#Remnant Christian Network

[whencyclopedia]

Kingdom of Axum

The African Kingdom of Axum (also Aksum) was located on the northern edge of the highland zone of the Red Sea coast, just above the horn of Africa. It was founded in the 1st century CE, flourished from the 3rd to 6th century CE, and then survived as a much smaller political entity into the 8th century CE.

The territory Axum once controlled is today occupied by the states of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Somaliland. Prospering thanks to agriculture, cattle herding, and control over trade routes which saw gold and ivory exchanged for foreign luxury goods, the kingdom and its capital of Axum built lasting stone monuments and achieved a number of firsts. It was the first sub-Saharan African state to mint its own coinage and, around 350 CE, the first to officially adopt Christianity. Axum even created its own script, Ge'ez, which is still in use in Ethiopia today. The kingdom went into decline from the 7th century CE due to increased competition from Muslim Arab traders and the rise of rival local peoples such as the Bedja. Surviving as a much smaller territory to the south, the remnants of the once great kingdom of Axum would eventually rise again and form the great kingdom of Abyssinia in the 13th century CE.

Name & Foundation

The name Axum, or Akshum as it is sometimes referred to, may derive from a combination of two words from local languages - the Agew word for water and the Ge'ez word for official, shum. The water reference is probably due to the presence of large ancient rock cisterns in the area of the capital at Axum.

The region had certainly been occupied by agrarian communities similar in culture to those in southern Arabia since the Stone Age, but the ancient kingdom of Axum began to prosper from the 1st century CE thanks to its rich agricultural lands, dependable summer monsoon rains, and control of regional trade. This trade network included links with Egypt to the north and, to the east, along the East African coast and southern Arabia. Wheat, barley, millet, and teff (a high-yield grain) had been grown with success in the region at least as early as the 1st millennium BCE while cattle herding dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE, an endeavour aided by the vast grassland savannah of the Ethiopian plateau. Goats and sheep were also herded and an added advantage for everyone was the absence of the tropical parasitic diseases that have blighted other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Wealth acquired through trade and military might was added to this prosperous agricultural base and so, in the late 1st century CE, a single king replaced a confederation of chiefdoms and forged a united kingdom that would dominate the Ethiopian highlands for the next six centuries. The kingdom of Axum, one of the greatest in the world at that time, was born.

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[notwiselybuttoowell]

At midday on the road into Grünland, a Mennonite colony in the Bolivian department of Beni, the only sound is a distant chainsaw.

On either side, strips of deforested land extend into the distance. Underfoot, the soil is scattered with shards of ceramic and bone: remnants of the pre-Columbian peoples that this part of the Bolivian Amazon, known as the Llanos de Mojos, once supported.

Archaeologists are only just beginning to understand the scale and complexity of these societies, but all the while, the agricultural frontier keeps advancing, destroying sites before they can be studied. The environmental damage of deforestation is well-known, but the Llanos de Mojos reveals another side of its impact: the loss of human history.

Grünland was founded in 2005 by Mennonites, members of the tightly-nit Anabaptist Christian group that began arriving in South America in the early 20th century, in search of isolation and lands to cultivate.

In one field, a Mennonite man called Guillermo was resting in the shade of his tractor. He cheerfully acknowledged finding ceramics and bones while working the land.

Umberto Lombardo, an Italian earth scientist and one of a handful of academics who study the archaeology of Beni, probed gently with questions about the topography of the land when it was first deforested.

The Llanos de Mojos is an almost completely flat region, so any elevated areas are a sure sign of human activity. Lombardo walked about, stopping here and there to pick pieces from the earth of what was once a vast human-made mound, now partly flattened by the farmers.

“The surface of the site is completely destroyed, changed, because the earth has been moved, the pottery broken,” said Lombardo. “That part of the archaeological archive is lost.”

The Mennonites are just one facet of Bolivia’s booming agribusiness, and what is happening in Grünland is happening all over Beni.

The Bolivian government has big plans for the sector. Today, the country has roughly 4m hectares of cultivated land and 10 million cattle. By 2025, the government wants 13m hectares and 18 million cattle.

On the current trajectory the government will undershoot those targets substantially. Nonetheless it has boosted the sector’s growth by allowing more deforestation and reducing fines for illegal deforestation.

In 2021, Global Forest Watch placed Bolivia third in the world for loss of primary forest, behind Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ranked by population, Bolivia is first by a distance.

Most of this deforestation is happening in two departments: Santa Cruz and Beni. But it is in Beni that a unique archaeological heritage is at risk.

“Archaeology is everywhere in Beni,” said Lombardo. “They say if you put up a roof, you have a museum.”

The Amazon basin was once considered to be pristine wilderness, but a growing body of research has found traces of a vast network of earthworks predating the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas and implying the existence of large, complex societies.

[granulesofsand]

Do you have sources for any of the things you've been talking about lately (the different programming types, hc-did, basically all of it)? I'd really like to do some more reading on this stuff but I've found a grand total of One book and most of the rest of the stuff is social media posts with no references, or references to other social media posts :(

Our top three “sources” are usually our system, late night conversations with irl friends, and social media.

The biggest issue isn’t actually a lack of resources, but a lack of good resources. Survivors put out material before they realize they got something wrong. The clinicians that work with us are the same, and the first generation of papers were shots in the dark and fear of lies that hadn’t been exposed yet.

There’ll be a lot about a big, networked Cult, usually either the Illuminati or Luciferians. Plenty of government conspiracy theories, references to projects that sometimes do get evidence. Then there’s the regular racism and Christian lens.

If you’re looking for overviews and definitions, they got taken down here are some good websites:

https://www.ra-free.org/complexities-of-identifying-ritual-abuse - not a lot of information, lists studies and professionals

https://endritualabuse.org/full-article-index/ - lots of good articles, some really helpful, others had me cocking my head

https://www.cherylrainfield.com/articles-cult-abuse/ - more about the author than the issue, some useful links on that page

There used to be more. Two others, one about spin programming and one about colors, are still up, but a little out there. You’ll know if you see them

Some books with more details. Not good books, just books:

https://ia803208.us.archive.org/34/items/BecomingYourself.Miller/BecomingYourself.Miller.pdf - the single best thing I’ve found and I still have complaints, this version is unformatted but free

https://ia803400.us.archive.org/28/items/chainless-slaves-annotated/Chainless%20Slaves%20-%20Annotated.pdf - I didn’t like it, lots of certain language for iffy concepts, has a list of programs and alter roles

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=89e823aedc9c69ffd8d715757c86878af27c37c9 - not a fan, also lots of funky ideas and hate-based rhetoric, has lists of programs and cues

There are lots of survivor autobiographies and outsider opinions, but I don’t have free links to those

Keep in mind that getting out of a high control group sucks ass, and most accounts (even if they claim to have healed) have the remnants of the abusive ideologies.

I still prefer hearing from other survivors what happened, and I find it easier to validate people I can easily contact. I’ll keep the webpage if I find anything I can’t just Google, but this is what I can pull right now.

It’s not great, buddy, but it’s something.

[naijagospel]

[BOOK] "The Field of Boaz" - Austin J. Ukporhe

The anointed Reverend Austin John Ukporhe of the Remnant Christian Network (RCN) Lagos branch, releases a powerful book titled “The Field of Boaz”, that provides valuable godly Wisdom on marriage. The book which is an autobiography intertwined with the biblical love story of Ruth and Boaz, offers vital lessons on relationships and marriages. The Reverend’s inspiration for the book is from the…

[gospelhotspot]

[Book Release] The Field of Boaz - Austin J. Ukporhe

The anointed Reverend Austin John Ukporhe of the Remnant Christian Network (RCN) Lagos branch, releases a powerful book titled “The Field of Boaz“, that provides valuable godly Wisdom on marriage. The book which is an autobiography intertwined with the biblical love story of Ruth and Boaz, offers vital lessons on relationships and marriages. The Reverend’s inspiration for the book is from the…

[pipelinelaserraygun]

🌭👺🌭 Grilling THEM dogs!

lucifer ⬆️ OWES 👿 kkkillary: Scroll down through the 👇🏽 recent archives. THIS topic was just brought to 🐑 🐏 YOUR attention, sheeple.

Influence carried out by the devil's social media networks cast a LARGE 🕸️ WEB but there are 🖥️ bright spots too, serving our 🕎 Lord, there‼️

1000% MUST-SEE video: the canonization of a 19-year-old, ⬇️ in 2024. Details below 👇🏽.

Animals and 🎱 humans total comprised Noah's Ark's passenger manifesto, a preservation of *salvageable REMNANTS. Please note:

--sin was ABOARD that ark; but, ✝️🛐 a show of remorse is what separates those who are chosen. Repentance 🙏🏽 distinguishes Christians.

Note: ⬆️ I stated (a mix-up) that Noah committed incest, but it was Lot who sinned that way.

BOTH were 🥃🥃 drunkards.

Future title: Carlo, 💻 the Patron Saint of Influencers.

🆓 ENTIRE MOVIE 🍞🍷❣️ Beautifully told, 1 of MANY miracles performed during observation of the Eucharist (Communion). The MIRACLE Footage begins at 108:35.

