17 thoughts on ““I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from.” -Eddie Izzard”
Yusufsaid:
In this quote Izzard is mocking the thought and perception that Europe is the home of history and that it carries a rich background, also calls it by its label implying that they are a united bunch of countries who cherish each other. He is being sarcastic as it is known that the continent of Europe is a modern creation that does not date far back enough to be called a home of history and the label of “Europe” is just a modern classy name for them.
Izzard is making fun of the American attitude towards the European history, pointing out that there is a false idea of that history. His line is filled with sarcasm due to the fact that so many things in it were wrong. First when he says that he “grew up in Europe”, as if it was one country, making fun of those people who just say Europe about several countries; just like people call 10 countries Africa. The second false thing he says is that Europe is “where the history comes from”, making fun of that idea that Europeans made history, and that they were the most powerful. Europe did not make history, but rather destroyed some. All those inquisitions and killings and burning of things only made matters worse. History was burnt, and “Europe” didn’t exactly help with the prevention of all that. In Izzard’s performance, “dress to kill”, where this quote was the opening line, he continues his sarcasm and satire of the american people and how big they think of Europeans, making it clear that they are not so powerful or great in history making.
I believe that the comedian is making fun of how western people view the world.Most people think that all of the modern inventions,technology and even civilization was developed by western thinkers during the golden age.Little do these people know is that when Europe was in its darkest ages most of the Arab civilizations were in their own golden age improving Math,Literature, Sciences and even taking first steps to invent things like the telescope.These Arabs and even other countries around the globe are easily forgotten and never take credit for their actions because most of the world is in fact studying the egocentric ideas of the west.Even if we go deeper in time we find that the first civilization and even the first library was in Iraq not the United Kingdom or France.
Izzard is mocking the general perception of Europe that people have by saying “…where the history comes from” because ever since we were little kids, all we learnt was about Europe, it was engraved in our minds that the greatest and richest history was that of the Europeans. We forgot that just like all european countries, every other country in the world has a rich background and a great story to tell.
In this quote Eddie Izzard is (most probably) being very sarcastic when he says that Europe is where history stems from. In other words, Izzard is mocking the view many people had (and still have) towards history. Though it is of course very sad that many people even to this day hold this view on history, it is also entirely understandable as not everyone holds the opportunity to decent education, and most history classes particularly in the west, hold a very Eurocentric view on history in general.
I find this quote very sarcastic for a couple of reasons. First of all its funny how he said “I grew up in Europe”. As if Europe was always so united, and obviously it wasn’t. None of us say I grew up in Asia or Latin America or whatever. We always specify the country because there isn’t a sense of unity as a continent and the European Union is not that old, in fact it isn’t old at all. Furthermore, people today may not get the irony of this quote right away because everyone is so fascinated with Europe and its image today, but in fact a lot pf people don’t know how long time ago we were the civilized ones with all the new sciences and inventions. History didn’t start there (I don’t even know what it means for history to start somewhere, I mean its history its everywhere) and Eddie knew what he was talking about and he tried to spread his idea through sarcasm which is a very powerful, yet dangerous, mean of spreading ideas.
First of all, Mr. Izzard calls Europe as if its one whole country, whereas the EU is a very “new” state just as we said today in class, yet they have their own flag, currency and laws.. Every culture has its own history, every human being has its own history. I believe that the Mr. Izzards’ sarcasm in his quote is due to all the crazy events that have happened over hundreds of years in countries of which europe consists. The majority weren’t positive wheres the number of murdering is infinite and many battles took place. Today, many of us don’t consider this history, due to all the mocking that have happened. This quote is sort of offensive towards all other cultures and countries, making the speaker himself seem selfish and make the people feel better than all others.
This quote of Izzard’s shows that he is mocking the unity and solidarity of the so-called “European Union”, of which the name implies the togetherness of the continent and the people. However in the reality according to history, Europe has been wracked by vicious, cyclic acts of revolution and war. This shows the exact opposite of the Eurocentric perspective that tends to be taught nowadays and thus ingraining the idea that Europe is the ‘ideal’ nation or continent that all people strive to become.
