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'Even
pirates deserve to be heard |
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'Even
pirates deserve to be heard |
I received this e-mail from Mr. Roger
Alves concerning the publication of the Gavin Menzies' book --
"1421- The year the Chinese discovered the world" -- and
because it is an excellent article I asked him permission to place it on
my website. Read it carefully because it is a masterpiece of literature,
and also expresses a profound world analysis of the world history when
it comes to discoveries.
My thanks go to Mr. Alves.( a) Luciano da Silva
1421,
The Flavor of the decade
By
Roger Alves
Back in the early 1970's an author by the name of Eric Von Daniken published his book Chariots of the Gods. The book introduced the theory that human civilization was jumpstarted by alien beings from outer space. Von Daniken used large amount of evidence based on oddities found in ancient South American Inca, Mayan and Aztec cultures. Not long after the whole concept developed a cult following from thousands of people, despite of the fact that it was crackpot science . The 1970s was a decade of change and people wanted to believe in the strange and wonderful world of the unknown. Myself, being an inquisitive teenager at the time was also swept up by this tenacious wave. I too read every book, saw the 2-hour television documentary (several times) and even spoke to the author during a book signing, at which time he commented to me, that more books and documentaries were forthcoming. The end result was that the author achieved fame and fortune by challenging traditional knowledge base by using purely speculative evidence.
Thirty years later, I see that a similar crackpot concept is now being generated by Gavin Menzies "1421 The year China discovered the World", in fact he even goes a step further, not only using wildly speculative ideas but also distorting or eradicating known facts to suit his theories. I am greatly perplexed at the fact the well respected organizations such as the Royal Geographic Society entertain and applaud such misinformed presentation. This tells me that those people who supposedly are well versed in geography are then completely unaware of historical, environmental and navigation facts. However Mr. Menzies book continues to be a best seller, the documentaries will be watched by hundreds of thousands, and a mass of enthusiasts will feed the frenzy of evidence, to prove the fifteenth century barbarian world was enlightened by the Chinese. In our new millennium, UFO sightings and alien landings are no longer in vogue, however there is a rising tendency in today's world to traditional western culture bashing and debunking of its history.
Mr. Menzies seems to be a well educated, a mariner and world traveler, I do not believe for a moment that he truly believes that a fleet of hundreds of giant wooden behemoth 500 foot long vessels leisurely traveled up the Atlantic to boldly conquer new lands. Even he knows that basic laws of physics and ship construction deem that wood vessel with no iron support (which the Chinese did not use on their vessels) longer than 130 feet will surely collapse. Not to say that the Chinese were not accomplished ship builders and navigators, but to take it to this grand scale is pure fantasy. What I have learned of all other supporting evidence not surprisingly gets even more ridiculous, most of which he has never seen or examined, but still claims as fact. According to the book website fresh new evidence arrives daily showing 15th century Chinese objects and evidence, even eludes to the claim that the Azores Islands were colonized by the Chinese Zheng He's fleet before the Portuguese arrived, all this through DNA evidence found in the Azorean population. The last time I checked in the mirror I saw no traces of being oriental even though I was born in the island of Terceira. !?
My conclusion to all this fiasco is that Mr. Menzies is keenly aware that today's North America and European Nations are becoming very ethnically diverse and sensitive. Political correctness rules the day and extreme libertarianism is the flavor of the month. Anything to do with entities or achievements from the 15th to18th centuries Europe are fast becoming discredited because of the blending of such negative issues such as slavery & imperialism. A good example is the growing popularity to label Christopher Columbus a mass murder and a conquistador of humanity. Today more than ever contemporary attitudes are used unfairly to judge actions of past centuries, it is to this targeted audience that Mr. Menzies intends to bloom his fortune and glory.
My note: Gavin Menzies rented the Royal Geographic Society space to give his first lecture. This gave the impression to the world that the Royal Geographic Society agrees with his theories. This is of course false! (a) Luciano da Silva