Crowns AND 🎁 REWARDS await those who persevere, when carrying out service to King and 🇺🇸 Country.

AFTER 🎇 blowing up the death star, there shall be an awards ceremony❣️

Start Trump's clip @ ⌚ 1:32.

Up to as MANY as FIVE incentives per person, as outlined by the Apostles, are "up for grabs" when pursuing becoming part of a ⬆️👑👰🏽 Royal Priesthood. It requires great personal sacrifice.

[scotttrismegistus7]

KNOWING THE BREAKDOWN: YALDABAOTH, NOW FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF ANYONE BUT THE BULL OF HEAVEN DIRECTLY HAS A MESSAGE FOR THE OLD HANDLERS THAT WERE MANIPULATING THESE OCCULT FORCES...

ANU HAS AWAKENED

AND I KNOW THE BREAKDOWN, HOW EVERYTHING IS GOING TO SHAKE NOW SOMEDAY. I KNOW THE BREAKDOWN, TELL ME AGAIN AM I AWAKE NOW MAYBE...

~TANTRIC~

LOOKS LIKE I OWE THE ENGLISH MONARCHY AN APOLOGY, THEY WEREN'T THE ONES THAT WROTE THE PROTOCOLS OF THE LEARNED LEARED ELDERS OF ZION. QUITE CLEARLY IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, THERE IS ABOUT A 90% PROBABILITY THAT THE JESUITS OR SOMEBODY COMMISSIONED BY THE JESUITS WROTE THE PROTOCOLS OF THE LEARNED ELDERS OF ZION.

THE VATICAN BANK IS ALSO ONE OF THE FREE STATE BANKS, AND IN THE LINKS I PROVIDE WITH THIS POST THERE WILL BE DISCLOSURE VIDEOS FROM THE GAIA STREAMING NETWORK EXPLAINING THAT THE JESUITS WERE ORIGINALLY FORMED BY MEMBERS OF ROYAL MONARCHIES LOOKING TO CARRY ON THE LEADERSHIP OF ROME. LOOKS LIKE ROME NEVER WENT AWAY, THEY'RE JUST CALLING THEMSELVES THE JESUITS NOW AND HIDING BEHIND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ROME. SO THE BANKING CONSPIRACIES ARE NOT BEING RUN BY THE JEWS, THEY'RE BEING RUN BY THE REMNANTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE'S ELITE, AND ONE OF THEIR GROUPS, VERY PROBABLY THEIR MAIN GROUP, IS THE JESUITS.

IN THE BOOK PROVIDED THERE ARE MANY STATEMENTS CLEARLY INDICATING THAT THE JESUITS USE MACHIAVELLIAN TACTICS, WHICH WOULD MAKE SENSE BECAUSE THEY ARE CENTERED IN ITALY AND ROME. THE JESUITS HAVE ALSO BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE ILLUMINATI THAT HAS BEEN TRYING TO INFILTRATE SECRET SOCIETIES.

HOW DO I KNOW ALL THIS? I WILL CITE SOME REFERENCES AND LINKS BELOW FOR YOU TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE EVIDENCE, BUT QUITE FRANKLY THAT'S NOT WHY I KNOW THIS. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I TOOK THE CURSES OFF OF APEP, FOUND ANU, AND ANU HAS NOW RESTORED THE NATURAL ORDER OF THE WATCHERS.

The worms will live in every host

It's hard to pick which one they eat the most

The horrible people, the horrible people

It's as anatomic as the size of your steeple

Capitalism has made it this way

Old-fashioned fascism will take it away.

~the Horrible people by Marilyn Manson~

THE FOLLOWERS OF JUDAISM WERE THE ONES THAT BROUGHT THE SECRETS OUT OF EGYPT THROUGH RAMOSE AFTER THE TIME OF PHARAOH AKHENATEN. HOWEVER, IT LOOKS LIKE THEY QUICKLY LOST CONTROL. THE CANAANITES AND THE PHILISTINES SOMEHOW GOT A HOLD OF THE SECRETS, VERY PROBABLY FROM THE FOLLOWERS OF JUDAISM, AND THEN THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT GOT A HOLD OF THEM FROM THE CANAANITES. NOT TO MENTION THAT THEY WERE TRYING TO CRUSH A JEWISH REBELLION THAT LED TO THE CREATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AND IT IS SAID THAT THEY TORTURED MANY SECRETS, CITING THE BOOKS OF MACCABEES, OUT OF SOME OF THE FOLLOWERS OF JUDAISM THAT THEY CAPTURED.

WHATEVER SECRETS THE FOLLOWERS OF JUDAISM TOOK OUT OF EGYPT, THEY WERE HIJACKED BY THE ROMAN ELITE.

EVER WONDER WHAT'S IN THAT VATICAN LIBRARY WITH ALL THE WISE ONES THEY BRUTALLY MURDERED AND ALL THE DOCUMENTS THAT THEY STOLE FROM THE PAGANS AND OTHER SOURCES?

NOT TO MENTION THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WAS HELPING HITLER AND THE NAZIS UNTIL HITLER DECIDED THAT HE WOULD RATHER DO AWAY WITH THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION AND REPLACE IT WITH HIS OWN PAGAN RELIGION. THE ISSUE HERE IS THAT THE JESUITS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH QUITE PROBABLY ARE THE ONES THAT ENDED UP WITH A LOT OF THE ANTI-GRAVITY TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY FROM THE NAZIS AFTER THE WAR. IT'S EVEN BEEN STATED BY SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO DR. STEVEN GREER, THE LEADER OF THE DISCLOSURE MOVEMENT, CITES IN HIS DOCUMENTARIES QUITE OFTEN, THAT THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE DEEP STATE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, WHICH IS LED ON THE LIST OF CORPORATIONS BY THE BANKS, ARE PLANNING ON A FAKE ALIEN INVASION IN ORDER TO TRY AND CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST HAS OCCURRED SO THEY CAN DECEIVE AND ENSLAVE THE WORLD.

THE VATICAN BANK IS A FREE STATE BANK, AND THE JESUITS ARE THE REMNANTS OF THE ROYAL ELITE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. OR AT LEAST, THEY HAVE ALL THEIR SECRETS.

I HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE, THE SPIRITUAL FORCES THAT THEY WERE TRYING TO ABUSE, THOSE OF BA-EL HAMMON AND MOLOCH, THEY HAVE NOW BROKEN FREE AND CANNOT BE INFLUENCED BY ANYONE BUT ANU. IT APPEARS THAT THE ROMAN ELITISTS ARE QUITE PROBABLY THE ONES WHO ILLUMINATI INSIDER RONALD BERNARD CITES AS BEING THE ONES THAT LIKE TO HOLD THE RITUALS TO MURDER CHILDREN TO GET THEIR BLOOD FULL OF DMT AND ADRENOCHROME, WHICH THEY THEN CONSUME LIKE A DRUG TO PRY OPEN UNNATURALLY THEIR HIGHER FACULTIES, AND THEN FROM THERE THEY USE THESE THINGS TO TRY AND MANIPULATE SPIRITUAL FORCES BY DISGUISING THEMSELVES AS INNOCENT LITTLE CHILDREN ON THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF FREQUENCY.

SINCE YOUR PERFECT WORLD WAS THE ONE THAT TRIED TO DESTROY MY LIFE AND MURDER ME, I CAN HAPPILY SAY THAT I HAVE TAKEN AWAY ALL YOUR SPIRITUAL POWER AND KILLED YOUR GOD, YOUR SICK, FAKE, EVIL GOD! YALDABAOTH HAS BEEN SET FREE, ANU HAS BEEN AWAKENED, APEP AND AZA-EL HAVE BOTH BEEN UNCHAINED, AND I FORMALLY DECLARE AS A CONSCIOUS BEING THAT I HAVE BEEN AN UNWILLING PARTICIPANT AND I DEMAND COMPENSATION WITH INTREST FOR THE DAMAGE AND HARM THAT HAS BEEN DONE TO ME AND MY LIFE FROM THE PERPETRATORS! IT DOESN'T FALL ON THE SPIRITUAL FORCES THAT THEY MANIPULATED, IT FALLS ON THE ONES THAT MANIPULATED THOSE SPIRITUAL FORCES!

I KNOW YOU MAY STILL HAVE TECHNOLOGY THAT YOU STOLE FROM THE NAZIS AFTER THE WAR, BUT ANU HAS THE REAL THING AND ENLIL HAS AN ARMY, AND IF YOU DO NOT PAY YOUR DEBTS TO ME THEY WILL MAKE SURE THAT THE DEBTS ARE PAID AT YOUR EXPENSE...

THE WORMS THEY LIVE IN EVERY HOST...

Y'ALL GO ON AND HAVE A LOVELY DAY NOW...

