"Egyptian" Stuff.

Hola Sunbeams! ^-^

The designers at AJHQ have been working hard to bring us this amazing collection of Egyptian decorations, but are they making a few fatal flaws?

Before I continue on this subject, let me just post the daily new item.

Ok, finished. That's the new item up there.

Pretty neat symbols, right? Well, yeah, they're cool and all, but they have a meaning as well.

I love the way that doomypanda (from the AJ Stream) put this.

I'm going to quote her for it, because well, there's not really a better way to say it.

"Egyptian" rug, "Egyptian" cat... "Egyptian" this, "Egyptian" that...

Regardless of how pretty the virtual rug is, what if someone had no concept at all of Egypt? Or at least, didn't have a very good teacher and saw Egypt as more of a concept than a real place? What if this was the first thing they saw, the first opinions stored into their head? You'll understand me as I go through this post.

If someone– a child, in this case –had only the vaguest understanding of Egyptian history and culture, they would look at all of these items and come to believe Egypt isn't known for much else aside ornate decoration. This understanding comes with say, the typical caricature medias paint of Cleopatra, as an overly-romanticised, possibly dehumanized light-skinned halloween costume idea. This is of course not true in the least. This is not Egypt.

The problems I have with AJHQ with this new item-theme are that they show the outside of Egypt– the media-influenced side we all tend to see in those really bad movies. The gold. The ornate outer shell of cat statues and gold scarabs, that while aesthetically beautiful is given no background.

AJHQ doesn't talk about the meanings behind these items, the history of them and the Ancient Egyptian people. Being an educational site, I'm honestly surprised. What's so bad about giving much needed background?

I know AJHQ may have made one post on the Daily Explorer– but let's face it, no one reads the Daily Explorer except for AJ bloggers looking for screenshots. Use a more accessible means to talk about it, like the Jamaa Journal.

It really all boils down to this: you can't show a culture's aesthetic without the culture. Even though it's an old one, today we know much more than is given with these items. There's really no point in shutting it out."

 

-DoomyPanda on the Animal Jam Stream 

 

Wow. That was pretty accurate.

 

I don't know about you guys, but I absolutely agree!

 

  Also, Jamaa has had THREE NON-MEMBER DEN ITEMS IN A ROW!

 

 YAY!

That's all for today, guys. See you next time ;)