One of the little-discussed elements of Islam that is particularly dangerous is their prohibition on depicting humans and animals in art. It sounds like just a weird tic until you understand that this gives them the permission to wipe out every other culture's history. Most cultures have antiquities that developed before written language, and it was their only way of communicating. Also, art is a shorthand to history. A single painting can reference an entire story: the fall of Troy, the Lady of Shallot, Joseph's coat of many colors, the three furies tormenting Orestes, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Jesus on the cross... Islam reserves the right to eradicate all of our history, because Islam came about after written language was widely used.
Imagine a teenager taking over the world and decreeing that anything that was originally written in cursive is Haram. It's that level of eradication, authorized.
--- "One of the little-discussed elements of Islam that is particularly dangerous is their prohibition on depicting humans and animals in art. It sounds like just a weird tic until you understand that this gives them the permission to wipe out every other culture's history."
An excellent addition to the thread. And a paradox for even Islam, as the various competing strains also have been willing to practice such "erasure" on each other, as well as other cultures.