Thursday, April 28th, 2011 11:19:49

Cultural Conceits

“Every society produces its own cultural conceits,” Jack Weatherford wrote in “The Secret History of the Mongol Queens,” “a set of lies and delusions about itself that thrives in the face of all contrary evidence. The Mongols believed that they could not be completely defeated.”

It makes me wonder what cultural conceits we might have in our society.

The name Genghis Khan still resonates with power and victory today, and brings thoughts of terror. Born into a nomadic tribe in Asia early in the 12th century, he became the first to unite the nomadic tribes in his area into an empire, the Mongolian Empire. He accomplished this unification, which had been thought of as impossible, creating one empire out of various factions and tribes. Once the tribes were conquered, he wove them together and strengthened their ties with an intricate web of alliances and marriages.