#“What was more important to the Western Civilisation- the Roman Empire or the French Revolution” -now watch the two bash each others head i

[my-pjo-stuff]

IDK why but- Modern AU. h History nerds Luke Castellan and Oliver Simmons (most call him by his nickname Octavian tho). With Luke focusing on revolutions and Octavian on the Roman Empire, both locked in a constant conflict of whose topic is the more interesting one with the other.

[michakristine-blog]

Art and Ideas

Art is exceptionally extensive, it’s everywhere, its beauty or uniqueness surrounds and communicates with us on a daily basis. Art is something that art itself cannot describe. It is something mysterious and majestic. Art is a passion, a conviction that consumes you. Art has been around since pre-historic times, from cave paintings to tribal dances to our modern-day abstract sculptures. Before his death in 322 BC Aristotle, teacher of the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, told of Art’s deeper meaning by saying, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inwards significance.” But does art really have such a profound message? It’s a philosophical question that seemingly does not have one answer but many complex theories. Art is a language in images, a method by which we communicate ideas, express conceptions about self, society, culture and community. Art has been a part of our life for as long as humanity has existed. For thousands of years people have been creating, looking at, criticizing, and enjoying art. It’s a form of communication, which means whatever the creator intends it to mean, and this meaning is shaped by the materials, techniques, and forms it makes use of, as well as the ideas and feelings it creates in its viewers. The question of ‘what is art?’ has been circulating for centuries. Defining art is extremely difficult thing to do. Not only it is very intriguing, but it’s also historical. Choosing one characteristic over another would be unfair. You can’t say that music is only good when it has words. The modern system of art is not an essence or a fate but something we have made. Art as we have generally understood it is a European invention barely two hundred years old. The ideas of art were constructed within different cultures, religions, techniques etc.

 Western civilisation can trace much of its culture directly back to ancient Greece and Rome. Our language, our ideas and our aesthetics are indebted to Greece and Rome. The first and greatest period of classical art began in Greece about the middle of the 5th century BC. The Greeks provided us with an incredible legacy. By the time Greeks sculptors had solved many of the problems that faced artists in the early archaic period. They had learned to represent the human form naturally and easily. They were interested chiefly in portraying gods, however. They thought of their gods as people, but grander and more beautiful than any human being. The greatest name in Greek sculpture is that of Phidias. His great masterpieces were the huge gold and ivory statue of Athena which stood within the temple and similar one of Zues in the temple at Olympia. But with Romans art was used not so much for expression of great and noble ideas and emotions as for decoration and ostentation. As art became fashionable, it lost much of its spiritual quality. As they borrowed many elements of their religions from the Greeks, so Romans copied the statues of Greek gods and goddesses. Apollo the god of the sun exist in both Roman and Greek mythology. This god, whom encompasses many different intellectual things, is depicted as the peak of masculine beauty. ‘Apollo Belvedere’ from mid 18th century was considered the greatest ancient sculpture by ardent neoclassicists. Apollo is a replica of an original bronze sculpture by the Greek artist Leochares.

 Opening up the Liberal Arts, the period between roughly 1350 and 1600 that we call the Renaissance also saw the beginnings of a long gradual transition from the old art system toward our modern art system. One of the notorious artists during the Renaissance period was Michelangelo, he was a sculptor painter and architect. One of his famous works the Pieta, housed at St Peter’s in the Vatican City. This artwork shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ after his crucifixion. This was a special work of art even in the Renaissance because at the time, multi-figured sculptures were rare. Michelangelo was a highly religious man, one of his successful work was ‘The Creation of Adam’, it is fresco painting, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. Two figures dominate the scene: God on the right, and Adam on the left. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam. The official recognition of Christianity in the fourth century and the following destruction of the Roman Empire further reinforced the functionality of poetry, music, and visual images so that Europe would require another fifteen hundred years before the modern system of fine art and the aesthetic could be established. Although one can find a number of nineteenth-century declaration such as Alfred de Vigny’s “Art is the modern… spiritual belief,” such utterances were hardly a sign that the average European bourgeois was about to give up Christianity for Art. The inclination to treat the world of art as religious substitute can only mean the strong adherence of believing in art can be unified.

