Post your funny pictures here!!! part Deux

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Unlike English, we say the leading number from twenty before twenty, so instead of saying twenty-one, for instance, we say one-twenty (ein-og-tjúggu) for some reason.

Never heard the song, ♫Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baking In A Pie♫?

[Baruch]

A lot of generals and soveriegns came after the Roman Empire wanted to be known as the one who 'restored' the glory of the Roman Empire to their own land. Well at least with the reputation of something similar. History is full of paid court writers' histories, myths of how their city is the 'New Rome' or the 2nd, 3rd or fourth...fifth Rome. Between us, even the Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinopolis wanted to make it a second Rome and the to continue the Empire. (Which it was kind of the real, tiny second Rome before he took it, anyway. But of course with a completely different culture.)

They also had tons of New, second, 3rd... Jerusalems and Athens and Troys...As you would guess they also had a lots of 'New' Hannibals, Alexanders, Constantins, Charlemagnes... comes with the package. They even named, depicted any famous politicans or generals in trees as triumvirates.

The most famous, extreme of them is the Louis the 14th who declared himself a god. The French! Oh the French.

This nonsense has gone for sometime, but of course people started to their times and react to it and that's where 'the secret history' tradition starts. The Secret history of what is going on some king's court, Jesuits, Vatican...everything. Some educated clever men, started to write secret histories of soverigns, popes, cardinals, events, wars, civil wars, explaining to people how actually all the things that happenning around have nothing to do with what is told but only about personal ambitious of these men and women. And the good intended ones were right of course, but some were killed or thrown in prison. So what did they do? They started to write anonymous or by replacing real people in old myths and ancient histories of past events. Making a history of the present via the past. Well, they made up tons of stuff to. How do you sort out the liars? Ancient history can also be used to criticise as used for praise, not that they had a concept of criticism as we have it, but they eventually came closer as a result of this chaos.

At one point it got out of hand. Private lives of monarchs, popes and cardinals, what is going on in courts became a beloved title. (Romance novels were born.) Because they realised, you can do whatever you want with a made of 'secret history' of something. They used it to spread anything they want. Propaganda. From reasons of Thirty Years' Wars to what Marie Antoinette said a lot of things get made up. BAM! French Revolutions.

(The secret history writing of today, comes from this tradition. Even the papparazzi and wiki leaks. The secret history of football, the secret history of rock music, the secret history of cia or the secret histyory of my ass.)

Well, it comes to a point that every kind of history is under suspicion. There is a mass paranoia. It's a mess. The rational questions in early stages like 'how would we look at the Gallic Wars if we had Vercingetorix's journal instead of Caesar's?' turn into 'how can be even sure that two men called Caesar and Pompey lived, let alone know that they battled?!'

Well, there are some men who are clever and a lot of men think they are clever and a very few men who are really smart. Uncle Descartes and his followers from the last group tries to explain with systematic scepticism why this this particular kind of history is bullshit and thankfully undermined the hümanist narrative of western history in the process. Bayle. A few men made sense. Voltaire is late to the show as usual. I don't like him anyway.

For around 200 years, history is seen nothing but as a string of erotic romance novels, plots, intrigues, propaganda... The French pioneered mess saved by the French, history is lost in the crisis. But we got something very important. For the first time in history, through this mess, people have learned to look at things; the publics figures, events in a different way, from a distance. And something remotely resembles to criticism is born.   

Then a German man named Ranke comes and screams 'stooop' his both hands up in 19th century and talk about how source based history is the way to go. He is also known as the patron saint of archive eaters, faaaader of the modern history. Myeh. If the history is thought made of diplomatics, politics and wars and winners of those. Of course he changed everything, and gave history its honour back, but leaves a lot to desire.

There is also another German man with a huge influence who shall not be named, just to annoy Baruch. :)

Then the French can't help but stir the pot, thank fuck. Annales School is born. Lucien Febvre, most importantly March Bloch...etc. A group of smart men oddly talking about a history beyond politics and diplomatics, invasion and wars; a history including sociology, economcial development, culture in a long term and came up with a strange idea that if we want to know what happened in the past may be we should stop reading it from 'top to bottom' and start to go from 'bottom to top'. Again, just to annoy, Baruch and the like.

