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Iconoclasm
Topic Started: Mar 7 2015, 01:51 PM (1,303 Views)
dai Cottomy
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Is a fundamental part of the make up of mankind. Thoughout history, people have destroyed what has gone before in the name of religion, or for political or cultural motives. Thus, in sixteenth century England, statues in churches were destroyed or defaced as an expression of the Reformation. In the 1960s, perfectly good Victorian buildings were swept aside and replaced by 'modern' structures which were more in line with Twentieth Century aesthetics.

Much earlier, between AD726 and AD787, religious images were opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Eastern Church in Byzantium, whereas the Western Church in Rome allowed their use to continue.
Iconoclasm has generally been motivated theologically by an interpretation of the Ten Commandments, which forbade the making and worshipping of 'graven images'- provoking the iconoclasm of the sixteenth century. Islam in general, tends to be more iconoclastic than Christianity, with Sunni Islam being more iconoclastic than Shia Islam

The present outbreak in Iraq is an expression of the ideological differences between the two main Islamic sects, Sunni and Shia. ISIS has emerged from radical Sunni jihadists in Iraq who fought under the banner “al-Qaeda in Iraq”. Their goal since being founded in 2004 is to create a hardline Islamic state (Caliphate) crossing over the borders of Syria and Iraq. The destruction of ancient artefacts is therefore unfortunately a part of the the inexorable progress to who knows where.
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Edited by dai Cottomy, Mar 7 2015, 05:22 PM.
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Caro

This might not be a popular stance but I tend to feel worse about these ancient buildings etc being demolished in the name of ideology or political power than I do of the people being killed. I think that is in part because it's always easier to be uncaring (or at least less caring) about people you don't know dying, but more because those same people will die in another 50 years or less, where the buildings have stood for many centuries. I am really sad that the world has lost these, even though I don't actually know them either, and won't ever be seeing them.

Having said all that, this morning's radio is doing an Insight programme of about 45 minutes into the fate of journalism in the Middle East where ISIS is happy to capture and torture journalists. Every morning we turn on the radio and leave the bedroom one on all day and have the living room one on too. But this morning I have turned it off, as I just don't want to wake up to stories of killing, torture, disappearances etc and the void left in reporting when journalists decide a place is just too dangerous to go to. I, as a very big coward, have huge respect for the people who report on such areas and the human rights and aid people who are prepared to sacrifice their lives for others where they might well be killed for their work.

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