GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-06 > 1182802536


From: Beth Long <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Megalith builders
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:15:36 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <7kincaids%40primus.ca$142.154.18.13$.000b01c7b764$b1423fb0$0d129a8e@PAKINCAID>


Thank you for the voice of reason.

Beth

"Peter A. Kincaid" <> wrote:
I hope the list will indulge me with a final comment on
this now off topic subject. We have to be careful
in telescoping (for lack of a better word) the past.
We tend to think people were in constant terror (ie.
by Vikings, etc.) but it is clear that there were large
intervals of time where not much is known to have
happened. Some lived and died under stable
governments and probably enjoyed peace most
of their lives. When we look in the distant past we
tend to get the impression that events happened a
lot closer together than they actually did. We also
apply events to a whole state but events many times
happened on the borders leaving a significant part
of the population not under any duress. More
duress probably came from internal warfare rather
than external.

Peter


----- Original Message -----
From: "Arch Yeomans"
To:
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 3:52 PM
Subject: Re: [DNA] Megalith builders


> Switching governing elites creates change, when that change forces you
> to convert into a new belief system or face persecution or slavery
> then how is it that you are free? Or when Vikings pillage the
> monastaries for the gold and demand tribute, how is that free? It's
> all about control and the use of terror or threats to flex that power.
> I doubt people felt very free back then in the way we enjoy our
> freedoms today. Only those in elite positions were free in a very
> loose sense of the word. Everybody was somebody's man and that
> indicates slavery in one form or another. I don't think it means
> people were beaten everyday, but their lives were under constant
> control whether by the state or by the master. We all define freedom
> differently and even believe in varying levels of freedom. Only power
> gives you that tangible freedom in materialistic ways or at the
> materialistic level. I seriously doubt power was given to the people
> and without power you must do as you're told; unless you're willing to
> suffer the consequences. That concept still applies today. We're all
> slaves to our own will or "free will" even though we think we're free.
> It's all a construct, or a self comfort coping mechanism. Elite
> powerful minorities are the only true free people within the
> materialistic world of antiquity and modernity. The rest of us are
> slaves in some way or another and whether or not we know it, or feel
> it. It's just the way it is.
>
> Arch
>
>
>
> On 6/25/07, R. & G. Stevens wrote:
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Arch Yeomans"
>> To:
>> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 12:01 AM
>> Subject: Re: [DNA] Megalith builders
>>
>>
>> > I really doubt Romans could have cared about a
>> > Briton's freedom; same goes for the Vikings and Normans. If you're
>> > Indian you very well might think the British Empire enslaved your
>> > people back then. Who knows? It's all perception.
>> >
>> > Arch
>> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
>>
>> My definition of slavery is a bit less esoteric than yours apparently.
>> The
>> kind of slaves I had in mind would have had no trouble at all with
>> perception. Their condition would have been made obvious to them every
>> day.
>>
>> I think it's possible to switch governing elites without really changing
>> the
>> daily life of the basically free people of a region much at all.
>>
>> Rich
>>


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