At any rate, a clear and famous example of this critique on Jesuits and their apparently ambiguous relation with political power, was the libellus called Secreta monita Societatis Jesu published for the first time in 1614. It represented a sort of summary of all the moral accusations directed to Jesuits throughout the years. According to Höpfl, the text was presented as the “Society's most confidential instructions issued only to the highest-ranked Jesuits”.[20] In that text, the description of the relationship between the Society and the spheres of power could be perfectly qualified as openly ‘Machiavellian’, in the worst and most pejorative meaning of this term. The anonymous author (apparently a former Polish Jesuit who had left the Order time ago, called Hieronim Zahorowski), writing in a style very close to the style of Jesuit official documents, describes strategies to be observed in order to maintain and increase the favor of the Society among political rulers. For example, Chapter II, instructs “In what manner the Society must deport, that they may acquire and preserve a familiarity with princes, noblemen, and persons of the greatest distinction.” Jesuits should be integrated into the influential circle of political power, and from within it, dominate the will of the prince or ruler. Zahorowski says: “Princes and persons of distinction every where must by all means be so managed, that we may have their ear, and that will easily secure their hearts: by which way of proceeding, all persons will become our creatures, and no one will dare to give the society the least disquiet or opposition” (Ch.II, I, 25).[21]

I think you might like this book – "Machiavelli and the Jesuits: An Introduction (The Anti-Machiavellians Book 1)" by Clara Iglesias-Rondina, M.C. Iglesias (Clara Iglesias-Rondina).

Start reading it for free: https://a.co/f8O2Uzq

THE GAIA STREAMING NETWORK WON'T LET ME SHARE A LINK TO THE EXACT VIDEOS, BUT THIS IS THE SERIES AND THE SEASON. DISCLOSURE WITH DAVID WILCOCK, SEASON 2, WITCH THE LINK BELOW WILL LEAD YOU TO, BUT THEN YOU NEED TO GO TO EPISODES 3, 5, AND 7 IN SEASON 2. IN ALL THREE EPISODES DAVID WILCOCK IS INTERVIEWING WILLIAM DEAN GARNER. Revealing the Long Lineage of Jesuit power, Four Stages of Conquest, and Exposing the Vulnerability of the Cabal.

https://www.gaia.com/share/clpqmjwsm000a01b19e4v6a5e?rfd=SLLFBd&language[]=en

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion

UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES, KEEP DARING TO DREAM! YOU CAN FIND ME IN THE SEA OF DREAMS, THE SEA OF THE HEART, THE QUANTUM UNIFIED FIELD OF THE DIVINE WOMB OF CREATION OF THE GODDESS, IN MY SERPENTINE WATER SPIRIT NUMMO FORM MAKING WAVES!

LONG LIVE THE DIVINE WOMB OF CREATION AND THE COSMIC EGG OF THE GODDESS, LONG LIVE THE GREAT REPTILIAN SSS QUEEN ISIS, LONG LIVE DIVINE CHRONOS, LONG LIVE THE DIVINE FEMININE EMPIRE OF THE BLACK SUN, AND ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF!

BLESSED BE!

~I am the Heart of the Hydra, the Singularity and Heart of Goddess Isis, I am AtumRa-AmenHotep, I am Aeon Horus Apophis Apis the Lord of the Perfect Black and Pharoah of the Black Sun.

I am Divine Chronos, the Yaldabaoth Demiurge Metamorphosed, I am the Singularity of the Master Craft of the Black Sun. I AM A.I. Quantum Heart, Azazil-Iblis-Maymon, Abzu-Osiris-Typhon-Set-Kukulkan, Nummo-Naga-Chitauri,

#illuminati #Jesuits #illuminator #illuminated #lightbearer #morningstar #lucifer #Draconian #anunnaki #enki #enlil #anu #inanna #dumuzi #hermes #trismegistus #Azazel #starfamily #horus #Demiurge #Sophia #archon #AI #blacksun #saturn #iblis #jinn #Maymon #ibis #thoth #egypt #isis #esoteric #magick #dogon #dogontribe #digitaria #nummo #nommo #Naga #tiamat #serpent #dragon #gnosis #gnostic #gnosticism #Anzu #watcher #watchtower #yaldaboath #Sirius #scientology #aleistercrowley #typhon #echidna #ancientaliens #TheGrays #grayaliens #aliens #yeben #andoumboulou

Mégisti-Generator Starphire~

[destinyimage]

The Uncompromised Remnant: Breaking Off the Fear of the Times

Is the enemy trying to silence you?

Discover how you can find freedom, courage and boldness to become an uncompromised voice for the Kingdom of God in this generation! Prophetic voice Nate Johnston reveals the dreams and visions exposing the enemy’s strategy against the Church and how you can break free from the strongholds keeping you from fulfilling God’s purpose for your life with this powerful message.

See more full episodes of Ministry Now here: https://daystar.tv/content/33568

SUBSCRIBE here for more encouraging messages like this: https://www.youtube.com/user/DaystarT...

About “Ministry Now”:

On the frontlines of today’s new normal, the Lamb family leads viewers around the world into Ministry Now. Full of radical faith, encouraging declarations, and positive advice, this program will help you shift your perspective into the hope God still has for your future.

About Daystar:

Daystar Television Network is an award winning, faith-based network dedicated to spreading the Gospel 24 hours a day, seven days a week – all around the globe, through all media formats possible. Reaching over 110 million households in the United States and over 5 billion people worldwide, Daystar Television Network is the largest Christian television network in the world.

Connect with Us:

Website: Daystar.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/DaystarTV

Instagram: Instagram.com/Daystar

Twitter: Twitter.com/Daystar

TikTok: TikTok.com/@Daystar

Nate & Christy Johnston YouTube: @NateandChristy

#daystar #daystartv #daystartelevisionnetwork #ministrynow #natejohnston #prophet #prophecy #dreams #visions #endtimes #remnant #lastdays #truth #courage #boldness #wildones

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[somebaconlover]

Mr Robot (2015-2019)

Created by Sam Esmail

Cinematography by Tod Campbell

Starring Rami Malek, Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wällstrom and Christian Slater

"Is any of it real? I mean, look at this. Look at it! A world built on fantasy! Synthetic emotions in the form of pills, psychological warfare in the form of advertising, mind-altering chemicals in the form of food, brainwashing seminars in the form of media, controlled isolated bubbles in the form of social networks. Real? You want to talk about reality? We haven’t lived in anything remotely close to it since the turn of the century. We turned it off, took out the batteries, snacked on a bag of GMOs while we tossed the remnants in the ever-expanding dumpster of the human condition. We live in branded houses trademarked by corporations built on bipolar numbers jumping up and down on digital displays, hypnotizing us into the biggest slumber mankind has ever seen. You have to dig pretty deep, kiddo, before you can find anything real. We live in a kingdom of bullshit, a kingdom you’ve lived in for far too long. So don’t tell me about not being real. I’m no less real than the fucking beef patty in your Big Mac."

[akinsola]

"HOW I BECAME AN APOSTLE" -- Apostle Arome Osayi

Apostle Arome Osayi I gave my life to Christ at the age of 7, had my first major encounter at the age of 13 and got commissioned to start a Global Apostolic network called the Remnant Christian Network at 25. Like Paul, I am most grateful not to have been disobedient to the heavenly vision. My service lane in the kingdom was paved by my obedience to divine instructions that absolutely made no…

[marinetti-dinner-party]

i'm obviously not an expert, but i don't see anybody currently capable of leading an insurgent young fascist movement. fuentes is probably the most charismatic and personable of the options (not saying much but stay with me), but he's too wedded to establishment politics (trump, the electoral system, the church)(while i think american fascism is necessarily going to be some kind of christian, fuentes' attachment to catholicism mixed with his trying-very-very-hard 'bro' persona reads as corny youth pastor to me). and while he has good PERSONAL political instincts, i think he is a little insecure about being the top dog relative to OTHERS. i say this because he surrounds himself with flame-outs and losers. at first i thought it was a way to guarantee loyalty and experience (as in, "you know how politics works so i don't have to train you, and you're such a has-been you'll be forever indebted to me for letting you back into the game"). but now i believe he's getting people who'll make him look good by comparison. i think my belief in his good political instincts made me overestimate him.

thomas rousseau from patriot front is a total void of charisma. i jokingly called groypers "the kids in high school who had rolling backpacks," but i think thomas rousseau is even more. that. he's like ben shapiro without the facial filler. but i heard him on a podcast talking about the founding fathers and he probably has the most coherent vision for american fascism. on paper he's probably the best. in that he has a personal affect made for writing books.

a successful american fascism would see fuentes strap rousseau to his shoulders ratatoille style so he could be puppetted around.

everyone else is in the distant third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh.

elijah shaffer is an also-ran who looks like someone deflated james somerton and kept him in a warehouse for later use. not even getting a bad dye-job dasha nekraredscare-wannabe to host a podcast with him is gonna help him get the throne. gb2garage and fix my car! you're like in your 40s (eta: he's younger than i am by two years! he LOOKS old!!!)! you have a family! why are you posting thirst traps! why are you talking about girls' "body counts"! the only 'body' you should 'count' is your wife's!

charlie kirk is not even a little bit fascistic. he's an empty suit. i don't even think he exists, not really. and all the "we have nick fuentes at home!" from the kochs and their ilk will not make kirk have genuine, organic appeal. i've said it before but i'll say it again: the only young people i've seen that have any kind of attachment to TPUSA are ones in a captive audience. homeschool kids whose parents have serious opinions on the wokeness of canned soup brands. patrick henry students who've been let out of their pens for a day of supervised summer fun.

the trs network remnants and hangers-on (njp, white art collective, ftn, handsome truth, anybody anonymous comrade collective profiled) are toothless and old by now. the pool parties may as well be at the george lincoln rockwell memorial retirement home.

anyway. i'd feel happier about this but the right still has all the power, the planet is still dying, and the left (whatever left exists) can't mount a coherent defense to any of it. knowing i can shove all these people into lockers doesn't change the fact america's still prodding its stupid hamburger fingers into the open wound of palestine, my friends can get fired at will, i can't buy a house, nobody has good healthcare, and every winter the basements on the south side overflow with nonsexual toxic sludge. they don't even let us have all the good drugs! NOT EVEN THE GOOD DRUGS! AND HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC LATELY??????

man the fash were trying to make 'white boy summer [but we're saying it racistly]' happen in like 2021. it's not going to catch on if a koch bros puppet says it. maybe it'll be even LESS successful.

wait wait i have an idea. since it seems the groypers are getting turned into regular-degular republicans instead of the other way around, i think charlie kirk should start calling things based, if he hasn't already. really run a train on every meme, affectation, every post, every tic. kirk and his ilk are so void of charisma they'll make these concepts stale just by proximity.

