Assyrians are Googling themselves
Assyrians are Googling themselves and their history more than ever before, and that is a good thing. In talking to Assyrians online, reading through forum discussions and looking at stats for this very website, it is becoming apparent that Assyrians are utilizing the power of Google and search engines for a better use. They are searching and finding answers to questions about Assyrian history, and Assyrianism in general in the world today.
In reading through this article, three questions come to mind: what is so special about this whole thing, what are they searching for and what trends can we conclude from it all?
What is so special about Assyrians using Google and search engines? After all haven’t people, including Assyrians, been using Google for over a decade now? The difference is in what they are searching for. There is a serious and an Assyrian flavor to their search queries.
While they are still searching for ‘chat‘, ‘music‘, ‘pictures‘, and other liesure-based activities, a lot of their searches are increasingly serious in nature. This includes things like ‘Assyrian history, ‘church’ , ‘language’ , ‘culture’ etc. And while some of this search activity is conducted by non-Assyrians -an indication of an ever increasing awareness of our existence by others- the majority of it is being conducted by our very own. So they are not just searching but actually finding answers and in the process increasing their knowledge and information about their identity and history.
What conclusions and trends can we extract from all of this serious and increased Assyrian use of search engines? For one, it is an indication that Assyrians are no longer taking what they hear at face value. Instead, they are taking an extra step to research and verify what they hear. Another trend we can observe is an increased interest to learn more about themselve and history so they are better equipped and more ready to tell the world who they are and where they come from.
The hope is that Assyrians will be able to balance their leisure and serious-based searching. Search engines after all were made to help people find anything and almost everything out there and there is no need to restrict your search to one or the other. But with this wealth of knowledge, literally at our fingertips for free, why not use it to our advantage and to further our knowledge of our history, identity and the state of Assyrianism in general in our world today? “know thyself’ uttered one famous Greek philosopher, and what better way to do that than to start from a simple search box?
Happy Assyrian Googling!
