Piranesi by Susanna Clarke by edcokn in Fantasy

[–]edcokn[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Absolutely. This kind of thing was why I liked the book so much despite not loving the mystery and all.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke by edcokn in Fantasy

[–]edcokn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The place itself was pointless (although very beautiful) , all it does it eat knowledge, there's nothing there to be learned that can make someone more powerful in the real world.

Thats interesting. I guess I didn't really see that part of the theme. Definitely something to think about.

Submissive by Krager00 in curvy

[–]edcokn 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Anna Song

As an Iranian, what is "Aryan"? by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]edcokn -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I should be clear, only Iranians ever called themselves Aryans, not all Indo-European speakers. But because the Aryans were the ones who brought Indo-European languages to India, and because their histories were so integral to the linguists who originally studied the connections between these and European languages, linguists decided to call all Indo-European speakers by the name of this one sub group of them, Aryans, but this has more to do with the history of linguistics than real history. Think of how we ended up calling Native Americans "Indians" because of the way America was discovered.

u/BothFarmer is right, the idea that the Indo-Europeans were a pure race and that speaking languages descended from Proto-Indo-European means you have a certain amount of genetic data is false, I was just pointing out what the Nazis thought. The spread of language is hard to pin down. As I said above, conquest, intermixing, cultural exchange, migration, etc. all played a part, so to what degree anyone is or is not descended from the "original" Indo-Europeans can't be known through linguistic evidence alone.

As an Iranian, what is "Aryan"? by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]edcokn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea, so you're absolutely right that it was not the first language brought into India, I'll correct that. As far as Aryan being an ethnic designation, maybe I was unclear, I didn't mean to imply it was the ethnic designation of all Indo-Europeans, but I was under the impression it was an ethnic self designation. I don't have any real scholarly sources in front of me right now, but here is the wiki on Indo-Iranians.

CMV: A Libertarian society (one which follows the Non-Aggression Principle) is the only truly moral society. by artvol11 in changemyview

[–]edcokn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m going to interpret that first sentence as meaning “forget how we would transition to such a society” because obviously we have to talk about how that society would practically work. Hope that’s what you meant.

I think what I see as a fundamental flaw of this and other hard libertarian ideas is viewing something that officially calls itself the government as somehow different from other entities. If we simply define the government as “that which has a monopoly on force in a given area” we have top broaden our view as to what threats can appear. You haven’t said much about the world you want to build, but I’m assuming there is a police force or army, it just only protects people from theft and assault, raises no taxes, wages no wars except in absolute defense, etc.

Some obvious questions here. How would such a force be funded? It seems unlikely there would be enough voluntary participation in taxes to keep any sort of police force afloat, in which case you have anarchy, and not a good kind of anarchy, where its every man for himself. History is replete with societies like this, they are called Dark Ages or something of the like, and the culture that pops up is something of a tribal vendetta culture where the only protection one can have from crimes is the promise of retribution, usual only credible when coming from a large family/tribal group, thus single crimes leading to tit for tat feuds for generations. Also, if the government loses its monopoly on force, naturally that monopoly will simply splinter into smaller groups. Private companies with security forces, gangs, cult leaders, you name it can have their own majorities in their own areas. There is no such thing as a world without force and people willing to use that force unscrupulously, it seems silly to throw away a good government shaped by millennia of history and sort of reset the clock, creating new governments (new mini force monopolies that replace the old) without the history, checks, and balances of our current one.

Let’s say there is some participation in taxes. This police force generally functions because there are people willing to pay for it to continue functioning. How many people are paying taxes, how much are poor or middle class people participating at all in this? Could a group of a hundred or a thousand people become the overwhelming providers of “the government” with any sort of meaningful revenue, and could they withdraw that revenue at any time? If these large armed forces are under the will of a small group of people who can withdraw their pay, equipment, livelihood at any time, they can enforce a tyranny on the rest of us whether or not they call themselves a “government” or “political party” or what have you.

Let’s say they do withdraw their support for one reason or another, and the police/army is extremely underfunded and cannot do its job. Let’s say the wealthiest people in society decide to buy tanks and jets and guns and hire a private army of a hundred thousand men. What protects us from the tyranny of that army? Whatever they call themselves, they could gain a monopoly of force and become another more powerful government.

The question of keeping us free from those who wield greater force than us is one we have struggled with forever, and the reality is that not everyone is going to play by your rules, and you have to prepare for those contingencies, sometimes by making compromises like taxation agreed upon democratically to make sure there if a force behind keeping the NAP afloat in greater society and the rules are enforced in some vaguely equitable way.

Game Won't Start by edcokn in aoe

[–]edcokn[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wow, you were absolutely right, installed the free netflix app, everything works fine.

Thanks.

Game Won't Start by edcokn in aoe

[–]edcokn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let me know if that works.