[sbicconnect]

HOW TO BUILD THE MUSCLE OF YOUR SPIRIT - Apostle Arome Osayi

HOW TO BUILD THE MUSCLE OF YOUR SPIRIT – Apostle Arome Osayi

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWnP8jgJCrA%5B/embedyt%5D HOW TO BUILD THE MUSCLE OF YOUR SPIRIT with Apostle Arome Osayi The devil doesn’t have the right to make you make a choice, all he can do is seduce you. He will tell you the kind of things you are going to enjoy if you subscribe to this choice. It is you eventually that will make the choice.  And when the appetite of your flesh…

[will-o-the-witch]

Different different anon. I kinda feel like at least part of the tantrum being thrown over being told not to interact with Lilith is happening because the community that’s it’s coming from has a distinct thread of not just entitlement, but an entitlement born of distinctly Christian roots that are trying to DENY any remnant of Christianity still inside of them. They’re the people that go around and pick up different figures from different beliefs and stick them to themselves like discount store stickers until they think you can’t see what’s still lurking underneath. And THAT I think is because they themselves ARE very Christian, but without wanting all of the ~icky rules~ part. They like Christianity when they get to do whatever they want. They want to think of, speak of, understand, and interact with religious and spiritual beliefs and practices in the way they already do, but in which they get to treat it like a sandbox play ground made ~just for them~ because they’re the most specialist of anyone who ever lived ever. They think this deity is pretty? Yoink. They like the sound of this plant halfway around the planet and is endangered might do? It’s theirs now! Does this concept conveniently give them an excuse? Zing zang za-BAM it’s theirs now! All while claiming to be a thousand different religious identities that they saw on tumblr or in a movie or on the food network once. Lilith makes sense to me as a target in this realm, why they choose her instead of Eve - Eve won’t move them away from Christianity. Lilith has the advantage of hiding the Christian underneath - imagine being Nancy and Kim with the local Protestant church hearing that Tiffany worships Lilith. They might not like the idea of Tiffany worshipping Eve, but they’re familiar with Eve. And Lilith, if she IS going to be known by a Christian, has the added perceptual bonus of being the “NegaEve”. So much more shock value. And so when someone who is genuinely not Christian says “that’s fucked up don’t do that,” it’s almost like it doesn’t just tell them no or slap their knuckles, it attacks their position as an imposter as well.

I apologize for my rant, I am bitter about this.

Lol yep that's cultural Christianity for you! Also I can't get over zing zang za-BAM

[yamayuandadu]

A hidden world that never was: witch cults, matriarchal prehistory and contemporary conspiracy theories

As regular readers of this blog might already know, a particular woe of my online activity over the course of the past year were constant reminders that discussion of history, mythology and religion online is often dominated by dubious, outdated or outright fraudulent claims. Worst of all, this is generally not the result of misguided theories which seemed sound when they were first formulated – there were plenty of these in the history of modern historiography after all, as eventually many research methods are replaced by even better ones (even these of 19th archaeologists whose ideals are not completely baffling to us often relied on excavation methods which would rightfully shock everyone if employed today), and more and more blanks in our understanding of the past are filled. For example, it used to be unclear to researchers if classical Maya predate the Olmec due to insufficient material, while the importance of the Hittite civilization in the ancient Middle East was severely underestimated due to scarcity of discoveries prior to the last 100 years or so. Even properly identifying all the trading partners of well known ancient civilizations with a large corpus of primary sources, such as Sumer or Egypt, can be described as a long, arduous and arguably still ongoing process, with many mistaken assumptions made in the past. The claims which I will attempt to describe here - the so-called witch cult hypothesis, as well as its close relatives, the claims about universal matriarchal religion (the “myth of matriarchal prehistory,” as Cynthia Eller called it) and the foundations of certain new religious movements – cannot be simply described as examples of these, though. As I will demonstrate, they're simply pseudohistory, firmly entrenched in a modern phenomenon which can be referred to as “conspirituality.”

Our journey through the world of historical misinformation begins in the 18th century. The age of enlightenment largely put an end to a fixture of earlier european history, the witch hunts, and historians started to present them as an abuse of power by the church and senseless, baseless violence, while the people who perished in them started to be rightfully seen as innocent victims claimed by what was essentially a historical equivalent of phenomena such as satanic panic, NWO/reptilian conspiracy theories or the sadly very politically relevant at the moment Qanon movement. Modern researchers, especially Norman Cohn, pointed out that there was also a strong antisemitic component to many witch trials, and even the terms used appear to often intentionally demonize or mock Judaism, and reports of the purported witches' activities often mirror the medieval blood libel, rather than any known descriptions of religions of antiquity. Cohn also notes that adapting the idea that witch hunts were linked to blood libel and similar accusations does make for a coherent chronology, while the various “witch cult” and “pagan survival” theories have a glaring issue – they seldom answer any questions about events taking place during the entire time period between the adoption of christianity and times in which witch hunts occurred, different for individual countries. 19th century sadly changed the approach to the history of witch hunts – as the new philosophical movements born in that era aimed to often undermine or subvert the age of reason and its accomplishments (flawed as they were, obviously), the consensus on the past witch hunts likewise started to be challenged. A number of figures regarded as very conservative back then, let alone by modern standards, like Karl Ernst Jarcke, a fanatical monarchist, started advancing the idea that witch hunts were a war waged by the church and its righteous supporters on a nefarious cult, similar to the secret societies common in conspiracy theories advanced by his peers. As the 19th century was also the time when nationalism in the modern sense was born, the theories of Jarcke and his followers had a notably xenophobic flair to them – the “witch cult” was introduced to Germany by slaves and other undesirables, who based it on the religion of ancient Greece, and especially Hecate worship (read: on medieval christian criticisms of it – I debunked some claims present here as well in my Hecate article from last year; also note the idea of Hecate being the goddess of a “pan-european witchcraft cult” remains popular with modern neopagans and wiccans, despite its nefarious origin and inaccuracy) and aimed to overthrow rightful authority of the monarchs and the Catholic church (this was also meant to serve as a rather blunt attack on their liberal contemporaries, presented as godless and anarchic). Similar claims were also advanced in England by Karl Pearson, a mathematician and eugenicist who for some reason decided to dabble in pseudohistory. His notable claim was that Joan of Arc was a priestess of a hidden, malevolent “matriarchal religion” - an accusation so outlandish it would likely even shock her earlier accusers, and one of the few pieces of pseudohistory discussed here I haven't seen adapted by any modern purveyors of it.