I think Izzard describes Europe as being the hub of history because thats all we ever learn about in school. Even though history is not restricted to Europe itself, it seems to be the only thing taught to us. If this quote was given to me four years ago when I was still in a British school, I would have completely agreed with it. Not because I am ignorant and I disregard any other regions history as being important, but because European history is all I was ever taught. I even took two world history courses at Kings and most of what we took in class was centered around Europe and its impact on the world. I believe that this quote mocks the way history is taught, as it programs us to disregard the history of any other place in the world and only focus on Europe’s history, which implies that their history is the only one that truly matters. Izzard in a way is showing us the flaw in our school system through the power of humor.
This quote is intended to mock the false “history” of Europe. Izzard points out that people often depict Europe as a continent that fosters the most prideful historical events. However, through his sarcasm, he is trying to send a message to the world that Europeans were actually ashamed of their history since it was filled with bloody wars and countless machination and schemes. This then leaves the reader to the point where he concludes that the European countries never really wanted to picture themselves as one united and peaceful continent hence there was never such thing as “Europe” in history. So basically Izzard is trying to reveal the fact that Europe was just the name of the continent but not a name that Europeans wanted to adopt because they felt that this would represent a declaration of unity.
The only history I have learnt over the years came directly through a European window. It has been written by Europeans, as it revolved around them completely. They emphasized on what they believed was important and excluded what they decided to ignore.
We’ve learnt about the renaissance and all their inventions and intelligence but never the source of the earliest enlightenment, the region we call home.
I giggled as soon as I read the quote by Izzard. How can they be that ignorant?. They’ve forgotten about the rest of the world. Even the earliest map had Europe literally around the world. He used his sarcastic voice not only to joke about the American attitude towards history but also to mock the fact that they suddenly consider Europe one country.
Since I know the identity of the author of this quote, Eddie Izzard, who is a European comedian, and this quote is meant to be sarcastic, so I think this quote can be interpreted in two ways. On one hand, Europe did start the history of human civilization. Nowadays, philosophy, science, politics and art can all be dated back to the ancient times and root in the Greco-Roman ideals. We all know those great men – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle… On the other hand, Europe did not create the real “history.” It is basically performing the same play over and over again, and it has not changed much on a large scale. Wars and colonization have never stopped. People witness the rise of a power, then corruption, revolution, fall, and eventually the power is taken over and a new power emerges. Unlike Africa which has written the arduous story of slavery, unlike the United States which has changed the world with its most advanced technological innovations, Europe is simply enjoying itself. Like on the map of Herodotus, Europe is not the center of the globe. I think it has stopped writing history since it started to get obsessed with political power and wealth.
Izzard considered Europe as a country when its not. The Europeans have made history however they werent the first civilization to appear in history. History has started in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and by history started i mean that history was recorded for the first time. Izzard is sarcastic when using this phrases because what we have been studying is everything related to the European nations and their history. Therefore we view them as the greatest civilizations in the world because of the amount of time we invest in studying their history. Unfortunately we sometimes forget that we are selves are an amazing NATION that changed the world as well. Moreover, we also forget that we are those who started started to make history! Therefore Izzard’s sarcasm has a logical explanation.
Eddie Izzard is obviously mocking the idea that history emanates from Europe. While Europe played an important role in modern-day history, especially when viewed from Middle Eastern perspective, (Sykes-Picot, division of Arab lands and creation of Modern Arab states, and Israel) it is by no means where history, especially written history started. Many people believe that history started in the 4th millennium BC with the invention of writing with the Sumerians in Mesopotamia and in Ancient Egypt. Others believe the beginning of history started 3,500 years before Christ with the rise of the Greek civilization.
Another important point is that the term European history is somewhat misleading because the countries of the European continent are very different in terms of origin, language, and development. No doubt, European countries share similarities, however there is no European civilization, rather there is a French history and an Italian history. What was happening in Czarist Russia was entirely different than what was happening in Italy and Scandinavia. The Anglo-Saxons were different that the German Franks and the Normans.
