Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Brighter Looking Migration Period

I knew this was coming: the academics are replacing the term "Dark Ages" with "Migration Period," so as not to make any unintentional value judgments. Thus, the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to about 900, or so, is now a period of cultural change and diversity and marked, no doubt, by the extensive programs that the Goths, Huns, Norse, and Saxons instituted to redistribute entrenched European wealth.

I'm not surprised. Several years ago I went on the Long Boat ride at the Norwegian pavilion at Disney's Epcot Center. I was looking forward to a Norse version of the "Pirates of the Caribbean;" instead, I was treated to subdued exhibits of leather fringed families and a breathless narrated lecture about those early explorers, settlers, and fishermen--those hard working, loveable Vikings! For some reason there was no exhibit showing how the Vikings contributed to the Irish gene pool.

2 comments:

Steve said...

Let's now take a kinder and gentler look at the Spanish Inquisition....

Diligent Blogger said...

Vatican has already issued statements on how inquisition was really a time of catechism and conversion. Then again, the word propaganda is derived from a Vatican job role.