 “Art is either plagiarism or revolution.” Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), French artist. Gaugin tends to dig right into today’s art, the fact that Paul Gauguin is trying to mend the issue of today’s art system, of what is false is to let these reassuring familiarities blind us with the massive differences and create the illusion that the modern idea of art has always been with us. Obviously, the past leads to the present by many small steps, however, there are points at which gradual changes finally integrate to produce to rapid shift over a couple of generations. Arthur Danto looks beyond such probability to follow the destined emergence of the essence of art was always going to be what is has become. That art no longer has a “narrative direction”. Danto’s controversial phrase “the end of art”, which means his beliefs of art’s quest has ended. The craftsmanship beyond both the older system, to the modern system, is not impossible. The importance of originality within the realm of art should be mandatory, it is a way of developing the modern art system. 

[thoughtsandsensibilities]

Buckle up, bitches.

Themes I plan to cover over the next couple of years, of course in addition to my regular cynical observatory posts. This is solely a quick overview of topics floating around in my head at the moment that may do a bit more good on paper. It is in no way a prescriptive list and is liable to change whenever the fuck i feel like it; interests and world outlooks may shift and suddenly I may wake up a pussy and write about increasing corporation taxes to fund welfare...pfft. Don’t worry if nothing interests you yet, as I read more and form more bullshit opinions, the list will grow. Stay tuned! (they are in no sensical order, suck it up)

hard power on the international political stage

corruption and conspiracy (within governments but a focus on supragovernmental dependencies)

religion: its formation and subsequent redundancy. why was it created? the arrogance of man? the need for an explanation? fear of the unknown, of death? to account for a sense of powerlessness?

the concept of god as well as theories on the creation of the universe

the concept of a soul, and the propect of an afterlife. Why was religion made up? (dont bs me about being anti-religious, cos they are all shots in the dark trying to placate the arrogance of man and give meaning). 

the moral aspect of feeding gullible, ignorant people a string of lies about a false god (even if you have a religion the idea that millions if not billions around the world are being taught ‘blasphemy’ should piss you off, and you know you are right) vs the benefits that faith has in some peoples lives

climate change (from an environmental and economic perspective)

climate change (political perspective: disparity of impacts, lack of sufficient motivation and consequences of public goods in general),

development of societies throughout history: their cause and philosophy - what characterised success in ancient civilisation

economic and political dependency in a post-colonial world: reference to world systems theory

the occupied and downtrodden India, negative shit that remains and how it will transform

institutions in society eg marriage/family, government, the economy, education, and religion: their role and creation

terrorism in the modern world and how it can be explained by a constructivist understanding

my issue with the USA: how the world would be better off without it

US foreign policy: a monkey with rabies could do a better job

dictators through history

Cambodian genocide, the Holocaust and cases of ethnic cleansing due to a superiority complex

Rwandan and Somalian genocides - how did we fuck up so badly?

top 5 champions and cunts through history: who did the most long term good/damage to human development + what was it about them that made them so great (yes, the evil ones were great)

top 5 champions and cunts over the last 100yrs (non-dictators): how we are still cleaning up their pile of shit + what was it about them that made them so influential (have more personality info on recent individuals)

humanitarian intervention: necessary, evil or necessary evil. RoP??

China: from copper to gold then to lead... what happened here yo? (pre-1850)

China in the last century: phoenix from the ashes of famine and turmoil... what happened here yo? (post-1850)

Focus on social and economic reforms in China: Mau and the swinging 60s in China (the peak of my wit folks, if you got it then played, if not then thank fuck i am here and wait for the post you dumbass)... what happened here yo?

concepts of self and metaphysics: yes we are going to go there...

the development trap: economic stagnation causes and cures

what the fuck is happening in the middle east and why is it so?

cold war: what was going on behind the scenes? teleconnections?