“I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from” total non-sense. In 1950 Europe became a union which controlled the countries actions against each other’s and in the region. As we recall some of the world’s main bloody events where mainly all in Europe. Before the European Union, countries in Europe hated and mainly fought in war against each other’s.
as we grew up information was given to us about Europe was the Centre of the historic world well that can be proven wrong because before Europe there was the great and an teak historic background of the Arab region. For example Palestine was in the Centre of the first attempted world map (map of Herodotus) back in the 424 B.C and that Europe was at the back. We can see that even in the old and an teak maps the current Middle East was the Centre of attention.
inconclusion sir eddie is attempting to say europe is where people think and still think history is from.
The sarcasm in this quote is very obvious and the extent of how ignorant people can be is shown in this quote. Since Eddie is a comedian, I believe he is educated and he is just mocking and making fun of ignorant and uneducated people. Secondly, the fact that he said “Europeans” and he did not specify one European country shows that he is sending a message to the people that Europe is united and they are like one country and one civilization. This is false due to the simple fact that not all of them speak the same language. We cannot deny the fact that Europe as a continent is one of the strongest nowadays, but we cannot deny the fact that Palestine and the Middle East, which was the center of the world and the map at some point, started all history. The map had Europe around the world, which implies that yes they affected history, but they are not where history was created. In addition to that, Eddie can be breaking the stereotype that the people have towards Europe and history. Not because “one country” is very strong now, this does not mean that they have been that powerful since day one.
I interpreted this quote as Izzard’s cunning way of mocking our education system and portraying the wrong way in which students are taught history. Even though every country and/or region of the world has a fascinating and powerful history, our schools always seem to focus on Europe as being the center of all significance throughout history. If this quote was given to me four years ago when I was still at a British school, I would have completely agreed with it. Since all we ever learnt about was what happened in Europe. Never the Ming Dynasty or the Abbasid Empire or the Mali Empire, just the Europeans and there dominance over everyone else. Even whilst taking two world history courses at King’s, the classes would always be focused around Europe and its importance in the world. Though many regions have had a similar historical impact on the world as Europe did, we tend to ignore their innovations and discoveries and only focus on what goes on in Europe. This causes people to view Europe as the more supreme continent and helps build up to the close-mindedness and ignorance that runs rapid in our world today.
In this quote Izzard is mocking the thought and perception that Europe is the home of history and that it carries a rich background, also calls it by its label implying that they are a united bunch of countries who cherish each other. He is being sarcastic as it is known that the continent of Europe is a modern creation that does not date far back enough to be called a home of history and the label of “Europe” is just a modern classy name for them.
Izzard is making fun of the American attitude towards the European history, pointing out that there is a false idea of that history. His line is filled with sarcasm due to the fact that so many things in it were wrong. First when he says that he “grew up in Europe”, as if it was one country, making fun of those people who just say Europe about several countries; just like people call 10 countries Africa. The second false thing he says is that Europe is “where the history comes from”, making fun of that idea that Europeans made history, and that they were the most powerful. Europe did not make history, but rather destroyed some. All those inquisitions and killings and burning of things only made matters worse. History was burnt, and “Europe” didn’t exactly help with the prevention of all that. In Izzard’s performance, “dress to kill”, where this quote was the opening line, he continues his sarcasm and satire of the american people and how big they think of Europeans, making it clear that they are not so powerful or great in history making.
I believe that the comedian is making fun of how western people view the world.Most people think that all of the modern inventions,technology and even civilization was developed by western thinkers during the golden age.Little do these people know is that when Europe was in its darkest ages most of the Arab civilizations were in their own golden age improving Math,Literature, Sciences and even taking first steps to invent things like the telescope.These Arabs and even other countries around the globe are easily forgotten and never take credit for their actions because most of the world is in fact studying the egocentric ideas of the west.Even if we go deeper in time we find that the first civilization and even the first library was in Iraq not the United Kingdom or France.
Izzard is mocking the general perception of Europe that people have by saying “…where the history comes from” because ever since we were little kids, all we learnt was about Europe, it was engraved in our minds that the greatest and richest history was that of the Europeans. We forgot that just like all european countries, every other country in the world has a rich background and a great story to tell.