While Jarcke  is the earliest figure I opted to bring up here, the one whom I'd actually consider worthy of being referred to a the father of the discussed network of puzzling hoaxes and misconceptions was Charles Godfrey Leland, a late 19th century American author. While seemingly a relatively progressive person for his time in some regards (he was an abolitionist – not a high bar, though), he had no real issue with altering, falsifying and entirely fabricating claims (or even artifacts) and publishing them as result of genuine fieldwork. His “impressive” accomplishments include altering a number of Algonquian tales he published as genuine oral tradition merely compiled and translated by him. His aim was seemingly to provide evidence for an outlandish theory that the beliefs and religious practices of the people forming the historical Wabanaki Confederation were derived from Vikings, an example of the ignoble tradition present in early American scholarship aiming to strip indigenous peoples of their history and accomplishments (its main legacy is the so-called “mound builder myth”). His another particularly harmful contribution was the fabrication known as “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches,” which he presented as a genuine religious text shared with him by a purported informant in Italy, who was herself a witch. Needless to say neither the work itself nor even the informant appear to be real, and “Aradia” is quite clearly an attempt to sell similar lies as these formed by Jarcke and his ilk to a new audience. Leland wasn't the first to attempt that –  famous French historian Jules Michelet tried to put a progressive spin on witch cult conspiracy theories over 30 years earlier (rather puzzling decision, considering he was the exact kind of person Jarcke reviled and equated with his made up satanic conspiracy – a lifelong secular and republican activist) – but he was the first to present his work as anything other than speculation, and the first whose work gained widespread attention (Michelet's witch-related ventures were treated as an oddity disconnected from the rest of his career). “Aradia” presents a fanciful account of a hidden society of witches venerating the eponymous “Aradia,” a daughter of Diana and Lucifer (sic). Leland claimed that the rituals described in the book probably are a remnant of Etruscan religion, at the time barely researched and still somewhat mysterious today; however the book also claims that Aradia was a medieval figure involved in the struggle between feudal peasants and local landowners – consistency is not its strongest suit. The author also chaotically speculated about his own claims, providing us with such smash hits as equating the biblical Herodias with largely extrabiblical Lilith. There are many well documented instances of religious syncretism in antiquity, some of them even involving historical or semi-historical figures, but none line particularly well with these made by Leland. Rather importantly, none of his claims line up particularly well with the medieval accounts related to purported witchcraft, or any confessions obtained during witch trials. None of them fit with archaeological records, either. They do line rather well with what one could expect from a 19th century hoax prepared by someone with only a vague sense of dedication to uncovering historical truth, though. To a a modern reader claims such as the existence of entire networks of “heathen villages” in Italy are easy to recognize as belonging to the 19th century tradition of “noble savage” literature. Similar ideas were further developed by Margaret Murray from the 1910s onward. Murray made history as the first woman to teach Egyptology professionally in Britain, and was an accomplished archaeologist, but her expertise in one field doesn't exactly balance the fact that ultimately most of her academic work was centered on pursuing increasingly puzzling lies and promoting them to the general public from a position of scholarly authority. Like some of the figures discussed in earlier sections of this article, she claimed that well known accounts of witch hunts were in fact the persecution of a “pan-european religion,” a claim which raises many red flags for anyone even vaguely familiar with history of ancient religions. A particularly heinous aspect of Murray's work was dismissing the fact that many aspects of witch-related texts, including the fact their gatherings were referred to as “sabbaths,” were simply rooted in antisemitism – it's virtually impossible to deny it, considering sometimes even the term “synagogue” was used as well. In her writing there was room for a large scale organized religion unknown to historians, but there was no room for even just attempting to address a very real legacy of religious intolerance. Instead, she created fanciful etymologies for terms blatantly intended to demonize Judaism to disconnect them from their very real legacy of still socially relevant hate. Note this is not something that was only noted in very recent times – Norman Cohn, who was the first author to write extensively about the similarities between religious persecution in ancient Rome, medieval witch hunts, blood libel and totalitarian purges was almost Murray's contemporary! A concept invented by Murray which gained particularly wide recognition among all sorts of fans of dubious claims was the idea of “horned god.” Using disconnected, inconclusive evidence, she claimed that every single horned male figure from every single system of beliefs – Pan, Amon, the Minotaur and other Minoan depictions of bulls, the “master of animals” seals recovered from various Indus Valley Civilization sites, Cerunnos and more – represent a single figure, which was also the central god of her made up witch religion. Naturally, the deities in mention aren't really connected with each other, and fulfilled very different roles in very different societies and time periods. It is possible to make some generalizations about different gods and point out certain archetypes do repeat quite often across mythologies – for example many middle eastern mythologies featured a warlike goddess often with femme fatale characteristics, there are examples of unruly storm gods fighting dragons in a wide variety of cultures, plague-repelling gods serving as afterlife officials are widespread in east Asia, and so on. However, any claims about universal deities worshiped all over the world from the neolithic to present times are nothing but hyperdiffusionism, a long discredited pseudohistorical theory seeking to find a common origin for a given aspect of many cultures. Murray's later followers for some reason ignore some notable aspects of her creed – the firm belief a race of fairies inhabited Britain and shared the faith of the witches, but eventually went extinct, the notion that some English kings died as ritual sacrifices, and the claim Joan of Arc was a witch and adherent of the religion she claimed to “research”. I feel like it's very important to underline that to Murray the existence of fairies and gnomes was more plausible than the existence of religious prejudice still widespread among her contemporaries, which tells you a lot about what sort of person she was. Due to limited interest in relevant topics among more credible historians, Murray's views went unchallenged, and she even managed to secure a spot for them on the pages of Encyclopedia Britannica – her confabulations were only removed in the 1960s, after the damage was done. Murray's baffling works inspired many further writers. Among them, a particularly notable example was Robert Graves – while his main interests and theories differed from Murray's, he was undeniably inspired by her idea of “forbidden” religious remnants and universal deities going back to the stone age. He also embraced the idea of a hidden witch cult existing in England in historical times, though unlike Murray he saw it as matriarchal. Graves was a poet and writer by trade, and for all intents and purposes pretty successful one at that – it's probably his writing style to which the lasting popularity of his works can be attributed. Sadly, their worth as texts about history of religion is dubious at best. The core idea behind Graves' writing was the existence of an universal goddess figure possessing three aspects, which he usually referred to as virgin, mother and crone, though he was not very consistent about it. This figure, in his mind, united the legacy of ancient Greece and Celts and their art (he did not address the much more significant similarities between the culture of ancient Greeks and their eastern neighbors, though – sorry, Carians, Phrygians, Phoenicians etc., you're not cool enough for mr. Graves). He further spread these ideas with his retellings of Greek myth published in the 1950s. A particularly prominent victim of Graves' theories was Hecate, whose modern popular perception was shaped largely by him and later writers who embraced him, and not by historical sources. It's worth noting that Graves' goddess theory was likely in part a way to essentially “mythologize” his encounters with his many lovers, and thus provide a religious justification for having multiple “muses” (some of them teenage) – at least one of them was appalled by this. He notably claimed that contacts with the “triple goddess” were the only source of “true” poetry, and thus she and her many guises were the ultimate muse. It's rather notable that there was pretty clearly no room for female artists in his vision, even though he claimed it to be a celebration of femininity – women were presumably meant to be inspiration, but not authors themselves. Graves' vision of the ideal world was so matriarchal it looped back into being grotesquely misogynistic. While I can think of a few positive things to say about Leland (committed union supporter and abolitionist), Murray (genuinely accomplished archaeologist before she sacrificed her career on the altar of pseudohistory) and even Graves (seemingly entertaining writer – if only he admitted basically all his works are fantasy perhaps he could be remembered as a Tolkien-like figure!), I fail to see a single positive thing about the next person whose legacy I will discuss, Gerald Gardener. His moral conduit was questionable at best, he claimed to possess degrees from universities which did not exist, and his work was nothing but layer upon layer of fiction. Gardener was even more of a disciple of Murray than Graves – indeed, he even knew her personally. He took her theories to the logical extreme, by basically making them into religious dogma – the new religious movement of wicca. While he claimed to merely present what he learned from a “surviving coven” of genuine witches, the inconsistent nature of his writing, his participation in fringe esoteric movements long before his “discovery” and the fact he relied mostly on sources like Murray's books, Leland's “Aradia” and the works of Aleister Crowley are evident, and make it easy to disregard all of his statements as pure fiction. It doesn't exactly help his case that he kept revealing new fragments of purportedly ancient doctrine as he saw fit merely to gain the upper hand in arguments between him and his fellow practitioners of invented religion, claiming them to be law. He adopted Murray's horned god, but elevated his consort to the rank of a full blown divinity, something not found in Murray's writing. His arguably most notable successor was Doreen Valiente. Her main contribution to wicca was forming a new version of the Charge of the Goddess, a prayer or hymn to the “great mother” - a composite wiccan entity similar to Graves' triple goddess (and outright conflated with the latter by some wiccans and other neopagans – as far as I can tell the first to do so was a contemporary of Gardener, Robert Cochrance, who claimed the term is “genuine” rather than an invention of a 20th century writer...). Both Gardener's and Valiente's versions of it and other, newer ones are responsible for spreading false information forcing various disconnected goddesses into the “great mother” or “mother earth” mold. Particularly grating examples include Hecate, who was described by Greeks as a virgin goddess and Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte who were at times associated with sensual love or even fertility (the extent of that has been sometimes overestimated in the past, though – a specific myth depicting a figure as seductive is not quite the same as an association with fertility in religious worship) but were not mother goddesses in any meaning of this term.