residual effects of the cold war - what kind of power dynamic did it leave in its wake 

analysis of global governance - polarity of power

globalisation: everything about it - I see it as the dominant force shaping the c.20th

behavioural science - the role of parenting and experiences vs the role of the genotype

free market economy ideas - why they came about, a bit on their application in a modern macroeconomic context and a contrast to Keynesian and neoliberal schools of thought

the issue with aid - reincarnation of western imperialism

the hegemony of western powers

issues with corruption in the WB, IMF, WTO, UN, OECD + national foreign aid packets (remember 90s Malaysia Dam)

the new world order: my take on the hypothesised world government, reasons for existing

control of financial markets by NWO since 500AD

control of wars and central banking by NWO

are you sure about the NWO and why if they didnt exist at some point, the need to establish such an organisation would negate any doubt.

the analysis of and comparison between economic reforms in Central and South America and the corresponding economic impacts

MI6, CIA, Mossad, KGB... hmmm somethings fishy here boss

putin, putin, putin, putin, putin. the man, the myth, the legend. his story and the story of russian oil. 

the oil market since 2012, russian economic collapse as wel as OPEC struggles

medicine through time - Hypocrates, Galen, Vesuvius, Pasteur, Koch... etc.

Nazi Germany: how?!?! again specific analysis of hitler’s character

the concept of communication and globalisation when applied to ancient civilisations

sport in today's commercialised world - it has lost all its appeal for me.

British government - the horrible history! would be interesting to engage with the culture of laissez-faire in a conservative government

look at the formation of the first health service in 1948, what led to that point. universal suffrage? growth of moral responsibility? pussies.

how dumb and undemocratic American politics is -  you will be shocked (gerrymandering, vote exclusion, state voting, Russian involvement). get your fat ass down from high horse you fuckup of a country. remember you are only where you are cos you were a pussy in both wars, not standing up to tyranny and then basically shorting the world economy. you were nothing until a huge influx of investment built up your tertiary and quarternary sectors... just saying. 

why the fat people of America voted the cunt Trump into the Oval: right place right time? blame isis? blame terrorism? blame fear? blame bigotry?

the future of consumer tech as i see it

my opinion of Europe and the Euro - dead af.

the French revolution of 1789: why do i think it is important in the context of world history

the aftermaths and culture shocks of post-war periods

Margaret Thatcher and her glorious work moving Britain out of the evil clutches of socialism: why she was right and lefties are soft dummies

colonialism through the c.18th and c.19th

cost cutting in the public sector... just give me 25yrs and i will have costs down 50%. 5 election cycles... oh well - the issue of government inefficiency and political inertia 

why an authoritarian regime may be necessary in the developmental stages of a country

terms of trade fucking the little guys: global bully tactics...

why care about animals, or the environment... can we not just adjust and figure out a solution if and when shit hits the fan?

the art of persuasion and likeability

advertising - are you selling a product or a brand? a feeling or a culture?

the law - origins? are there big disparities between countries? simple moral code

tax law? overcomplicated, how tax gets avoided

criminality across the world, who controls drugs trade

accusations of hard drug trade being facilitated by MI6 for political and monetary control - up to 60% of cocaine and opium coming into the UK during c.20th was assisted by individuals within the government through MI6. CIA and cocaine during second half of centrury.

cannabis culture and historical legal status 

cannabis medical uses... you will be surprised

cannabis legalisation... 420420420420420 - why it is the way the world is moving? why the drug was illegal in the first place when it is a softer substitute to alcohol and why it has remained so? subtextual racism, corrupt political parties, big pharma lobbying, UK is governed by old money with backwards, conservative ideas.

intelligence - what causes it and can you practise to become smarter?investigation into the theory that length and number of neurones dictating intelligence

the power of the mind: the sectors of the brain, ‘mind over matter’

natural aptitude: be that physical or mental - why are you good at certain things and not others?