In this quote Eddie Izzard is (most probably) being very sarcastic when he says that Europe is where history stems from. In other words, Izzard is mocking the view many people had (and still have) towards history. Though it is of course very sad that many people even to this day hold this view on history, it is also entirely understandable as not everyone holds the opportunity to decent education, and most history classes particularly in the west, hold a very Eurocentric view on history in general.
I find this quote very sarcastic for a couple of reasons. First of all its funny how he said “I grew up in Europe”. As if Europe was always so united, and obviously it wasn’t. None of us say I grew up in Asia or Latin America or whatever. We always specify the country because there isn’t a sense of unity as a continent and the European Union is not that old, in fact it isn’t old at all. Furthermore, people today may not get the irony of this quote right away because everyone is so fascinated with Europe and its image today, but in fact a lot pf people don’t know how long time ago we were the civilized ones with all the new sciences and inventions. History didn’t start there (I don’t even know what it means for history to start somewhere, I mean its history its everywhere) and Eddie knew what he was talking about and he tried to spread his idea through sarcasm which is a very powerful, yet dangerous, mean of spreading ideas.
First of all, Mr. Izzard calls Europe as if its one whole country, whereas the EU is a very “new” state just as we said today in class, yet they have their own flag, currency and laws.. Every culture has its own history, every human being has its own history. I believe that the Mr. Izzards’ sarcasm in his quote is due to all the crazy events that have happened over hundreds of years in countries of which europe consists. The majority weren’t positive wheres the number of murdering is infinite and many battles took place. Today, many of us don’t consider this history, due to all the mocking that have happened. This quote is sort of offensive towards all other cultures and countries, making the speaker himself seem selfish and make the people feel better than all others.
This quote of Izzard’s shows that he is mocking the unity and solidarity of the so-called “European Union”, of which the name implies the togetherness of the continent and the people. However in the reality according to history, Europe has been wracked by vicious, cyclic acts of revolution and war. This shows the exact opposite of the Eurocentric perspective that tends to be taught nowadays and thus ingraining the idea that Europe is the ‘ideal’ nation or continent that all people strive to become.
I think Izzard describes Europe as being the hub of history because thats all we ever learn about in school. Even though history is not restricted to Europe itself, it seems to be the only thing taught to us. If this quote was given to me four years ago when I was still in a British school, I would have completely agreed with it. Not because I am ignorant and I disregard any other regions history as being important, but because European history is all I was ever taught. I even took two world history courses at Kings and most of what we took in class was centered around Europe and its impact on the world. I believe that this quote mocks the way history is taught, as it programs us to disregard the history of any other place in the world and only focus on Europe’s history, which implies that their history is the only one that truly matters. Izzard in a way is showing us the flaw in our school system through the power of humor.
This quote is intended to mock the false “history” of Europe. Izzard points out that people often depict Europe as a continent that fosters the most prideful historical events. However, through his sarcasm, he is trying to send a message to the world that Europeans were actually ashamed of their history since it was filled with bloody wars and countless machination and schemes. This then leaves the reader to the point where he concludes that the European countries never really wanted to picture themselves as one united and peaceful continent hence there was never such thing as “Europe” in history. So basically Izzard is trying to reveal the fact that Europe was just the name of the continent but not a name that Europeans wanted to adopt because they felt that this would represent a declaration of unity.
The only history I have learnt over the years came directly through a European window. It has been written by Europeans, as it revolved around them completely. They emphasized on what they believed was important and excluded what they decided to ignore.
We’ve learnt about the renaissance and all their inventions and intelligence but never the source of the earliest enlightenment, the region we call home.
I giggled as soon as I read the quote by Izzard. How can they be that ignorant?. They’ve forgotten about the rest of the world. Even the earliest map had Europe literally around the world. He used his sarcastic voice not only to joke about the American attitude towards history but also to mock the fact that they suddenly consider Europe one country.