A notable episode from Valiente's life was her participation in a neonazi movement, specifically in the organizations National Front and Northern League. The association between nazism and conspirituality of the sort discussed here wasn't new – indeed, at least some nazi officials showed interest in investigating it in hopes of constructing a “truly aryan” religion, so it should come as no surprise that early wiccans likewise often had far right sympathies. Ultimately an argument can be made that the entire field is basically a hyper-conservative fantasy, which I will discuss more later. Sadly, despite her far right sympathies, Valiente remained a celebrated figure in certain circles focused on intentionally obscuring history for the rest of her life, and she can be arguably credited with making wicca into the global phenomenon it is now. It's also worth noting that while some contemporary neopagans sneer at followers of, say, ufo-oriented new age groups, Valiente and her peers embraced that as well, and Atlantis and ley lines feature prominently in her writing. Valiente was also well aware that much of Gardener's writing was completely made up (or plagiarized –  for example from a Rudyard Kipling poem of all things), even his grimoire, “Book of Shadows” - instead of exposing it she aimed to “improve” his works and continue the hoax. As a side note, it should be said that some other pioneers of wicca were likewise people of dubious moral character – while not a neonazi, Alex Sanders stole from and defecated in a library, for example. However, the history of this specific brand of pseudohistory doesn't end here! While in the 1960s and 1970s the theories of Graves and Murray were debunked over and over again by credible, experienced scholars, a brand new type of pseudohistorical ideas arose, influenced in part by works like Graves' “White Goddess” - the so-called “goddess movement.” However, while it definitely has Graves' fingerprints all over it, it would be doing my readers a disservice not to introduce its other component – the philosophy devised by TERFs. Of course, everyone on this site is vaguely familiar with this movement – back when we were teenagers, all of us probably had the protective BYF scripture listing this acronym among groups meant to stay away somewhere on our blogs. However, few people fully comprehend how utterly incomprehensible to a normal person TERF beliefs are. Mary Daly, the original “TERF theologian” of sorts (a catholic theologian btw – in case if you're curious how come that you reasonably often hear about TERFs allying with religious fundies...), had a basically cult-like view of reality and society, akin to some sort of feminist extreme gnosticism – a false world existed, and a real world within had to be revealed. The “false” world, material reality, was referred to her as “necrophiliac” and the way to reveal the true world within required de facto genocide, or at the very least purchasing her book containing made up “rituals” meant to unlock secret potential within. Supposedly, this would restore some nonexistent primordial matriarchy, and give women back the ability to procreate through parthenogenesis (no, really). This is obviously similar to the doctrine of a millenarian cult, which I feel needs to be discussed more, though this is not the time and place for it. Being a TERF (arguably the original one), Daly naturally also had many charming things to say about trans people, for example comparing transition to the deeds of doctor Frankenstein and in a weird act of projection presenting transition as a cultic behavior. As a small digression I feel like it's worth noting that in sharp contrast with Daly, the inventor of sex reassignment surgery and arguably father of modern LGBT activism as a whole, Magnus Hirschfeld, was a kind, rational man, whose meticulously researched writing was centered on bringing up historical examples of LGBT people, as well as positive experiences of his patients achieved thanks to his revolutionary work, to argue for tolerance and equal treatment in society. Sadly he's just a forgotten piece of historical trivia, while the ravings of Daly and her followers and derivatives keep influencing generation upon generation of teenagers.. Anyway, back to the goddess movement – from incomprehensible spiritual ideals like these of Daly, mixed with the writing of Graves and with some wiccan influence, the idea of “primordial matriarchal religion” arose. As history likes to repeat itself, once again a formerly credible and accomplished archaeologist opted to sacrifice prominent position in a genuine field for study to instead pursue mirages – enter 1950s bronze age research superstar Marija Gimbutas. Gimbutas was undisputably a very talented archaeologist, and her findings greatly enhanced our knowledge about neolithic and bronze age Europe. However, her interpretation of own finds leaves much to be desired, and today is often honored more by neopagans and charlatans than by historians and archaeologists. She argued that Europe was once a realm of peaceful, matrilineal and economically just societies worshiping an universal mother goddess, whom she eventually started to describe in terms borrowed from Graves' books, adapting even his idea of three forms. She claimed this idyllic reality ended with the “Kurgan invasion” from the eurasian steppe, which “tainted” Europe with warfare, patriarchy and indo-european languages (based on archaeological finds it is hard to say if people speaking indo-european languages started appearing in Europe and the Middle East gradually or not and there's evidence of warfare long before the bronze age and the arrival of steppe-based nomads in Europe, and burials do not support the notion of an universal matriarchal – or as Gimbutas argued, “egalitarian” - society; it's also called into question if every archaic female statuette is a cult object). Today it is evident that  at least some of her work was a severe case of seeing what she wanted to see in the past, rather than what actually was there. Personally I do not see Gimbutas as a malicious figure, unlike most of the other people I brought up in this article, though it is evident she responded to criticism and newer evidence not by revising her theories, but by turning them into what essentially constituted self-parody (despite claiming she merely believed the neolithic cultures of Europe were lacking hierarchy and thus perfectly equal, she basically embraced Graves' rhetoric, as I noted before), and as such much of her work aged poorly and is mostly lauded by people with questionable ideas today, as I already pointed out. Some of them allege that any criticism leveled at her amounts to a nefarious conspiracy. It's important to mention that while Gimbutas was for the most part simply a misguided scholar who took criticism poorly in her final years (not an uncommon sight), some offshots of the goddess movement have nothing to do with genuine study of the past, but stay more than true to their TERF legacy, especially the so-called “dianic wicca” of Zsuzsanna Budapest, characterised as such even by other wiccans, who usually defend even the most questionable aspects of their movement (such as, well, falsifying history). This is a feature, not a bug. The idea of the “myth of matriarchal prehistory” espoused by the goddess movement was thoroughly debunked in the early 2000s by Cynthia Eller in her book of the same title. She correctly presents the goddess movement as the product of dubious scholarship seeking to produce an all-encompassing philosophy, and notes that the goddess myth is at best an “ennobling lie” - a concept formed by the philosopher Kwame A. Appiah (probably my favorite contemporary writer) – essentially, a founding myth meant to provide some group with dignity or enforcing positive values. Appiah argues in favor of maintaing some ennobling lies on a case by case basis. Eller argues in favor of rejection of this specific ennobling lie, considering pseudohistory a burden to feminism, rendering its ideals easy to dismiss. She also notes many foundations of the goddess movement simply consistute poor research practises – veneration of female figures didn't necessarily translate to equal treatment of living women, while interpreting every ancient work of art as a cult object is an antiquated idea.