theory of evolution... my thoughts on the theory and its disappointing reception within the scientific community

the solar system - stars and their formation

big bang theory, string theory, n theory, relativity and special relativity

the concept of infinity and its application

the theory of multiple dimensions running on adjacent temporal pathways

ancient romans and greeks - their forms government (king, democracy, republic, empire)

the agriculturalisation of society - ancient egypt, ancient mayans - benefits but also costs

the agricultural and industrial revolutions in Britain and Europe.

the british empire at its peak

why cunt USA became dominant superpower - political hegemony

why cunt USA became economic giant after WWII

why the US is the cause of a majority of issues facing the world today

the dark ages and the black death

early transcontinental trade - silk road

ottoman empire - these guys are underrated in terms of academic and cultural interest, no longer!

moguls and Ghengis Khan - probably one of the scariest and most fearsome dudes to ever walk this earth. a born fighter. prompted the construction of the GW. kinda my hero. 

the physical formation of the earth - Pangea, astroid? Yellowstone, oh shit! a few wacky theories including magnetism, the moon, Jupiter's moons

extraterrestrial life. we know it is there. no way for it not to be.

eastern religions - polytheist, emphasis on connection with supernatural, more spiritual

what made a religion popular around its inception

how does religion maintain following? what is it about feeling part of something bigger than yourself, something intangible yet set firmly in reality...

qu’ran - the most violent of all scripture or just repeated misinterpretation? it is an interesting line of enquiry, and this accumulated knowledge squashed a surprising amount of misinformed opinions i have encountered over the past few years; of particular relevance now.

the UN millennium development goals failure + general lack of altrustic tendencies as a society - why are we such dicks to our fellow human beings and strategies to reduce the level of dickishness.

[hannibalbarker-blog]

An Old Explanation of Socialism

A year ago, I did a write-up explaining socialism in a historical context to some friends of mine. I thought it did a good job at the time. I’ve since learned much more, and so now I know a lot of it is inaccurate. Not completely false, but inaccurate and not the treatment that the topic deserves. At some point I’d like to update it. But here it is, archived, so it isn’t only a Facebook post.

Allow me to properly explain Socialism, Capitalism and Communism in a historical context, there's a summary at the bottom if this is too long. It's long as shit. But I recommend reading the whole thing because it took me 2 hours to write.

Ahem:

People have needs. They also have skills. Some people agree to use their skills to satisfy another's needs. This trade is the bread and butter of any economic system, in fact, it is economics in its entirety.

But you need food and clothes, not seeds and thread. So somebody with the skills to turn seeds into wheat, a farmer; and wheat into bread, a baker; are necessary to complete the trade cycle for food. So you need to produce a good for trade. The way this is done is through means of production. Whoever controls the means of production in a community controls the value and trade of that good.

Early humans formed hunter-gatherer tribes and some hunted while some made clothes and some reared children and they all supported each other as a whole group since it was in everybody's own best interests, and we also like to care about people we are close to. This tribes could also be quite large, as much as 300 people, in fact. This is a primitive form of Communism (I think it's called Communalism).

So about 10000 years ago, some civilisations discovered you need to grow crops to make beer (yes, beer is the reason for all civilisation), and decided to stay in one place for a while instead of roaming and hunting. Then they discovered you could grow food. Bam. No need to search for meat if you can just grow meals out of the ground.

But what happens if one guy says, "well, this is my farm now, fuck off"? There you have private ownership of a means of production (I'll just call this POMOP). Why doesn't the rest of everybody just fuck this one guy up and take the farm for everybody? Well the farm owner's gone and promised a bunch of people grain in exchange for protection. The POMOP can only be enforced through violence. This is the basis of POMOP.

Sometime in the Ancient Era, currency is invented. This allows the abstraction of value so a person can choose how they work for their needs rather than relying on what the demand is for the goods they produce.

Anyway, we'll skip forward a few thousand years to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, around 600AD. Europe is now anarchic and beset by barbarians. Eventually, a system of relationships develops where a poor farmer, a peasant, works the land of the Lord, in exchange for the protection of the Lord's army, who works for the Lord in exchange for the money the Lord receives from selling the peasant's food. The Lord himself pledges his army to the King in exchange for the legitimacy of his title. This system is called Feudalism and it rules Europe for 1000 years. But you can see how the Lord controls the MOP.

