#history written by the winners

[hellyeahheroes]

Do We Need Black Leaders? by TheStoryteller

Also bonus video: Whitewashing 101: How to Rewrite Black History by second thought

-Admin

[andreai04]

Her heart of compressed ash, which had resisted the most telling blows of daily reality without strain, fell apart with the first waves of nostalgia. The need to feel sad was becoming a vice as the years eroded her. She became human in her solitude.

[currently-becoming-potatoes]

I’m shitting refrigerators rn I’m at a debate competition and a girl did an entire speech on the deep symbolism in the Trolls franchise and I’m convinced she is operating on a level far beyond what humans can comprehend

[alpaca-clouds]

History vs Centuries of Propaganda

Talking about humanities this week also brings me to the big, big issue that we have with history: Propaganda and the reliability of our sources.

Everyone has already heard the saying: "History is written by the winners." And yes, this is some part of it. While we now know how brutal the colonial genocides were, for a long time the only narrative was: "We got there, then there were savages, who savagely attacked us, so we had to fight back. It was the right and Christian thing to do." And mind you, that stuff got taught in universities at times until the 80s. Hell, a lot of the colonial propaganda about stuff like Thanksgiving still get taught in schools today.

It is however not just the fact, that history is "written by the winners", but simply also the fact, that in many cases history was not written at all. Most history in the world got recorded orally, and only very recently did historians realize that in fact oral history can be fairly informative and at times record far back information better than actually written records, that often get at least partially destroyed. There is currently a project going on that analyses Navajo oral history and looks into what of the information can be confirmed through the archeological record.

It is an issue in many regards. For example: We barely have any good primary sources for how the Norse lived. While they had a writing system, they did not write down a whole lot. Everything we know about the Norse mythology, we know from one Christian monk, who wrote stuff down. But we do not know how much of his writing is actually reliable. There are a lot of hints that Loki as a god either never existed, or if he exited was not the trickster we know him as, but a god of the heath fire. We do not know why our dear monk has written Loki into the form we know him as. Maybe it was to have a Satan-equivalent figure in the mythology. Maybe he was just feeling creative.

A big example of the propaganda is also our idea of the "dark middle ages". This idea how miserable everything was in the middle ages. I have seen so many claims of where this idea came from. But the answer is a lot more stupid than a lot of those claims: In the Rennaissance the people started to idealize the Ancient times and basically had those ideas of how aweome those were, and then went: "Not like thos stupid medieval people, who lived in their own shit!" And even after the Rennaissance this idea was kept up by the folks after. The Victorians were pretty big in terms of shitting onto the middle ages.

I put in a picture from LesMis in the header above, because the French Revolution is another example of a historical event that we have a lot of misinformation that goes back centuries on. Mostly because of the "History is written by the winners" thing, but also because a lot of people tend to overemphasize the guillontine executions and similar forms of violence, while barely talking about the violence that originated with the royalists.

There are a lot of examples like this from history.

In some stuff that is from younger history, we at least do have alternative sources that show us, that there is another perspective. But with a lot of stuff, there just are not any alternative sources, because the "other side" has either not written down anything, or those sources have been destroyed. The further back you go, the harder it is to find a counter source, because less people had ways to write stuff down - and time had a lot more possibilities to destroy those sources, too.

This is why archeology is so important. While it does not always bring forth written sources, it can bring up other stuff that can tell us something about what has actually happened at any time.

[deskgirl]

@stizzyglizzyoverdrive I want you to know when I find the time and energy to sit down and write, I’ve been meaning to write an epilogue where the end of OFMD season 2 is an entry in The General History of Pyrates volume I published by one “Captain Charles Johnson” who has “very reliable firsthand sources” and you realize it’s Lucius fabricating the deaths and disappearances of Izzy and Ed and Stede and anyone else looking to retire or start a new life. I’m saying this partially as a personal note to remember to actually write this later. (I gotta work out the details like if he’s in London or sending his manuscripts overseas and if Izzy’s end in the show is the “death of Izzy Hands, he’s definitely dead stop asking” or the “death of Blackbeard and also his first mate vanished and probably died in a gutter, they’re all definitely dead stop asking.”)

[moonzie-writes-stuff]

Alright guys let’s play a game. Describe an entire AU of yours in one sentence or less. I’ll go first.

