TURKS

I loved the presentation on what "Turk" meant to the people of the renaissance, the Ottoman Empire and the Islam faith.

I was surprised about the figures on the Mediterranean pirates and how they captured 1-1.25 slaves--even traveling as far as Iceland. For their time, they were quite an amazing group.

No wonder the Christian Europeans were intimidated...everything about the "Turks" opposed the way the Christians lived. The Turks, in the Europeans' eyes, were oversexed, extrememly violent, and ruthless. On the other hand, they were a revered enemy. They were most feared because of how disciplined and admirable they were as a people.

I think the feelings of fear and uncertainty between these two groups somewhat mirror the feelings between today's Americans and Muslim extremists. Their is a sense of impending doom. There is a real danger. Just like the Turks taking slaves, conquering lands, and capturing 466 English ships, our enemy of today is a threat to our safety. Both sides have misunderstandings about the "others'" beliefs that creates a huge divide.

It is also sad how we have come to use the term "tolerance" [as Ilsa pointed out] and teach the practicing of it, instead of "acceptance"--coming to deal with fact that we are not alike and live together despite disagreeing.