Towards the end of the Medieval Era, the Black Death happens. So many people fucking die, seriously. This means that there's less people that need to be fed, so farmers don't need to work as hard. This weakens Feudalism. People move into cities and they expand. Technology develops. International trade begins. But the systems of power created by Feudalism remain, so powerful people are still powerful because they control the MOP.

Thomas Hobbes releases a book of philosophy in the 1500s, The Leviathan, describing the contemporary view of government. He describes the state of nature as a state of constant war and violence, likens mankind to purely animal tendencies of violence, and describes the idea of the Social Contract: the idea that humans need strong, central government to exist, lest they collapse into an orgy of murder. This becomes a pretty important basis of political thought for a while.

So it's about the mid-1700s now and James Watt starts selling his steam engine. This shit takes off and mines, farms and factories everywhere are starting to industrialise. The same places owned by all the families and friends of powerful feudal lords. People move to the cities in droves looking for work to survive.

But the problem here is that there are very few places to work and lot of people who need to work. The workers cannot produce goods on the level of the machines and survive, so they are forced to work for these companies or they won't be able to trade for their needs, i.e. they will starve. This is the ultimate shift in power. Those that own the Means of Production have total control of the value that a worker receives. This is now Capitalism. The private ownership of capital/property/MOP in an industrialised society.

The worker needs to work to survive. The Capitalist seeks maximum profit so he can maintain his power. Therefore, he pays the worker the minimum amount of money that the worker will accept, since the worker has no other choice. He does not pay him for the value he produces, but for his time spent labouring. This allows the maximum extraction of value from the worker, since he will undoubtedly produce much more in an hour than he is paid. This is the fundamental exploitation of Capitalism.

Trade Unions develop in order to combat the incredibly heinous working conditions that people are forced to endure at this time. Like seriously they were working 16 hour days without any job security, any kind of safety regulations, being paid just enough so their children don't fucking die. A lot of these guys strike and threaten militant action. Some succeed and raise the working conditions. Others get gunned down by the army, or savagely beaten by strikebreakers. It's pretty fucked, really.

Having to negotiate wages and trade oneself, the worker comes to find he has his own price, and is treated more like a good for trade than a person with needs. This disillusionment is known as alienation. At the same time, a worker producing a good he could never afford, like a luxury car, also becomes alienated and disillusioned. These contribute to the suffering of the worker. One tenet of Communism is to eliminate the scarcity of luxury goods and make them accessible to all.

At the same time, the idea of collective ownership of a means of production, where everybody who works it has a say in how it is run, and gets paid equal to the value they produce through labour, and not exploited. This, and other similar movements are eventually known collectively as Socialism.

In 1789, people in France were sick of the king's shit, and starving all the time. So they said, "Fuck it. Fuck you, fuck the nobility" and cut his head off and had a nice old revolution. Funded by people from the cities, known as the burgs. These guys were burghers, or, in French, bourgeoisie. They owned the capital in the cities and were sick of the government regulating their shit, so they funded the revolution. The people of France did some radical shit like give everybody human rights and institute some sick democracy. The bourgeoisie knew better and paid the politicians to do their bidding. This is the origin of Capitalist influence in politics. The spread of beautiful French freedom was followed by capitalist corruption everywhere.

This is the beginning of what is known as The State. The State is the part of the government that legitimises violence to protect private property, while condemning the violence of the citizens. Anarchy is widely believed to be the dissolution of government and rules, but Anarchy is merely the dissolution of the State. That is an important distinction.

This is the theory of dialectical/historical materialism proposed by Karl Marx in 1848. Dialectical meaning a self-perpetuating dualist cycle, in this case the relationship between owner and worker, and materialism being the theory that production of goods are the driving force behind development of society.

In his works, he sharply critiques very basis of Capitalism, in the way I've just described. He disregards Capitalism in favour of Socialism. He also describes Communism, an economic system wherein all needs are met by society, and people give according to what they are able to, as the ultimate result of Socialism.