“Unfortunately, Garmadon spent every bit of spine he had on making his brother get the katana he had lost.”

[readingloveswounds]

i AM trying to figure out if i should include some discussion of foxe's Actes (and uh....other protestant martyrologies. they exist. i just don't care) in the conclusion bc i did something similar w my other chapter.

i DO however need to find whichever reading i did that talked about the catholic antimartyrologies bc 1. hilarious, 2. relevant, and 3. pipped to the post again my friends.

[bagelbucket]

one thing that doesn't feel real is how schools make the Aztecs seem like they existed thousands of years ago like some ancient, pre-modern, underdeveloped civilization but NO. they were out and about 700-500 YEARS AGO. IN 1521. you know who else was out and about in the americas in the 1500s? EUROPEANS!!! this is wild.

[sarasa-cat]

The older I get the more historiography interests me. Not just as a subject but as a lived experience.

That experience of living through an event and then, a generation later, being gaslit by people significantly younger than me who claim to understand what happened and then blog extensively about it but through the lens of That One Book they read because they were either too young or not even the remotest possibility of a twinkle in their parents’ eyes when the event actually occurred.

So this is what aging is. Being gaslit by verbal young know-it-alls who read a book.

(Well, I guess it is better than being gaslit by someone who read a hot take on Twitter or some rando blog but… yeah, see my tags below. I just feel sad and tired every single time it happens. But then I think about how interesting historiography is. And just hold onto that instead, hoping that handle is attached to a rope and a crank that will pull me up out of the dark dank mire of flat, false retellings and the faint smell of gas.)

[hellyeahheroes]

How Capitalism Destroyed Russia, by Second Thought

[cryscal]

☝️☝️☝️

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

[moonzie-writes-stuff]

Oh heck it let’s just put all 6 chapters of History is Written by the winners in here

[heavenlyyshecomes]

"Publishers for Palestine is a global collective of publishers, and others who work in publishing around the world, who stand for justice, freedom of expression, and the power of the written word.

Join us for an international #ReadPalestine week, starting Wednesday, November 29, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. During this week, we encourage people around the world to read fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors, as well as nonfiction about Palestinian history, politics, arts, culture, and life, as well as books about organizing, resistance, and solidarity for a Free Palestine. 

To encourage the spread of #ReadPalestine, signatories of the Publishers for Palestine letter of solidarity have organized a Free Palestine Reading List. Participating publishers are offering one of their e-book titles for free download from November 29 to December 5; all titles are available through this website. There are currently more than thirty books on the list in nine languages, including a half-dozen award winners, with more coming in.

We also encourage readers to post on social media about their favorite Palestine books, to quote from their favorite authors, and to make learning more about Palestine an act of solidarity, using the hashtags #ReadPalestine, #LirelaPalestine, #اقرأ_فلسطين, and more. Participating indie bookstores and libraries are invited to join us by creating Read Palestine displays, social media posts, and other forms of creative solidarity."

[alicentsgf]

The thing about the "fire and blood calling rhaenyra fat was green propaganda" Sara Hess quote for me (apart from the obvious fatphobia) is it just totally underpins everything wrong with the series. Like just a total and absolute inability to understand the text and the world that is being adapted in such a way that when they try to critique misogyny and other biases in fire and blood with their adaption choices (as they should imo) it backfires and achieves some version of the complete opposite.

The misogyny in that section of fire and blood does not come from the greens making up that rhaenyra was fat when she was not lmao. It comes in the implication that rhaenyra, being fat (which she was), was jealous of alicent staying slim. Theres an implication that is made in mentioning it at all - a silent claim being made that its relevant. Now thats misogynistic - to assume rhaenyra disliked alicent in any way for that reason, when there was a multitude of far more complex, more obvious reasons for her dislike.

But now, by removing Rhaenyra being fat, you remove that layer from the text. You claim it was propaganda and you make it a factional thing. Team vs team. When really the way these women are remembered by history, though it is propaganda, is much more just propaganda against women ruling, not simply Rhaenyra ruling. I think hotd never fully grasped this. Yes, the greens won the war. and yes, history is written by the winners. but its also written by men.

[thekimspoblog]

Reminder that there are STILL lots of women wrongfully incarcerated for acting in self-defense. #Abolish the "immediate apprehension" clause

Before getting into some wild debate about whether trans women belong in womens prisons, we must ask ourselves: DO ANY WOMEN BELONG IN PRISON? Do any men for that matter?