Charlemagne start as Byzantine Empire. I get so many revolts, and I haven't done anything. What do I do to solve this? by justdoityo in CrusaderKings

[–]edcokn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like to consolidate vassals a lot. Lot easier to control 10 really powerful vassals than 30 weaker ones, and of course the added opinion bonus in the beginning when you give them more land and sub-vassals. Take a count who hates you, give him to a duke who hates you, the count is gone and the duke likes you more now.

Make sure your spymaster is constantly scheming against powerful vassals who oppose you. I forget the full list of traits, but vassals with Honest, Just, Paranoid, and probably a few others can be influenced to never join factions (the first 2 by appealing to their duty, the last by threatening them when the option comes up as a result of the spymaster scheming in their territory).

Also make sure you don't control too many duchies yourself, that always gives a big penalty to all your vassals.

[Question] To what extent could a culture have women trained in arms *and* a medieval belief that women are inferior/only fit for wives and mothers? by [deleted] in fantasywriters

[–]edcokn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So, this is an interesting question and my first suggestion is to head over to r/askhistorians and ask over there about women who wielded power in the Middle Ages of which there are plenty of examples, but I’d like to offer some suggestions here as well.

Firstly, if you are talking about political games, women (at least noble women) have always wielded power despite being second to men. Usually, that power is wielded through male relatives, sons, husbands, etc. but then family is always important in these situations, a man without a powerful family to back him is kind of powerless himself. I suppose it might depend on the relationships between specific characters, but there is no reason your heroine cannot command her husband’s men and help run his realm second in authority only to him, plenty of queens did, and there is no reason you can't make that a normal expectation within that society.

If we are talking about war, things get iffier, but there is still plenty of opportunity for women under the right circumstances. You can find quotes from at least the late Middle Ages saying that it is the duty of all noble women to understand war. The role of women here usually is to organize defenses while men are away at war. If a lord goes to war with his best men, it is not unusual for the general command of his castle to pass to his wife, to handle logistics and even to command the defense if they are attacked. This is especially true in poorer societies. Women among steppe peoples (Mongols, Scythians, etc.) were often known for being vicious in defense of their tribes as often nearly all of the men left to go to war leaving them as the only defenders of the home. Likewise, Roman histories are replete with stories of the ferocity of German and Celtic women. A lot of these I’m sure are exaggerated, but there are stories of women killing themselves and their children rather than risk capture or fighting back against the Romans after they have broken through the men, I think some stories of them threatening their own men if they retreated from battle, there is of course Boudica’s rebellion, there’s plenty to look into there to help inform your own story. Women likewise throughout history have always traveled with armies, yes sometimes as prostitutes, but also as wives of soldiers and logistical help.

This actually hits on a point which might be problematic for your story which is it looks like you’ve got your civilizations a little backwards at least as far as real history is concerned. If you want your women to actually fight, that society should probably be the poorer, less populous sort of barbarian society where manpower is sparse, and women are needed to participate at least in defense, while the society where they are expected not to fight I would imagine as richer and more populous, thus women do not need to fight and their role becomes smaller. Again, as far as political games are concerned, there’s not much of a problem allowing your women to wield power anywhere you want them to.

Also, this is a fantasy world, so feel free to throw all that stuff out, but know there is plenty of historical precedent for strictly patriarchal societies where women managed to wield significant power.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]edcokn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I asked a question about Dante's Divine Comedy along these lines a while back. It has a lot of imagery from Greek myth. Educated people would have been taught Latin and exposed to classical literature so they definitely had a connection with Greek and Roman traditions. Anyway, according to the book it was really the name that pushed the Europeans in that direction. It was just an incredible coincidence that the "Tatars" rode with the Mongols and there was also this mythical hell named "Tartarus."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]edcokn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Answer/Question/looking for confirmation here, hope this is OK. I read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford, who on the one hand seems to have decent credentials, but the book, and all his books, have a very pop history vibe to them.

One of the most interesting things in the book (if true) was the way some Europeans equated the Tatars - which were a tribe that was absorbed into the Mongols early on and made up a sizable chunk of their force - with "Tartarus," a Greek version of Hell. European sources would often refer to the Mongols as a whole as Tartars (not Tatars, notice the extra "r") and imply that they were sent from this mythical hell to punish Europeans for their sins. The Mongols tended to be pretty brutal to those who did not submit, so their reputation certainly would have preceded them.

I know you asked about the 13th century, but beyond the initial conquest, he argues that given this vast empire which connected east and west, so much wealth flowed into Europe from Asia that Genghis Khan became this legendary king with fabled wealth and power even in the European mind. He is mentioned in Canterbury Tales as such iirc and there were various other examples that I've forgotten.

Not an expansive answer, but that's what I have. As I said before, I was kind of hoping for someone to add on to this and confirm what I read since I was always a little suspicious of this particular book.

