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April 21, 2007
USA: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Under Fire for Academic Dishonesty
We live in a time when more than ever venerable institutions of learning and culture need to educate the citizenry about threats that would strip them of their liberty and right to free inquiry. The greatest of all threats today is Islam, (and it has always been for unfortunate nations who came in contact with this insidious cult over the past 1400 years.)
Thanks to a tip from a concerned citizen, WR launched its own review of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's ``Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797,'' and the findings are truly disturbing.
This exhibit at New York City's most respected museum propagates so many myths and lies about Islam that the Met clearly stands guilty of academic dishonesty and deliberately misleading the public to further an agenda.
The exhibit, sponsored by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund, is ambitious in scope, and a margin of error is certainly allowed. But it grossly fails in several areas that clearly reveal a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. Indeed, how could any credible medieval scholar not be aware of the destructive and pernicious influence that Islam has had on the course of human history.
Each room in the exhibit is accompanied by several panels of text. In general, they are well written, in a sophisticated style that would make the Nazis or Soviets proud.
The exhibit has three major problem areas: 1) the text's overarching tone positions Islam as an advanced civilization, bestowing its knowledge on a backward Europe; 2) historical `facts' are fabricated and/ or distorted; 3) even worse, other facts are omitted that would truly educate the visitor about Islam.
If anyone lives in the New York City area, they should see the exhibit in order to be aware of the extent that certain pro-Islamic groups have gained a foothold in the American cultural establishment, and to see the extent they will go to in order to distort history and mislead the public.
For those who can't, here are examples of what I found to be some of the most egregious transgressions against academic integrity. I searched the Met's site and it turns out that the texts are on that site.
We can start with the ad on the web site: ``This exhibition examines the relationship between Venice and the Islamic world over a thousand-year period, focusing on artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Near East and were channeled, absorbed, and elaborated in Venice..''
Truth: the majority of artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Near East in fact came from Greek Byzantium, other Christian civilizations in that region, and from Jewish communities. As any school child knows (assuming that the school has done its job properly), the Jews and the Greeks are the font of western civilization. The Greek Byzantine Empire was the most advanced civilization in the world during the Middle Ages. The Arabs were desert nomads of the most violent and basest kind. After the Mohammedan conquests, Islamic societies had very little to offer Europe, primarily because Islam's strictures on all aspects of life, especially concerning freedom of expression and inquiry, meant (and still mean) that Islam has almost nothing positive to offer world civilization.
2) the exhibit text says: ``Byzantium gradually gave way to Islamic caliphates from the eighth century onward, meeting its ultimate demise in 1453 at the hands of the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II.''
Truth: There was no ``gave way.'' Whole populations were either slaughtered or forcefully converted to the Mohammedan cult. Institutions of culture and learning were shut down because they offended Islam. As the Arabs spread their Mohammedan cult starting in the 7th century, Greek civilization (not to mention Persian and Indian) suffered horrendously, and a Dark Age descended on the Middle East.
3) The exhibit makes no mention of the Battle of Lepanto (1571), which from 1571 and for centuries afterward, was central in the collective psyche of the Venetians. In fact, the exhibit makes little or no mention of Islamic and later Ottoman attempts to conquer Europe, frequent warfare between Venice and the Ottomans, and the brisk Islamic trade in Christian slaves
Anyone who has ever been to the Palace of the Doges in Venice has certainly seen the massive paintings of the Battle of Lepanto hanging in the central halls. The Venetians constantly lived with hatred and fear of the Ottomans. In fact, the most important aspect of Venice's relationship with the Islamic world was the fact that it repeatedly saved Europe from Muslim invasion. Why no mention of this in the exhibit?
4) The exhibit text says: ``For Venetians, Levantine emporia became synonymous with profit, and visiting them was a crucial part of a young nobleman's education. Their most frequent ports of call included Istanbul, Damascus, Cairo, Aleppo, Tripoli, and Alexandria.''
Truth: If you check out the web site, you will see that the context of this passage is Marco Polo (1254-1324) and the Venetian traders of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Doesn't the curator know that there was no city called Istanbul in those centuries? There was Constantinople. Why no mention, NOT ONE mention of the great city of Constantinople in this exhibit?
Also, the other cities listed were for centuries part of the Byzantine Empire. And even when they were conquered, their most progressive and prominent populations were Greeks, Armenians and Jews. It is with such peoples that the Venetians primarily traded.
The claim of lively trade relations between Venice and the Ottomans is central to the exhibit's idea. Yes, the two did maintain trade relations but they were certainly nowhere near the levels that existed between the Italian city states and Byzantium. Tensions between the two empires were often too high for businessmen to make long-term investments. Who knew when the Sultan would launch another jihad to conquer Europe. Certainly not all the Venetians were saints, and some would gladly sell their souls for profit, but most had a sense of integrity and love for the great civilization that they had created.
Also, doesn't anyone remember why the New World was discovered? When Byzantium was destroyed by the Muslim Ottomans the West no longer had such access to the eastern trade routes. Hence, Europeans began to look for a new route to the East. When did Columbus discover America? 1492, less than 40 years after Byzantium fell, and when the West once again realized that it was impossible to work with the Muslims.
Instead of wasting money and time on fabricating history, the Met could better serve the public by having an exhibit titled, ``Venice and the Byzantine World, a Story of Two Great Civilizations.''
Yet, if it insists on having one about Venice and the Islamic world, then it needs to hire new curators (WR is up for the job) and title the show, ``Venice and the Islamic World, the Story of How an Italian City-state Saved Europe from Barbarian Invasions.''
The Reception of the Venetian Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511. One of the paintings from the exhibition
Posted by Jean de la Valette at April 21, 2007 3:26 PM
Comments
This seems to be a common theme. Islamic scholars simply say that islam invented this or contributed that to science/medicine etc and it is accepted as fact without any critical analysis.
The muslims have the excuse for this deception of al-Taqiyya, the West has none apart from stupidity.
Posted by: Celsius ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.westernresistance.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 22, 2007 8:12 AM
One would have thought that the curators of this travesty would have read John Julius Norwich's two volume History of Venice (1977,1981) before venturing to propagandize. Acknowledged as the best history of the Most Serene Republic, it gives the lie to the slant of this exhibition on almost every page.
Posted by: PatrickB at April 22, 2007 1:03 PM
Behind the funding of Hapog-Kavorkian is the
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.
Also, Western civilization was not funded by the Jews along with the Greeks. It was the Sumerians,
ancient Egyptians and Greeks, then Romans.
As to the Middle Ages, that depends with part of the Middle Ages. Granted the Greek Byzantine civilization was the most advanced in the West but in the East, it was both China and India, before India was completely conquered by the Moghuls. In the Western Hemisphere, of course, we know there were the Mezo-Americans.
Posted by: allat at April 23, 2007 2:43 PM
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