Since I know the identity of the author of this quote, Eddie Izzard, who is a European comedian, and this quote is meant to be sarcastic, so I think this quote can be interpreted in two ways. On one hand, Europe did start the history of human civilization. Nowadays, philosophy, science, politics and art can all be dated back to the ancient times and root in the Greco-Roman ideals. We all know those great men – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle… On the other hand, Europe did not create the real “history.” It is basically performing the same play over and over again, and it has not changed much on a large scale. Wars and colonization have never stopped. People witness the rise of a power, then corruption, revolution, fall, and eventually the power is taken over and a new power emerges. Unlike Africa which has written the arduous story of slavery, unlike the United States which has changed the world with its most advanced technological innovations, Europe is simply enjoying itself. Like on the map of Herodotus, Europe is not the center of the globe. I think it has stopped writing history since it started to get obsessed with political power and wealth.
Izzard considered Europe as a country when its not. The Europeans have made history however they werent the first civilization to appear in history. History has started in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and by history started i mean that history was recorded for the first time. Izzard is sarcastic when using this phrases because what we have been studying is everything related to the European nations and their history. Therefore we view them as the greatest civilizations in the world because of the amount of time we invest in studying their history. Unfortunately we sometimes forget that we are selves are an amazing NATION that changed the world as well. Moreover, we also forget that we are those who started started to make history! Therefore Izzard’s sarcasm has a logical explanation.
Eddie Izzard is obviously mocking the idea that history emanates from Europe. While Europe played an important role in modern-day history, especially when viewed from Middle Eastern perspective, (Sykes-Picot, division of Arab lands and creation of Modern Arab states, and Israel) it is by no means where history, especially written history started. Many people believe that history started in the 4th millennium BC with the invention of writing with the Sumerians in Mesopotamia and in Ancient Egypt. Others believe the beginning of history started 3,500 years before Christ with the rise of the Greek civilization.
Another important point is that the term European history is somewhat misleading because the countries of the European continent are very different in terms of origin, language, and development. No doubt, European countries share similarities, however there is no European civilization, rather there is a French history and an Italian history. What was happening in Czarist Russia was entirely different than what was happening in Italy and Scandinavia. The Anglo-Saxons were different that the German Franks and the Normans.
“I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from” total non-sense. In 1950 Europe became a union which controlled the countries actions against each other’s and in the region. As we recall some of the world’s main bloody events where mainly all in Europe. Before the European Union, countries in Europe hated and mainly fought in war against each other’s.
as we grew up information was given to us about Europe was the Centre of the historic world well that can be proven wrong because before Europe there was the great and an teak historic background of the Arab region. For example Palestine was in the Centre of the first attempted world map (map of Herodotus) back in the 424 B.C and that Europe was at the back. We can see that even in the old and an teak maps the current Middle East was the Centre of attention.
inconclusion sir eddie is attempting to say europe is where people think and still think history is from.
The sarcasm in this quote is very obvious and the extent of how ignorant people can be is shown in this quote. Since Eddie is a comedian, I believe he is educated and he is just mocking and making fun of ignorant and uneducated people. Secondly, the fact that he said “Europeans” and he did not specify one European country shows that he is sending a message to the people that Europe is united and they are like one country and one civilization. This is false due to the simple fact that not all of them speak the same language. We cannot deny the fact that Europe as a continent is one of the strongest nowadays, but we cannot deny the fact that Palestine and the Middle East, which was the center of the world and the map at some point, started all history. The map had Europe around the world, which implies that yes they affected history, but they are not where history was created. In addition to that, Eddie can be breaking the stereotype that the people have towards Europe and history. Not because “one country” is very strong now, this does not mean that they have been that powerful since day one.
I interpreted this quote as Izzard’s cunning way of mocking our education system and portraying the wrong way in which students are taught history. Even though every country and/or region of the world has a fascinating and powerful history, our schools always seem to focus on Europe as being the center of all significance throughout history. If this quote was given to me four years ago when I was still at a British school, I would have completely agreed with it. Since all we ever learnt about was what happened in Europe. Never the Ming Dynasty or the Abbasid Empire or the Mali Empire, just the Europeans and there dominance over everyone else. Even whilst taking two world history courses at King’s, the classes would always be focused around Europe and its importance in the world. Though many regions have had a similar historical impact on the world as Europe did, we tend to ignore their innovations and discoveries and only focus on what goes on in Europe. This causes people to view Europe as the more supreme continent and helps build up to the close-mindedness and ignorance that runs rapid in our world today.