The French and the German! Finally in the 20th century, coming a long way from bedroom gossips of kings and popes, whose is bigger, they invent something called critical theory again just to annoy Baruch and the likeminded. And what's worse this loose group had a few Frenchmen -Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Fronçoise Lyotard... - who this time undermined the narrative of contemporary history, pissed off everyone thank fuck and caused another crisis in the field, pretty much like the previous one also very different, which we live in it today.

So over rated or not, talking-writing about the Roman Empire... is a messy, looong business with serious consequences.

You are talking narrative for one corner of Europe.  And controlling that narrative is very important, as any Nazi or Commie could tell you.  Germans make the best philosophers, because ... Nietzsche was clinically insane.  The exception who proves the rule.

I will give Charles Martel and Emperor Charlemagne some credit, they knew how to deal with Muslim immigrants.  But King Charles VI of France, thought he was made of glass.  He wasn't wrong, the French often have a glass jaw.

PS - I don't mind Critical Theory, as long as I get to criticize back!

[Cavebear]

So over rated or not, talking-writing about the Roman Empire... is a messy, looong business with serious consequences.

I am jaw-dropped...

[Baruch]

I am jaw-dropped...

Actually one of her more coherent posts.

[Cavebear]

Actually one of here more coherent posts.

Did you mean his or did you mean hers?

[Baruch]

Did you mean his or did you mean hers?

Drunkenshoe is a woman.  Godzilla is a man.  And not one of these crazy new pronouns.

[Cavebear]

Drunkenshoe is a woman.  Godzilla is a man.  And not one of these crazy new pronouns.

Well it is tricky sometimes to tell.  I guessed about Drunkenshoe and know about Gawdzilla Sama.  But, does it matter?

[Baruch]

Well it is tricky sometimes to tell.  I guessed about Drunkenshoe and know about Gawdzilla Sama.  But, does it matter?

You are the one who brought it up.

[Cavebear]

You are the one who brought it up.

Actually I only raised it because you said "here" and I wasn't sure whether you meant "her" so I asked. 

[drunkenshoe]

You are talking narrative for one corner of Europe.

No. It's a primitve sketch of one fraction of a main aspect of history making and that narrative -which looks as changed dramatically- is the narrative of history of Western Civilisation. 

And controlling that narrative is very important, as any Nazi or Commie could tell you.

A tribe chief from Iron age could tell you the same. A shaman priest could too. The thing is, this crisis today actually tells us ideologies, certain concepts have no meanings any more. Because they are structures. They only mean something in the eras they were invented and created. 

Germans make the best philosophers, because ... Nietzsche was clinically insane.  The exception who proves the rule.

Oh ffs, leave him alone. He had brain cancer. His father has died young from something similar. His 'insanity' is just an illness.

We are talking about problems of history making. Philosophy is not something you can throw in to use as a stick. 

PS - I don't mind Critical Theory, as long as I get to criticize back!

Pffft. :*.

[drunkenshoe]

I am jaw-dropped...

It's a bad, rough, primitive sketch written with bad English. But in a nuthsell yeah, I think it is the path. Tried to correct the sentences I saw. It's a huge scope. Impossible to know it all, let alone write it down,lol.

[Hydra009]

fifty is called half of five times twenty (hálvsindstjúgu).

WTF.  That's not a number, that's an equation!

[Cavebear]

WTF.  That's not a number, that's an equation!

Yeah, I don't see the sense (yet).  17+14 =31, so what?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, I don't see the sense (yet).  17+14 =31, so what?

Organic numbering systems can be ... weird. We're used to Arabic numbers, but the Romans got along fine-ish with their system. However, if you ever try to multiply two four digit numbers in Roman numerals you'll be in tears very early on.

[Baruch]

No. It's a primitve sketch of one fraction of a main aspect of history making and that narrative -which looks as changed dramatically- is the narrative of history of Western Civilisation. 
 

A tribe chief from Iron age could tell you the same. A shaman priest could too. The thing is, this crisis today actually tells us ideologies, certain concepts have no meanings any more. Because they are structures. They only mean something in the eras they were invented and created. 

Oh ffs, leave him alone. He had brain cancer. His father has died young from something similar. His 'insanity' is just an illness.

We are talking about problems of history making. Philosophy is not something you can throw in to use as a stick. 


Pffft. :*.

Ottomans: Western Civilization?  Just kill it!  History is written by the winners.  The Ottomans were successful for long while.  Putting a philosophical spin on history (See Spengler) is just making bad propaganda.