“Savage” vs. “Civilized”

I have a great example:

Savage is to civilized as the Thuggees to the British. In the 17th to the 19th century, the Thuggees, a secret society of cultists that lived in India, robbed and murdered tons of travelers. They usually murdered the travelers by strangulation. By the time that the cult was destroyed by the British in the 1830’s, the Thuggees were responsible for 2 million deaths. The Thuggees were indeed one of the most savage groups of people to live on earth, and their destruction saved many lives. The Thuggees were indeed a savage group, and the British a very civilized group.

This just proves how much of an influence things like how you are educated have on kids now. Up to now, i have grown accustom to learning all about European History, but when it comes to other places, like Africa, it is usually presented as cheap, unimportant, and a useless aspect to the world. I think its good she is expressing her opinion, and i definitely agree; it is not just European History that matters, and stressing the one area puts a dimmed glow over the rest of the world. Im glad this year we are learning about a variety of societies instead of just the World Wars or Crusades of Europe.

me=not very good at analogies
but…i do see your point…
I didn’t actually think of “western society;…(I actually had no clue what you were saying)

but..Mylanie does have a point…
something that might seem barbaric to us in a different culture, might actually be normal for someone of the “supposed babaric” culture…

I guess I am considered of “civilized” western culture, but there are so many people that always ask me: “Holy Cows?”
…okay thats not the greatest example. But in Indian culture, people worship cows..or respect them…it’s normal…it’s normal for me too…but there are many people that laugh and find it crazy…

and that was terrible:that person that said africa was savage and europe was civilized..
just because Africa isn’t as technological or even advanced as Europe doesn’t make them barbaric…

i guess you could say maybe…
stone age to world civilization today…i’m not quite sure… because the people from the stone age weren’t really savages…but they were nomads and didn’t have a civilization..*utterly confused*…I think i’m digging myself into a deeper hole…
yeah……………..
i’ll think about that….

Would it be possible to talk about this in class monday?

The words “savage” and “civilized” are opinions. They could have different meanings depending on the users.

There is no definite way to explain the words and one example could be viewed in a variety of ways. Some people might consider westerners to be savages while others might find us completely civilized. The words are used according to the point of views of the viewers.

The analogy has no right or wrong answers. It has multiple answers.

Here’s some links about the Thuggees:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/thugs.shtml

A good film that describes who the Thuggees were is “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. The film takes place in the 1930’s, 100 years after the group was destroyed by the British. The depiction of the Thuggees in the film is a bit exaggerated (ex. the flaming pit, mind control potions, etc.) but it does show the brutality of the group.

The Thuggees believed that each person that they killed prevented the arrival of the Hindu goddess Kali for one millennium.

A man named Thug Behram, a member of the cult, is believed to be the worst and most dangerous serial killer in history. He is believed to have killed 931 people by strangulation with a handkerchief!

The Thuggees were indeed one of the most savage groups of people in history.

Hey, Michael Charles….
my mom knows about them…
the “Thugees”
..i don’t know..i found that kinda cool…
okay…now i just look stupid….

Michael I agree that they were savages but that’s from our point of views.

Oh Rosannie, I was going to make the same comment too about how “Civilized” and “Savage” are pure opinion.

Savage:
uncivilized; barbarous: savage tribes.

We can obviously see that both terms are the opposite, but what really
makes something Savage or not?

And to answer the question, it could be any 2 terms that are
opposites to each other. In both words, their definition is basically
just the other with the “un-” prefix.
For example, “Deserving”, “Undeserving.” Both are just plain opposites. “Civilized”, “Un-civilized (Savage)”

Probably the main reason why Africa was stated to be Savage would be the fact of ignorance. Maybe if the student knew more about the cultural
values in Africa, maybe it would be given more respect.

I agree.

The student stated what he said mostly likely because he only knew one aspect of Africa and that’s not his fault. Some students in America have only been taught aspects of western cultures. If he had done some research he would have known that in the old days that Africa specialized in learning and medicines. The main point is that there is no pure fact that separates savages from civilized. A group of people can be both and are both. It can be proven that every civilizations that ever existed had both characteristics of savages and civilized.

But there should also come a point of own personal self discovery Micheal. The education system of america isn’t up to par, as I’ve said. However, it should not be used as a scape goat to cover up one’s own lack of self interest towards a better education n certain subjects, such as another culture.

Upbringing is one factor, but there comes a point where a little responsibility should be taken into finding out the truth about something. That we let pervading ignorance cloud our judgement about issues like “civilized vs savage” is proof not enough is being undertaken by the public to properly educate themselves. And as a result, our society suffers for it.

Savage is to civilized as capitalism is to socialism.