Economist, in best Euro-liberal snivelling fashion, was opining on the magical power of Indian and Chinese technological invention. It was like reading the New York Times or listening to yet another Marxist professor opine about Eastern superiority. Like so much historical revisionism, the ascribing to the Chinese of creating the modern world, shows crass ignorance on a colossal scale.
To wit according to this ridiculous article, '...Clean your teeth with a toothbrush...collapsible umbrella...a playing card...a match...write...pay...wipe your behind...and you register a debt to China's power of invention.' Wow! And stupid old me thought the Muslims invented hygiene, medicine, consumer goods, toys, fire, writing, banking, and paper! Those stupid Westerners! They invented nothing!
Well not really.
The Economist's line about the Chinese inventing the modern world, is of course a steaming cartload of revisionist bull puddy. It ressembles the claims by Muslims and Arab apologists that a 7th century cult was civilisation's apex and history's end point from about 800 to 1200 A.D. Ah those glory days of the Islamic Caliphate! If only they could return. The Economist's article was discussing clock making and it made the erroneous and historically inaccurate claim [amongst dozen of others] that, '..while tardy [11th century] Europeans kept time with sundials, Su Sung of China completed his masterpiece: a water clock of great ...accuracy. Standing almost 12 metres [40 feet] tall...etc.'
Ah those barbaric, hairy, stupid, illiterate medieval Europeans. What a bunch of losers. But hold on. Funny thing however if you actually read the history of those 'middle ages' and beyond. Apparently those moronic Europeans had water clocks dating back to the 1rst century B.C. In Athens, there was the Tower of the Winds, pre-dating Sung's 'invention' by only 1200 years. This huge structure was a large market square timing machine, orthogonal in shape which revealed to shoppers both sundials and mechanical hour indicators. In ancient Roman cities the 'Wind Tower' idea was copied and scaled down, and mechanized 'clepsydras' or time pieces, smaller in scale but accurate nonetheless in telling time, dotted most Roman towns.
Any hobbyist historian of Byzantium or Eastern Christendom can tell you that the Byzantine court had elaborate and intricate water clocks, some of enormous size, dating from the 6th century A.D. Indeed Constantinople's Emperor's were famous for impressing 6th century guests with a vast array of automata – or mechanical devices. This predates Sung's 'invention' by 500 years. In the 8th century Arab envoys expressed amazement at the advance nature of the automata, clock work, and astrolabes [spatial clocks and mapping instruments for sea borne travel], found in Eastern Christendom [ah those stupid barbarians must have stole it!].
There is no evidence that Chinese mercenaries, traveling the world [as some stupid recent books claim] educated the Eastern Christians on water clock making. Indeed quite elaborate and impressive mechanized water clocks were developed between 100 B.C. and 500 A.D. by Greek and Roman horologists and astronomers. Is it too much to suppose that by the 6th century A.D. those stupid Christians had actually improved on these ancient designs?
The first mechanical clocks were of course European dating from the 16th century [invented in part by the Dutchman Huygens]. By the 11th century, most European cities had market square clocks, and unlike the Chinese, most Europeans carried a dependable and accurate sundial. In a pre-modern age of agricultural rurality, the sundial was a cheap and effective way to manage and time one's daily routine. Unfortunately in 1050 A.D. Henry Ford's mass production process, while certainly understood [division of labor and all that], was not put to the impracticable use of making wrist watches. But no doubt we will hear one day how the Arabs or the Chinese in circa 1050 A.D. already had them!
So the Euro-losers had clocks aplenty by the 11th century? Denier! would scream the Economist and the multi-cult crowd. How about this then. Go through the Economist's list of other wondrous Chinese inventions and you will see the same nonsense about clock making, being applied to sundry other items:
-Toothbrush:
Chewing and brushing sticks were first used in Babylon circa 3500 B.C. Ancient Greeks around this time were using toothpicks and primitive brushes. All cultures developed some form of brush for the teeth. The first actual hygienic tooth brush was [gasp!] made by an Englishman Addis, in the 17th century [white imperialist war-monger].
