alcibiades

I’ve never seen anyone take the angle of Trump’s tariff policy being anti-capitalist and I don’t understand why. He’s disrupting free trade which is a foundational aspect of a global capitalist economy, why isn’t his party mad about that?

Also this article was fucking terrible

Besides the absurdity of this, who gets to decide the name of a geographical feature?

If this were to actually happen wouldn’t it mean literally nothing? Like maybe officially in the USA it would be referred to by its new name but why would other countries follow? And I get that that the USA does a lot in the Gulf, but from my [very basic] understanding most of it is international waters.

Could legislation be proposed to rename the Atlantic Ocean? And if so wouldn’t that just end up with the USA following strange semantics other countries don’t?

Ehh idk about this take. I agree with the article that there are some commercial historical mediums like the History Channel that interpret the past in an absurd/almost malicious way. However modern archaeology does a really good job of finding out how objects from the past were used and how people interacted with their environment. A toilet is not really gonna be up for debate as for what its use was. Historical text, fecal remains, toilets looking pretty similar for the past thousand years, is gonna tell you it’s a toilet.

The notion of our interpretation of the past being completely flawed is kinda true if it was like the 1950s and we were talking about non-western cultures from a western perspective.

That’s gonna fuck up your stroke bruh. If you want a seat cushion for a rowing machine a folded towel or a piece of an old yoga mat will do. You can buy more expensive rowing specific seat cushions but it’s lowk not worth it unless you’re spending a serious amount of time on the erg (and are still uncomfortable)

Dude it’s probably the most important and influential text of the western world. Everyone should read just to understand how it informs our current context. Not believing the bible and urging people to not read it is a similar level of ignorance to someone who believes in it and has never read it.

I’m not quite sure why you’re trying to debate if the Bible has allegories. Tbh you’re being weirdly aggressive about a point I never even brought up.

It’s hard to describe how ignorant it sounds to say that the Bible isn’t worth reading. Is the Quran worth reading? Are the Vedas worth reading? Most people haven’t read The Communist Manifesto so we should probably just forget about it since we get the gist of it. I’m a firm believer in evolution but I never read On the Origin of Species so I’m sure it isn’t a very valuable text. I’m all for remembering the slave trade and giving a voice to the generational trauma of African Americans, but I don’t think there’s any reason to read Beloved . How can you not realize how insane you sound? What makes a book valuable enough for you to read it?

And yes, reading Dianetics would give a great understanding of why Scientology is fucked up compared to some bs like “Tom cruise is a weirdo and gave all his money to Scientology so it must be the worst.”

When did I say that it’s impossible to understand western politics without reading the Bible? How is my claim ridiculous?

Your argument makes you sound like a Bible literalist. If you read such a text and conclude that one of the most important bits is “humans used to be 10ft tall” then you might struggle with reading comprehension.

I’d be happy to share journal articles relating to the importance of the Bible and politics if that’s what you’re interested in. However I think a great starting point on the Bible’s influence would be through literature. Chapter 2, 7, 14, 18 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a great starting point.

An example of biblical literature being relevant to modern day politics would be the story of Moses. Moses was born to two different worlds 1) the common/poor or overlooked and 2) the wealthy ruling class. Because of this he is able to not only appeal to the masses but also wield the power to control them (this story is repeated is numerous ancient texts as well). The modern Republican Party uses a similar tactic. Someone like Donald Trump appeals to voters by creating a story where he is relatable and “one of them.” However he also has the financial and cultural backing to be a popular candidate.

ion know why you saying “again” like you made a big point of it being a children’s book (you didn’t). I’m just saying I don’t like media like this. It feels like they’re delegitimizing research that is already brushed off by society as not useful compared to something in a stem field.

We can have different opinions lol

I’m confused about what you’re trying to argue. I don’t get what your example of a book about Mars is trying to say. You’ve completely missed the point of what I’m trying to say.

You’re literally complaining to an internet stranger about being called a term which imo shows some level of endearment. You’re worrying about this comment thread likely because you don’t have a job.

Broski no need to get so pressed. What do you think fiction is? How would a young, impressionable audience, interpret this work?

Works of fiction don’t exist in a vacuum. They are directly inspired and informed from the world we live in. In a similar vain, the impact of fiction does not exist in a vacuum. You don’t read a book and come away with no thoughts related to it. You don’t just throw away knowledge like that. If anything fiction works directed at children have an outsized impact on how we perceive the world compared to the space they occupy in literature.