It's important to understand the context of Communism. The second Industrial Revolution of the time came out of nowhere and accelerated so quickly that it caused mass unemployment. It was thought that such automatic production would mean that most work would be done by machines and the competition for resources would nearly be completely reduced. Communism is an idea which requires post-scarcity to work. It is considered to be the final stage of Socialism in such an environment. The inner workings of Communism are pretty complex to understand, and almost baffling and impossible when you consider the current state of society today.

Socialism and Communism are often used to refer to the same thing. To put it simply, a Socialist believes in the collective ownership of the means of production. A Communist believes in that too, but sees the end goal of that to be a classless society in which all needs are met. Communism is based mostly on Marx's philosophical theory, while Socialism is an older movement.

As time went on after the industrial revolution, people grew restless with the conditions they lived in, and began militaristic movements. The owners of the means of production feared being overthrown or the victims of violence (ironic) and so 'persuaded' politicians in their respective countries to pass token reforms to appease them. This is not always the case, though. Many reforms and regulations have been based on ethical and altruistic legislation. But it is important to know that bourgeoisie have always had very strong influence in politics since the inception of democracy.

A social democrat/democratic socialist is somebody who is a proponent of the idea that the worst effects Capitalism should be stymied by social policies and legislation. Social policies being systems that provide people's needs, lime healthcare and welfare. Socialism strongly advocates social policies. Many Marxists believe this ultimately only placates the people rather than solving any issue, since the inherent inequality of Capitalism still prevails.

Some Marxists also believe that proper socialism is impossible through democratic means, since the State exists as a tool of the bourgeoisie, and that reforms are token gestures so they still retain power.

There are many forms of Socialism. The one that's most different and probably should a separate economic system entirely is State Capitalism, wherein the government (local and state) owns all means of production, and what is done is democratically decided by the people by process. This is the most common implementation of Socialism but I think it's awful and has invariably led to authoritarianism and repression.

Other possible implementations include things like democratic control, where each MOP is controlled democratically by everybody who takes part in it. Planned enterprises, where a team plans the control of the MOP while the workers participate in the action. There are all sorts of different structures for all kinds of MOP. The main difference is that a worker will have power over their workplace and be paid for their actual labour value. It's a rich tapestry that requires further specific study.

This should probably do it for now. I'll make another post at some point describing more in-depth topics like 20th Century Socialism and Revolution.

I'll field any questions you may have.

SUMMARY

Economics: - Humans have needs - Humans trade for their needs - Humans need produced goods, not raw materials

MOP: - To produce a good you need a means of production (MOP) - Means of production can be privately or collectively owned - When all MOP are privately owned, it forces a worker to accept poor conditions in order to survive - Private owners of the MOP use force and violence to retain their ownership - To maximise profit, the owner of the MOP exploits the worker for their labour, then pays them back the minimum amount in the form of wages. - Having to negotiate wages forces workers to become a good themselves, leading to alienation

Feudalism: - Medieval economic system - Based on a system of relations between Peasant, Knight, Lord and King - Created power structures that underlie Capitalism

Capitalism: - Industrialisation allows private ownership to happen on a massive scale, this is Capitalism - Capitalism leads to strong inequality and poverty, with power massed in the hands of a small group - This group uses their power to influence politics to retain power. - This then causes the State to protect the power of the group

The State and Anarchy: - The State is the function of the government that legitimises violence to protect POMOP - Anarchy is the political idea that this function needs to be eliminated

Social Democracy: - The idea that Capitalism should be consistently restricted by legislation - Many Communists think this just makes people comfortable with the base exploitation of Capitalism.

Socialism: - The idea that the MOP should be collectively owned by those that work it - State Capitalism is where the MOP is owned by the government and administered democratically - Many forms of socialist organisation are possible - Ultimately it means that workers are free from alienation and wage exploitation

Communism: - The final stage of Socialism - Requires post-scarcity and no competition for resources - All needs are met by society, and you give what you are able.