Conservatives want to go back to a world where women are chattel. We must stop playing defense. No freedom of speech: the men promoting this regression must be silenced without mercy. Step on the patriarchy's throat.

[peppertoastuniverse]

pep reads: gojo satoru – long fics (pt.1)

Part 2

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

☆ the way you love me by @peachsayshi [AO3/tumblr] [status: ongoing ◦ 29/? chapters] [smut!] [fwb!gojo] #pep's first fic she was OBSESSED with #real good good smut WITH FEELINGS

“We can stop anytime. If either one of us feels like... this ...might be too much. We stop, no questions .” “We can stop anytime,” Gojo repeated “... and nothing changes between us .” You swallowed hard at his last statement. You may not be able to read his eyes but you could hear it in his voice that he needed reassurance. “No matter what happens, we’ll still be friends...” you replied softly, “now kiss me before I change my mind.”

☆ you and me by tomodachi [AO3: ] [status: completed ◦ 5/5 chapters] [tear jerker] [eventual smut!] #pep cried #gojo just kinda loves you real hard

“Prisoners say the most comical things when their judgment comes,” you tilt your head, lifting a finger before him, “Who are you?"

--- History is written by the winners, Satoru knew this well. It was only when he lost and got sealed inside the Prison Realm he learned how to be weak and find out a long buried truth.

☆ ito by peekamatcha [AO3] [status: ongoing ◦ 48/? chapters] [super slow burn] [shinto elements] #pep DIES with every update #the TWIST in that one chapter omg

You, a former sorcerer now working as a university lecturer, were hoping to maintain your distance with the sorcerer world for an eternity to come. However, with the reappearance of an upperclassmen from a decade ago, you are forced to go on a journey which you would rather sit out of. But somebody must save humanity from the impending apocalypse and apparently the job falls on the shoulders of you two.

It would have been alright had he not been everything you didn’t want to be reminded of. And the sacrifices to be made may be more than what had been bargained for. ☆moonlight by @septembersummer [AO3/tumblr:] [status: completed ◦ 10/10 chapters] [smut!] #pep loves this AU #pep SCREAMED

Gojo Satoru is dying. And no, it's not his fault this time.

The curse which is withering Satoru into an early grave is actually the product of his great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, who had a couple of sons that refused to procreate. And what does a proud, powerful man do when his sons refuse to fuck, and there won't be another heir to the clan?

He curses his own bloodline, of course.

It's only natural that he forces them through some twisted form of sorcery to become uncontrollably, violently attracted to the person they're most genetically compatible with.

It's even better that the curse creates a permanent, unbreakable bond between the two unwilling lovers. That's right, it usually takes more than one fuck to make a baby-- so, why not force them to have twelve?

Satoru wished his ancestor would be resurrected from the grave, just so that he could kill him again. That is, before Satoru inevitably dies.

He's had a good run, he thinks. Now, all he has to do is make sure you don't find out that you can fuck him back to life and try to very stupidly save him from himself.

(here's a spoiler: you do).

☆ a typical family by @literalia [AO3/tumblr] [status: completed? ◦ 32/32 chapters] [non liner narrative] [dad!gojo] #pep absolutely MELTED #slice of life #pep's gojo comfort fic

"satoru. where did you get these kids?"

or

after a six month absence, satoru shows up at your door two little kids following behind. chaos ensues.

☆ and if i cant see by hollowdonut [AO3: ] [status: unknown ◦ 26/? chapters] [slowburn] [eventual smut!] [tw: ptsd] #pep loves the reader's dynamics with gojo!

They say eyes are the window to the soul, but Gojo’s eyes are almost always hidden behind a blindfold. Even when they aren’t, you can never tell what he’s thinking.

You wonder if you should’ve taken that teaching job in Kyoto instead.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

bonus!

☆ all hail the empress! by @chuluoyi [tumblr/AO3: ] [status: unknown ◦ 1/? chapters] [smut!] #pep loves this AU #but THE END THO? OMGGG you are an empress perfect in every way... until your husband suddenly casts you aside for his expecting mistress. but you won't be dethroned just like that, because the newly coronated western emperor, gojo satoru, sets his sights on you, and thus your revenge against your ex-husband begins...