Saturday, November 16th, 2013
The Danger of HisStory
As we talked about the Mongols in AP World, I think we had a very clear and evident example of the danger of a single story.
People usually consider the Mongol invasions as times of murder, rape and pillage. They see Mongols as the causes of only times of darkness, during which no advancements took place and where people disappeared in the oblivion. However, it turned out that Mongols could have helped the people they conquers. According to our book, the Mongols could have fostered a sense of patriotism and nationalism within the populaces they overtook. These strong feelings helped the conquered people to unite and eventually regain, and retain, their independence. The Mongols also helped renew trade and exchange, notably the once thriving Silk Road. This revival brought many positive outcomes, as trade always brings exchange of ideas that lead to technological developments and the spread of ideas (religion, currency...).
Of course, relying solely on the positive aspects the Mongols unintentionally stimulated would make us victims of the danger of a single story. Nonetheless, this does not mean that we should ignore the positives. We have to consider both positives and negatives, because both are ultimately true. Both ultimately happened, and we cannot let negatives overwhelm positives and vice versa. Then maybe we won't loathe these bunch of Mongolians as much anymore. And that way, we will have a less biased, or more neutrally controlled, view of the world and its past.
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