It's not really an unusual phenomenon in history, is it?
It's just highly disturbing to read so much of it on what is supposed to be a conservative forum where thought is supposed to be first and foremost....
Which is sad.
But what's also sad is that there are some who think it's a useful and complimentary exercise to attempt to flatter and fawn over an entire race (or religion) of people by finding individual examples of achievement, inflating them to a significance that is completely unwarranted, and attributing said examples to the culture at large. Hence, "some unnamed artisan(s) in this town made some pretty tilings that don't seem to repeat (yet)" becomes "The Muslims discovered the mathematics quasicrystalline, infinite nonrepeating tilings 500 years before Penrose" or somesuch (utterly, pathetically condescendingly patronizing) nonsense.
Pox on both yer houses.