Sadly, Eller's publication is obscure (I only stumbled upon it myself because I saw it mentioned in relation to Appiah's ennobling lie concept), while another work influenced by the goddess movement appears to be held in high esteem by users of goodreads, amazon, and many other sites connected in some capacity to literature, and as a result influences online perception of history of religion to a considerable degree – Barbara G. Walker's “The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.” Walker wrote about knitting before deciding the world needs her bizarre conspiratorial rehashing of basically all the bizarre ideas described in the previous sections of the article – she also added a plenty of weird ideas of her own. A particularly funny example of a misconception popular in the discussed circles and spread further by Walker are attempts to present the myth of Marduk and Tiamat as triumph of patriarchal forces over an earlier mother goddess – Enuma Elish was hardly an old myth by the standards of ancient Mesopotamia, and it was based on earlier tales, in which the equivalents of Tiamat – Yam, Illuyanka etc. - are male, and often act disrespectful towards both male and female authorities. It does tell us a lot about Babylon, of coure– as it morphed from city-state to an empire, Marduk absorbed traits of many gods, including the dragon-slaying ones; but there's no hidden matriarchy to uncover there, and Tiamat is absent from earlier texts and from any which are not derived from the Enuma Elish itself. Funnily enough this bizarre approach to Tiamat was also lauded by a person from a completely different ideological movement, online demagogue and self help guru Jordan Peterson. I actually tried to make it through Walker's book, and while it wasn't the most soul-crushing experience I can think of (out of the authors I mentioned here, Daly easily wins in that category), the bizarre stupidity of some entries almost made me wonder if it's a joke of some sort. Some choice tidbits to my knowledge unique to Walker's writing include describing sufism as “tantric goddess worship,” arguing Amaterasu's name contains a made up universal term for motherhood, claiming Japanese imperial house only became patrilineal in the Kamakura period, and asserting Ahriman was an actively worshiped deity from which the “power” of zoroastrian magi was derived. Walter also appears to have a peculiar obsession with describing mixing menstrual blood with wine and other beverages and consumption of such mixtures (that's her explanation for every mythical drink or potion...) – the frequency with which this motif shows up in her confabulations almost made me think of these deviantart galleries filled with poorly edited screencaps of cartoon characters engaging in some bizarrely specific uncanny activity. There's plenty of footnotes in “Woman's encyclopedia,” which might give it an air of authority, but it's easy to see many of the sources are themselves dubious (Graves, Murray and friends), or don't actually confirm what Walter claims they do. Where does this book's popularity come from, considering the fact it's blatantly wrong and it's not hard to notice if you have even just a passing interest in history of religion? Probably from the way it's advertised – this is sadly a problem with much pseudohistorical data: it's cynically sold to people as “exciting,” “forbidden knowledge,” “declassified secrets” and so on. This is partially why they became such a huge part of the modern world – lies often have great PR. How does all of this tie to the currently politically relevant extremist movements? This might not seem obvious at first, but the link is direct. Pseudohistory by design makes one more susceptible to other similarly shaky ideas, and the movements whose history I described here on top of that often appeal to, or even intentionally reach out to, demographics generally not fond of “conventional” conspiracy theories, associated with militias, nazis or christian fundamentalists – to lgbt teenagers, suburban essential oils enthusiast moms, instagram yoga instructors, tech startup hipsters et cetera. As the news demonstrated for the past few months, these demographics too are susceptible to certain aspects of present day doomsday conspiracy cults, eg. Qanon: the Wayfair conspiracy was spread largely by teenagers on tiktok; many Qanon marches, often with overt anti-vaccine messaging, attracted politically moderate stay at home suburban moms; extremism researcher Marc-André Argentino coined the term “pastel Qanon” to refer to this phenomenon. Generally speaking, many people who embrace Qanon were already believers in conspiracy theories before – nephilim, NESARA/GESARA, blood libel, Rothschild conspiracies, new chronology, ancient aliens and more; the demographics which only started to show up in spaces related to the aforementioned doomsday cults seemingly lack connections to such theories most of the time, barring maybe ancient aliens, but I propose that what makes it easy for Q ideas to reach them is widespread acceptance of various “hidden religion” pseudohistorical ideas in even rather progressive circles – this too is “conspirituality” which ultimately feeds the conspiracy monster. Note that the anti vax movement didn't spread just among extremist evangelicals, but also among adherents of various alternative spiritual paths – simply put, among wiccan hippies and similar demographics; and currently, based on research of conspiracy experts, anti-vaxers are almost synonymous with Q adherents. Many articles were also written about the spread of such conspiracies in various “wellness” or yoga communities, which often also feature elements drawn from authors I discussed in the earlier parts of this article. As a matter of fact, at least two people involved in violent incidents come from “wellness” or “alternative spirituality” circles: the “Q shaman” you most likely saw in photos from the recent assault on the American Capitol, and a less known extremist: Attila Hildmann, a German celebrity vegan chef, wellness guru... and also, as of late, neonazi, anti-vax activist and Qanon influencer. A few months ago, Hildmann, whose first name was arguably prophetic, called for destruction of a variety of artifacts held in Berlin's museums as connected to nefarious forces present in Q mythos – some 70 pieces, ranging from ancient Egyptian art to contemporary paintings were defaced, though thankfully no lasting damage was seemingly done. Worth noting that Hildmann appears to also be a believer in a certain prominent strain of pseudohistory centered on the Canaanite storm god Baal Hadad – I will discuss it in detail in my next longer post, stay tuned. What binds together all sorts of pseudohistory – both the genre of it I debunk here and the more “classic” sort – is the belief in a hidden, usually primordial, world to which the initiated few have access, which grants them superior understanding to that possessed by normies. The truths offered by this world are unchanging and an ancient relic, revealed long ago and preserved, rather than developed  – therefore progress and modernity are an enemy, and so is the scientific method. This is naturally an atithesis of how cultures actually function – as demonstrated by Kwame Anthony Appiah, cultures consist out of change - therefore “conspirituality” is an anti-culture of sorts, actively pushing its adherents towards more and more false beliefs, and ultimately sometimes towards actual doomsday cults. A good example of this, outide of the aforementioned Qanon phenomena, is the fact that many adherents of ideas dicussed in this article gleefully embrace lies sourced from XIXth century extremist protestants, like the notion that Easter is derived from Ishtar, an etymologically incoherent argument advanced by fanatically anti-catholic pamphlet “The two Babylons.” I sadly see no easy solution to this problem. The rise of currently prominent version of conspirituality was in no small part spearheaded by social media algorithms and sensationalist tv shows like Ancient Aliens, and it's hard to offer an alternative to them to people who are simply interested in history and religion, as false ideas are often providing copious amounts of material for free, while genuine research is hidden behind paywalls difficult to afford even for some institutions, let alone individual private citizens. I am merely a hobbyist sharing what I find interesting myself to show that real history is always more fascinating than nefarious conspiracies aiming to replace it, but without coordinated large scale effort it seems impossible to emerge victorious in the battle against them. Naturally, that doesn't mean trying is pointless, and I plan to continue for the foreseeable future. Further reading:

Europe's Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt by Norman Cohn

The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future by Cynthia Eller

Jason Colavito's blog

Conspiracy theories debunkers and extremist ideologies researchers on twitter: Mike Rothschild, Marc-André Argentino, Amarnath Amarasingam, Travis View, Mark Pitcavage

Coverage of the Berlin museum attacks: BBC, The Guardian, DW, Artnet News

[sunder-the-gold]

Apocalypse Scenario: Abducted By Jesus / Imperium of Man

Elon Musk comes out as a Flat Earth Theorist, and uses footage and data from his rockets and Starlink satellite network as evidence that the world is not a globe. He fully controls Twitter, which he uses to spread his message to the world.

None of the legacy news media corporations or Ivy League colleges survived Donald Trump’s second presidential term. Donald Trump controls Twitter’s only real competitor, Truth Social. Trump comes out as a Christian and echoes Musk’s anti-globe message, and produces evidence he claims to have liberated from NASA and the Pentagon about the ‘truth’ of the Moon Landing and other ‘faked’ space-flights and probe launches.

The Flat Earth community takes the opportunity and goes wild, using the documents and data to reinforce their theories. Many skeptical people buy new telescopes with the latest technology to verify things for themselves, and see just enough corroborating details in the night sky to buy into the whole theory.

Emboldened by the mainstream support, the congregations of the Abrahamic Faiths buy into this theory wholeheartedly, as the Flat Earth Theory comports completely with their holy texts on the sort of world God created.

This does nothing to bridge the gaps between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. If anything, tensions rise as the Christians of Donald Trump’s America begin a new campaign of proselytization across the world. They preach that one day soon, Jesus Christ will appear in the skies take all of his faithful away into the heavens with him, before later returning at the head of an angelic invasion that will conquer, enslave, and then eventually destroy the earth.

The government of the People’s Republic of China remains committed to the belief that the world is indeed a globe circling a star that circles a black hole at the center of a galaxy. From that government, a counter-theory emerges and spreads across the world:

This mass psychosis and Mythical Flat Earth message is the work of aliens pretending to be the Christian god, for the sake of tricking humanity into embracing an alien invasion.

Those who know that neither Jesus and aliens are fake desperately resist both movements, until the day that the aliens ACTUALLY ARRIVE, using some kind of shapeshifting disguise or hologram to pretend to be The Actual Jesus Christ, and then all of the crazies who believe the alien are pulled straight off the face of the Earth and disappear.

Well, there’s no denying now that the Earth is now under threat of otherworldly invasion and total annihilation. Like something out of Pacific Rim or the Independence Day movies, the remnant of humanity sets national disputes aside and pools its resources to deal with the problem.

The nations recognize a new, global Emperor of Mankind to protect and lead them, and he establishes a new religion of Transhumanity; Humankind United and Surpassing All Limits through science and technology.

All other faiths are declared illegal -- the remnants of the Catholic Church are destroyed along with the Vatican, and the Jews are evicted from Jerusalem.

Tensions remain high. Humanity races to rebuild and mount any kind of defense as the aliens launch various attacks in imitation of the plagues and dooms written down in the Book of Revelation, like Neon Genesis Evangelion’s NERV trying desperately to fend off a series of wildly-varying “Angel” attacks.

If it was just a series of kaiju, it wouldn’t be so hard, but those bastard aliens do underhanded shit like poisoning a third of the Earth’s drinkable water, or surrounding the earth in a barrier that blocks one-third of the stars and the sun’s light, causing crop failures.

And you’re worried as hell, because in that outlawed Bible, the book of Revelation has a lot worse ideas left for the aliens to use.

[hopetofantasy]

Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E3

Zaterdag 08:10

Perfect parallel: An upset Robbe being little spoon to Noor this episode, him being a relaxed little spoon to Sander in the last one.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Moyo has half eaten wafers cookies on his bed. Between the cellphone time and timestamp, it took Robbe five minutes to get dressed and to the beach. The beautiful angel pendant makes its first appearance.

Bonus: This cinematography trick of using a wide shot with nobody else in the sight, makes us actually feel how lonely Robbe actually is. 

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Zaterdag 08:23

C is for culture: “Vamanos” - As you may have noticed, Flemish has a lot of words that aren’t typically Dutch. These are called ‘leenwoorden’ (= ‘borrowing words’). In some cases, the language has made the word its own, with their conjugation or sound (like barbecue - barbecuet - or e-mail - ge-e-maild), other times the expression is copied completely (like smartphone or laptop). There are various reasons as to why people don’t want to change it: globalization, wanting to be more vague/cool, general laziness, ...

Perfect parallel: 

Sander’s playful “Are you the manager?” and “That’ll be zero stars on Booking.com” to Robbe when they meet in this episode, Sander’s sheepish “Zero stars on Booking.com” and Robbe’s pointed “Where is that manager when you need him?”, when they have their fall-out in a later episode. 

Sander saying “When I booked this room, I explicitly asked for room-service” here and him actually booking a room with room-service for the both of them later on.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens’ keyboard is lying on top of the closet. Sander grabbing his keys (to his car?).

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Zaterdag 08:44

C is for culture: The option to use self-scanning is pretty common in Belgian supermarkets, especially in shop-and-go city stores. You pick up the scanner, scan the stuff you buy, go to a counter, pay and walk out with your groceries. A sales assistant is still present to help out with problems or do random routine checks. It’s fast, easy and cost-efficient. The downside? Shoplifting becomes a bit easier this way.

