Yeah, that shit's pretty fucked up. It was practically a crime against nature to be born a woman. But, hell, those old white guys needed women's uteri to procreate even though they really hated the whole idea of fucking in general.
The catholic church..........🤬
Still a complete fucking shit hole. Bride of christ my ass.
Thanks James. I'm glad you didnt put this on fb.
The only time I think about the Roman empire is when Life of Brian is on. 🤷♀️
I know you've heard this about a basquillion times before, but FUCK if only history were taught like this in school. I mean exactly like this. Nobody give a shit about all the names and dates and shit. It's the concepts that are so important. Also, I'm on my 3rd iteration of SWD. I started with e-books but this is a fucktacularly unsatisfactory medium for non-fiction. So I got the case-bound hardcover editions. Now I'm waiting for my signed copy of the new edition from Owl books (with bookmark please?)
Long time reader, first time writer. I love your posts (and your books!), but this one hit every one of my buttons in the best way. I just wish my Dad were still alive (he did his masters on Ibn Sina/Avicenna) so I could have forwarded it to him. As someone who does think about the Roman empire a lot - I'm writing up my masters thesis is on Roman cheese recipes - I hadn't grokked why so many blokes were apparently thinking about it. Don't they know that the Roman empire was incredibly racially diverse? Or have the alabaster statuary given them the wrong idea - those things were painted very gaily?
TLDR: Thank you for your work. This Strine accountant-cum-ancient historian (daughter of a medico-cum-medieval historian) loves your take on things, and I'm waiting for Volume 2 to be published.
Being old enough to tell the tail; the late 60s to early 80s was the explosion of the modern creation of rock n roll. But when big hair-fucking spandex wearing-all the same sounding-shit music overtook the airwaves, grunge was such a breath of fresh music anew. The 90s were quite good imho for a large portion. I have no idea what has happened to pop music, I just can't relate but maybe it's because I am just an old gen-xer.
But in the end, you did post it !! That paragraph is indeed worth rhe blowback that might occur. Who cares, we've already offended them all anyway. On fb, on substack, I've offended so many people with language and opinions. Tough. I no longer care what other people think of me. Take it or leave it. And a lot of really cool people agree with me. We're everywhere. Rock on.
Jesus, why all this hating on white guys? You think Europeans cornered the market on shitty behaviour? You think their shitty behaviour had something to do with their lack of pigment? WTF? So in Africa, in China, in Arabia, (ffs!) women were respected and had much closer to equal status? And no one elsewhere would torture people to death because it's so fun and educational. Didn't you mention the Mongols in your piece? You did! I'm pretty sure they don't count as white (and white, btw, news flash, is a stupid, racist, impossible-to-define category). What drugs are you on??! Other than this, James, you're pretty spot-on.
Because we're white guys, so commenting on white guys is what we know. I could complain about all those other guys but they don't have white guy power yet and I'd need to do research on their cultures which is hard, so I just support my allies from non white guy culture.
Thanks Tim. I get that, from a structural point of view, members of non-white male groups are less fortunate, have access to fewer privileges. However, I would argue that the structural point of view is not the only legitimate one, and that group membership is a lousy basis for a critique, most especially when one has essentially no choice about being a member of a group. Since I too am a relatively powerless and arguably not-all-that privileged white guy I resent the argument that white guys basically suck. Sweeping generalizations do not make for good analysis of a problem. Currently in Canada there is a big kerfuffle over the Speaker of the House of Commons bringing an old Ukrainian man to the Commons for honouring when President Zelenskyy came to address it. This old man had fought against the Soviet Red Army, the forces of a nation that had committed a genocidal atrocity against Ukrainians. He did so by, along with other Ukrainians, joining a Waffen SS unit. This unit is known to have committed atrocities of its own against Jews, Poles and other peoples. Thus it was inappropriate to honour this man, since the group he was a member of was dishonourable. However, since then, he's been roundly condemned as a Nazi. It is not necessarily true. Lots of Germans (and, as in this case, non-Germans) fought in the Second World War who did not support Nazism, and they are not war criminals ipso facto. The people who equate the SS with Nazis with war criminals are tarring everyone with the same brush and that is not accurate and not fair. I don't believe it is any more appropriate to complain about white guys than it is to complain about women. While is it possible to make general statements about both groups, one should always be extremely careful in doing so, since for many members of the group, the generally true statement is not true at all.
Yeah, that shit's pretty fucked up. It was practically a crime against nature to be born a woman. But, hell, those old white guys needed women's uteri to procreate even though they really hated the whole idea of fucking in general.
