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How many Americans actually believe the Ottomans were alright?

posted 8 years ago by Innsmouth
2 replies | jump to latest

I have heard this view more and more often coming from American/Western circles, shockingly from very well educated and seemingly smart people, to a point where I am starting to think this is not some fringe, trolling view, but actually what most believe: that the Ottoman Empire, to a degree, was very civil, treated its subjects (slaves) fairly for the times, allowed freedom of religion...

I mean it would be impossible for me to know even where to start with that. It would be like telling a Jewish person that Hitler was actually a great defender of human rights and the Nazis treated Jews fairly and humanely. Like it's difficult to even comprehend how many light years of wrong some views are.

But is this what they teach in American schools/wherever Americans learn, if ever, about the Ottoman Empire? Are Americans really that far gone?

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY

[–] indy_go_blue44 8 years ago

I doubt if many Americans know anything about the Ottoman Empire other than it lost in WWI (probably 50% of young Americans don't even know that) and if they follow the Kardashian's they have an inkling of the Armenian Holocaust.

I'm too old to be aware of what they're teaching in college about world history these days, but I don't remember it being something I studied in my HS or college classes 40-50 years ago. Other than WWII, not much attention was given to things outside of Europe.

[–] krypton_son 8 years ago

I'm an American and I without a doubt don't think that they were "alright" in any way. I'm not sure why you think that Americans even believe that. I don't think I've ever even heard an American talk about them outside of school. I assume they obviously still teach about them in school, although it's been a few decades since I was in it.

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