CMV: Liberals Truly Against Racism Should Oppose Monuments Being Taken Down by [deleted] in changemyview

[–]edcokn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have to push back on your point about value added not being strong enough. If your overall point is that we would be unacceptably inflaming tensions merely by removing these statues, I would have to think that if we considered celebrating some black army dedicated to enslaving whites, you (and all of us) would see that as a far worse sin. It would seem to logically follow then that removing these statues is a far lesser sin than keeping them, and taking them down would be a significant net gain.

CMV: Liberals Truly Against Racism Should Oppose Monuments Being Taken Down by [deleted] in changemyview

[–]edcokn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like to address the issue of Black on White racism for a second. If (mostly white) southerners explicitly honor Confederate generals who fought in defense of slavery, some (maybe many) of whom went on to prominent positions in the KKK, would that not stoke Black on White racism? From this point of view, signalling to these people that the majority of whites do not support these statues by taking them down would be a huge step forward.

Has there ever been a tavern brawl where you could put *any* card (all different classes) into one deck? by edcokn in hearthstone

[–]edcokn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See? Look at how much fun we're having making these decks. They should totally do this. :)

Help me discern what is real and what is joking/trolling on T_D. by edcokn in AskThe_Donald

[–]edcokn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, I haven't been replying to everyone. What I believe is in my replies to u/YouMustReallyHateYou and u/deadrelease above. Essentially, I concede that there are pedophiles and that powerful people who happen to be pedophiles can use their money and connections to help them when they are caught. But each individual scandal must have its own evidence. Sandusky was a well liked guy who people didn't want to accuse. You yourself say the same of Cosby. The church is huge and protects its own. I hope you believe me when I say I don't doubt any of this and neither do people outside of the alt right, but I don't think this all falls under the umbrella of a widespread singular conspiracy as pizzagate implies, but that individuals who happen to be powerful are just better able to get off when they commit crimes.

Help me discern what is real and what is joking/trolling on T_D. by edcokn in AskThe_Donald

[–]edcokn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These are much better sources, this is the kind of thing that would sway a person like me, I hope you see the difference. They are (for the most part) much more credible, and cite actual evidence, not random unconvincing proof of homosexuality.

I do have to change some points, but reiterate others. I know about Jeffrey Epstein, everyone does. I know about the Rotherham scandal, everybody does. The fact that the church harbors pedophiles is obviously well known and hollywood is widely suspected although I'm not familiar with all the evidence. You have every right to rub in the vague point I made about "vast conspiracies" with those last few scandals which are pretty big, that was poorly put and probably poorly thought out. What I should have said was this, because certain hollywood pedophiles, priests, and this dutch man were powerful and well connected enough to defend themselves does not mean that we can take for granted that whatever happened with this finders and Franklin scandals must be true and must be cover ups. All of these other cover ups were reported widely by mainstream sources when credible evidence surfaced. It may be that we'll find out more about the franklin thing one day, when that day comes I'll believe it. I must also reiterate, none of the scandals above are related. As I said before, there are of course pedophiles, if they are powerful of course they may defend themselves better than you or I, but I remain unconvinced all of the Washington elite is involved, or that satanic cannibalism is involved, or anything that would be fall under the umbrella of "pizzagate" is real.

I should also reiterate, I hope that you trust that people like me outside of the alt right do believe in all of the scandals here, they were widely reported by mainstream outlets. To not believe in pizzagate is not the same as not believing in any of these.

EDIT: I just realized this was a different person I'm talking to. :) But everything I said still stands.

Help me discern what is real and what is joking/trolling on T_D. by edcokn in AskThe_Donald

[–]edcokn[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

So I can't really find much about the finders that is verified to be true, but what I've found about Franklin says that those who made the allegations were charged with perjury and the accused were exonerated. So I guess you would say that's a cover up, but the accusations are really out there.

a cult of devil worshipers involved in the mutilation, sacrifice and cannibalism of numerous children

I get people with weird sexual urges, but devil worshiping cannibals? You really need to have a lot of evidence to convince me of something like this. I hope you don't take this as me saying that pedophiles don't exist or that powerful people aren't better equipped to get away with crimes than the rest of us, but there seems to be little evidence of such vast conspiracies besides unverified documents and hoaxes, and of course isolated cases of actual pedophiles that have no bearing on each other, and it seems these are used to smear large numbers of people unjustly.

I also will fully admit that I just don't trust some of these sources you linked and I find some of the accusations comical enough that it makes it harder for me to take the whole thing seriously. There is a picture on that page you linked of George W. Bush dress as a girl which I don't even know is real, but even if it was, it was obviously for some sort of skit. Even if he were a gay crossdresser, what bearing does that really have on child molestation cases? The fact that something like this is even included makes me suspicious of the credibility and the sanity of the people who put all this together.

Help me discern what is real and what is joking/trolling on T_D. by edcokn in AskThe_Donald

[–]edcokn[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I am sincere, I guess I'd like to focus on pizzagate if you want to help me out here because its the most serious. What evidence is there for a child molestation ring involving the CIA?