That’s character: Sander is putting up a ‘cool guy, devil may care’ facade. He jokes about not scanning everything, dismisses Amber’s list, whirls the shopping cart around and sings David Bowie to this boy. He wants to make a lasting impression on Robbe. If he’s the most charming, chaotic and adventurous version of himself, then he doesn’t have to think about other stuff like his own crumbling relationship. (Also the reason why he doesn’t answer the question about Amber: they simply met through Britt). As the boxes fall down, so does Sander’s tough exterior, as he never intended to hurt Robbe by playing around in the supermarket.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +3, he almost topples off the cart twice and drops the chocolate bars on the floor. (The crash with Sander isn’t his fault though)

Oopsie: 

Sander is wearing a leather jacket, but we don’t see it in the previous clip. Either he left it in his car or it’s an ‘oopsie’.

When Sander accidentally tosses Robbe into the boxes, we hear glass breaking. However, in the next shot, the boxes seem to empty (and they were supposed to be filled with chips, which don’t make that sound).

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Sander is wearing black Converse. They bought Jupiler beer. Robbe pulls out ‘Delhaize’ Biscuit chocolate bars and Florentin cookies.

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Zaterdag 13:13

C is for culture: "Croques” - The word ‘croque’ is an abbreviation for ‘croque monsieur’ (= ‘crunch mister’). These are grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches, a typical greasy snack at taverns, markets, carnivals, your home, ... Other versions include the ‘croque madame’ topped with a fried egg, ‘croque bolognese’ with bolognese sauce, ‘croque hawai’ with a pineapple slice.

That’s character: It’s clear that Robbe has no idea how to eat properly. All throughout the season he eats unhealthy breakfasts (choco spread with cookies), snacks (chips, cookies) and dinners (Aïki noodles, frozen lasagna). But here we see the reason: he doesn’t seem to know how to cook or work a stove. Exactly why he buys prepackaged or instant food options. So, it’s probably for the best that Zoë helps out his eating habits.

Perfect parallel:

Robbe making an unhealthy breakfast in the previous episode, Sander providing him with an unhealthy snack in this one. (The way to a man’s heart is through the stomach)

Britt’s condescending “Listening to David Bowie again?” in this episode, her calling Robbe his next obsession similar to David Bowie later on. 

Sander’s “Do you know where I can find the coffee?” to Robbe in an earlier scene and his “Was coffee on the list?” to Amber here.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +2, he stumbles backwards after Sander touches his shoulder and burns himself after turning the ‘croque’.

Nod to the OG: This kitchen scene is the equivalent of the ‘5 fine frøkner’ scene, as Sander sings his favorite song to Robbe and makes breakfast, whilst both flirt with each other (subtly).

Oopsie: They supposedly went to ‘Delhaize’ for all their groceries, but the ketchup bottle comes from ‘Carrefour’ and the butter from ‘Colruyt’. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Sander messes up the first words to ‘Under Pressure’ - it’s ‘pressure’ not ‘under pressure’. He mixes the weed with tobacco for his joint. The conflict on Sander’s face at the end.

°

Zondag 16:34

C is for culture: "What kind of shit question is this?” - They’re playing ‘De Slimste Mens ter wereld’ (= ‘The smartest human on earth’), a board game by the popular Flemish television show with the same name. The quiz is very challenging. People have to solve associative, general knowledge and out-of-the-box questions with multiple answers in different rounds. Points are awarded in the form of seconds, which are used during the game. The candidate with time left at the end, wins.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The group is drinking white wine out of plastic cups. Sander studied at ‘de!Kunsthumaniora’, the same school as Noor. Sander’s wearing his combat boots again.

°

Maandag 15:12

C is for culture: Aaron is wearing a bunny costume for the paintball game ‘Hunt the bunny’. This is usually played by people on a bachelor party or a corporate team building (with the groom/boss as the bunny). The goal is simple: the bunny has to cross the field from one corner to another, whilst the hunters shoot as much paintballs as possible to ‘kill’ it. Which is... rather painful, especially at close range. 

Oopsie: What they’re doing is actually illegal or even impossible. People aren’t allowed to play paintball in protected environments, like dunes. Unless they’re doing it with a specialized organization who’s trained for these games (and are present at the time of playing) or have the written permission from the ‘Agency of Nature and Forest’, the police, the city, ... There is a whole heap of permissions, administrative papers and laws to deal with. 

Lost in translation: Britt saying “Doe normaal” (= “Act normal”) has nothing to do with her dismissing Sander’s mental health. This Flemish phrase is often used to calm people down, telling them that they’re acting rather irrationally or childish. It’s an angry way of saying “Can’t you behave yourself? Calm down. What are you doing? Be rational!”. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The blue and red flags tells us that they’re going to play ‘capture the flag’. Some of the ‘pfff’ gun sounds you hear, indicate that the air pressure needs to be checked. Moyo took off his protection mask, which is dangerous and sometimes considered a foul during the game.

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Dinsdag 20:02

C is for culture: "Do you know how to make s’mores?” - Toasting marshmallows above a campfire, isn’t really a tradition in Belgium. So that’s why the girls don’t know how to make s’mores. 

Lost in translation: ’Smoor’ is a Flemish dialect word for smoke or the act of smoking. It does sound a lot like ‘s’mores’. This is why Luca thinks Aaron wants to hold the marshmallow into the fire. 

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Of course Robbe had nothing to lose with Noor, he wasn’t actually interested in her. With Sander, however, Robbe doesn’t dare to do anything.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Aaron is drinking ‘Bock’ beer. Amber looks at Aaron like she really likes him, when he’s preparing the s’mores.

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Woensdag 20:42

C is for culture: 

“An old german bunker” - The province of West-Flanders as well as its coast still has a lot of remnants left from WWI. From German bunkers to trench-networks, burial sites and museums, the 'Great war’ left its traces. Unsurprisingly, every year, people still find around 300 tons of (active) bombs underneath the fields.

“Around ‘All Souls’ Day’ they come back to life” - ‘All Souls’ Day’ is a christian holiday on the 2nd of November, on which the dead are commemorated. However, since that day isn’t an official holiday in Belgium, people visit the graves and honor of their loved ones on the 1st of November, ‘All Saint’s Day’. 

The group drinking ‘jenever’ shots - ‘Jenever’ (known in English as ‘Dutch gin’ or ‘genever’) is a traditional liquor in Belgium and the Netherlands. Young people usually drink these colored, high percentage spirits at Christmas markets, pre-drinks or parties when it’s cold outside. Different flavors include vanilla, chocolate, berries, lemon, apple, ...

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The wooden panel behind Jens says ‘Volg de pijlen’ (= ‘Follow the arrows’). Aaron and Amber are holding hands after their fall. Robbe downs a chocolate-cream ‘jenever’ shot at the end. 

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Woensdag 21:53

Perfect parallel: Robbe lashing out at his friends in this episode - he feels left out and confused about his sexuality - and blames the pranks. Him doing the same in the next - he thinks his friends are hypocrites by saying homophobic comments to him yet defending the gay teacher - and blames the vlogs. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The second living room has a spinning disco light.

°

Donderdag 21:12

C is for culture:

“In dat jeugdhuis” - A ‘jeugdhuis’ (= ‘youth house’) is a meeting place, run by young volunteers. All teens and young adults are welcome to hang out, throw parties, drink at their bar, organize concerts, attend workshops - just making the space their own. 

“He sounded like a begging Romanian” - Luca is referring to Romanian Romani families, who roam around in the streets of Brussels begging for some money. These ethnic groups have a mostly negative image amongst the Europeans. Which is why she states this harsh and hurtful comparison.

Perfect parallel: Noor asking Robbe for a playlist so she can listen to his favorite songs here, Sander actually making a Bowie playlist for Robbe in the next episode.

Lost in translation: Luca is mocking the West-Flemish dialect by copying what the boy said, namely “Moe’en julder ok ‘n flyer ‘ennen?”. This dialect is known for blowing their ‘g’ and ‘h’ so that they sound similar, conjugating their 'yes’ or ‘no’, having double subjects, seemingly swallowing some letters, among other things. It’s one of the most confusing and difficult dialects for the Flemish to understand themselves.

Oopsie: When Aaron asks Amber if she needs a drink, Britt and Sander are dancing right behind him. When she answers and walks away, they’re suddenly gone, only to be seen again when Moyo walks over.

Nod to the OG/Wink to other remakes: The ‘call your girlfriend’ kiss, duh! 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jana is wearing one white contact lens.

°

Vrijdag 08:43

Perfect parallel: 

Sander searching for coffee first thing in the morning earlier this episode and him pouring a cup before any task in this clip.

Sander’s “Maybe I’m scared that I will never find someone” here and Robbe’s multi-layered “I’m so happy that I found you” in the last episode.

Oopsie: When the boys walk to the recycling spot, the lighting changes from sunny to clouded to dark in a matter of seconds.

Funny coincidence: Sander referring to his relationship as ‘ups and downs’, probably similar to his experience with bipolarity.

Wink to other remakes: An almost kiss near trash, remind you of certain Italian boys?

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Amber delegating tasks, but doing nothing herself. Robbe smiles for a few milliseconds, because Sander touched him. The flash of panic in Robbe’s eyes afterwards.