The catholic church..........🤬
Still a complete fucking shit hole. Bride of christ my ass.
Thanks James. I'm glad you didnt put this on fb.
The only time I think about the Roman empire is when Life of Brian is on. 🤷♀️
I know you've heard this about a basquillion times before, but FUCK if only history were taught like this in school. I mean exactly like this. Nobody give a shit about all the names and dates and shit. It's the concepts that are so important. Also, I'm on my 3rd iteration of SWD. I started with e-books but this is a fucktacularly unsatisfactory medium for non-fiction. So I got the case-bound hardcover editions. Now I'm waiting for my signed copy of the new edition from Owl books (with bookmark please?)
Long time reader, first time writer. I love your posts (and your books!), but this one hit every one of my buttons in the best way. I just wish my Dad were still alive (he did his masters on Ibn Sina/Avicenna) so I could have forwarded it to him. As someone who does think about the Roman empire a lot - I'm writing up my masters thesis is on Roman cheese recipes - I hadn't grokked why so many blokes were apparently thinking about it. Don't they know that the Roman empire was incredibly racially diverse? Or have the alabaster statuary given them the wrong idea - those things were painted very gaily?
TLDR: Thank you for your work. This Strine accountant-cum-ancient historian (daughter of a medico-cum-medieval historian) loves your take on things, and I'm waiting for Volume 2 to be published.
Cheers
Abs
“Needs more synth” - 💯😂
Being old enough to tell the tail; the late 60s to early 80s was the explosion of the modern creation of rock n roll. But when big hair-fucking spandex wearing-all the same sounding-shit music overtook the airwaves, grunge was such a breath of fresh music anew. The 90s were quite good imho for a large portion. I have no idea what has happened to pop music, I just can't relate but maybe it's because I am just an old gen-xer.
But in the end, you did post it !! That paragraph is indeed worth rhe blowback that might occur. Who cares, we've already offended them all anyway. On fb, on substack, I've offended so many people with language and opinions. Tough. I no longer care what other people think of me. Take it or leave it. And a lot of really cool people agree with me. We're everywhere. Rock on.
But haven't you heard... The church knows what's best! A wise man once said "those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves."
Jesus, why all this hating on white guys? You think Europeans cornered the market on shitty behaviour? You think their shitty behaviour had something to do with their lack of pigment? WTF? So in Africa, in China, in Arabia, (ffs!) women were respected and had much closer to equal status? And no one elsewhere would torture people to death because it's so fun and educational. Didn't you mention the Mongols in your piece? You did! I'm pretty sure they don't count as white (and white, btw, news flash, is a stupid, racist, impossible-to-define category). What drugs are you on??! Other than this, James, you're pretty spot-on.
Because we're white guys, so commenting on white guys is what we know. I could complain about all those other guys but they don't have white guy power yet and I'd need to do research on their cultures which is hard, so I just support my allies from non white guy culture.
Same for women. Men can never imagine the fears and horrors women did and do endure.
Thanks Tim. I get that, from a structural point of view, members of non-white male groups are less fortunate, have access to fewer privileges. However, I would argue that the structural point of view is not the only legitimate one, and that group membership is a lousy basis for a critique, most especially when one has essentially no choice about being a member of a group. Since I too am a relatively powerless and arguably not-all-that privileged white guy I resent the argument that white guys basically suck. Sweeping generalizations do not make for good analysis of a problem. Currently in Canada there is a big kerfuffle over the Speaker of the House of Commons bringing an old Ukrainian man to the Commons for honouring when President Zelenskyy came to address it. This old man had fought against the Soviet Red Army, the forces of a nation that had committed a genocidal atrocity against Ukrainians. He did so by, along with other Ukrainians, joining a Waffen SS unit. This unit is known to have committed atrocities of its own against Jews, Poles and other peoples. Thus it was inappropriate to honour this man, since the group he was a member of was dishonourable. However, since then, he's been roundly condemned as a Nazi. It is not necessarily true. Lots of Germans (and, as in this case, non-Germans) fought in the Second World War who did not support Nazism, and they are not war criminals ipso facto. The people who equate the SS with Nazis with war criminals are tarring everyone with the same brush and that is not accurate and not fair. I don't believe it is any more appropriate to complain about white guys than it is to complain about women. While is it possible to make general statements about both groups, one should always be extremely careful in doing so, since for many members of the group, the generally true statement is not true at all.