-Paper:
Paper production existed in Europe long before Tsai Lun [Chinese 105 A.D.] who invented plant fiber paper. Europeans were using paper – called parchment - invented by the Greeks circa 200 B.C [from Pergamon in Asia Minor]. Parchment was created by soaking raw animal hide in limed water, which dissolved fats and allowed the hide to be smoothed down and used for writing. Parchment had a wider circulation and a greater impact on society than fibrous paper did in China [paper was a court only privilege in China]. And it was the Europeans of course who invented movable type and figured out how to mass produce fibrous based paper – not the Chinese.
-The mighty umbrella:
Invented 4.000 years ago in Greece and Egypt. The modern umbrella was created in England [war mongering white racists], in 1852 by Samuel Fox, using a ribbed steel frame. Sorry but the Chinese had only pretty paper umbrellas which were entirely useless in a strong wind.
-Playing cards:
No evidence exists that the Chinese ever had playing cards. Decorated card games were popular in Europe from the early middle ages. Most likely Gypsies and Hindu's long predate the Chinese or the Europeans in the development of cards.
-Matches:
Safety matches were invented in England [war mongering fascists] in 1826. Primitive matches were known all over the world, where surface deposits of sulpher existed. The ancient Jews circa 1000 B.C. had primitive matches – far in advance of the supposed Chinese invention of the same circa 500 A.D. The Biblical 'Fire and Brimstone', denotes sulpher. Jews were using sulpher as primitive matches long before the time of Christ.
-Writing:
Writing existed in many places millenia before the time of Christ. Alphabet styled writing was certainly a Greek invention from 1000 B.C. – not Chinese. The Chinese 'language' it should be noted is an amalgam of characters and hieroglypics and pictures.
-Money:
Greeks and Lydians in modern Turkey in the 6th century established the world's first coinage system, managed by the state. This greatly facilitated their rise to wealth and prominence, inviting an invasion and takeover by the Persians under Cyrus and Darius.
-Banking:
The Christians circa 1150 A.D. established the first complex banking system which transcended local constraints. Accounting and banking processes were refined and created by the Renaissance Italians. Primitive banking systems were in place during the empires of the ancient Greeks and Romans – indeed any international trading center in history would have had some variety, however primitive, which might be labelled a 'banking' or money system. The Chinese certainly did not invent the idea.
-Wiping one's ass:
Many tools can be used for this. Rags, leaves, hides and paper are all adequate for the job. The first mass produced tissue was invented in 1857 by Gayetty [fascist Anglo war monger]. To give the Chinese credit for using material to wipe one's ass with, is no pun intended, assinine.
And on it goes with the hysterial revisionisms. It is insane. No wonder Western culture has no pride, and no wonder the Muslims view the Western states as easy pushovers. Any lie, deceit, propaganda, or idiocy is immediately believed and history reborn much to Western disfavor.
I recently read that the Muslims have claimed the invention of manned flight. In 872 A.D. in Cordoba Spain, those inventive, creative and peaceful Muslims were floating around, long before those barbaric, immoral heathen the Wright brothers, had stolen their ideas and put them to practical use. I am sure this will be standard neo-Marxist pablum in future history books, taught [after the Earth Cult brainwashing curricula] to Western teenagers. Ah those clever Muslims and Chinese, what would we ever have done without them?
It is all fine and well, to point out what the Chinese or Arabs may have accomplished or what Eastern influences helped develop the modern world. But to ascribe all manners of innovations and improvements to the Muslims and Chinese and to belittle Western history is utterly wrong and self-defeating. If you don't understand the gradations of your own culture's fantastic accomplishments and if you don't defend that culture's ingrained sense of creativity and improvement, then it will simply die. Relativity might be chic amongst the Marxist and internationalists, but it does not reflect reality or history.