#this is what they don't tell you about reading “theory” and “history” and “philosophy”

[metamatar]

sometimes im reading like, really depressing books about the contours of the rot in this country and i wonder if i could just stop caring about hindutva, find it less interesting in that macabre way you are curious about how you will deal with the death of someone you love, not feel the quiet anger-guilt-responsibility in the background humming, to give yourself the relief of indulging in fantasy and to never remember you made that choice.

[cosmerelists]

Cosmere Characters as Teachers

As requested by @little-cute-pink-horrible-being :)

If Cosmere characters were teachers, what would they teach & what would it be like?

1. Jasnah: History teacher

Let's just say that she has, uh, high expectations of her students.

Jasnah: Anyone can memorize facts and dates. Jasnah: You all will do that, of course, but you will also learn to draw conclusions from those facts, track historical trends, and maybe, if you work hard, you can come up with a theory of your very own. Bravest student: Uh, miss? We are seven. Jasnah: I do not tolerate excuses.

2. Hammond: Philosophy Professor

He has a hardcore group of students who are huge fans of his.

Student 1: Hey, you're in Professor Hammond's class? Student 2: Yeah. Student 1: Isn't he the guy who wrote that book So What if the Poor are Genetically Destined to be Poor? Revolution is Still the Answer? Student 2: That's him. Student 1: And that's why your an anarchist now, huh? Student 2: Listen, he's pretty persuasive.

3. Elend: Political Science Professor

Elend, a Political Science professor at a university, is the sort of teacher who assigns a LOT of reading.

Elend: Remember: politics is for people. Even when the people you serve suck. A lot. Student: You...sound like you're talking from experience? Elend: You have no idea.

4. Shallan: Art Professor

She mainly teaches drawing and painting classes.

Shallan: You all need to decide what your art means to you. Shallan: Whether it be capturing a moment or representing a person's essence or seeing into realms not normally discernable to human eyes--as long as it's art from your soul, it will be right. Student: What, uh, was that last part? Shallan: Art should be from your soul? Student: N-No, the part before that? Shallan: Anyway, everyone start drawing!

5. Painter: Also an Art Professor

I mean, it's literally his name.

Painter: The key to art is repetition. Painter: When a Nightmare is staring down at you, you don't want to be hesitating over what to draw! Student: Professor Nikaro, please, we've been drawing bamboo for a week! Painter: ...I'm not sure what the issue is?

6. Sigzil: Science teacher

Sigzil is one of those general science teachers you get in middle school.

Sigzil: Remember: the key to science is...? Students, as a chorus: Writing things down! Sigzil: That's right! Sigzil: Now let's see what's the heaviest thing we can stick to the wall using glue--last year we managed to stick me to the wall for a couple seconds! Students: [cheering] Sigzil: ...I'm better at this than I would have expected.

7. Wayne: Theater Teacher

Wayne teaches theatre at a high school.

Wayne: Acting is all about not acting. Wayne: You gotta just be the person. Wayne: Understand their past, embody their present... Student: ...wear their hat? Wayne: Exactly!

8. Kaladin: Also a Theatre Teacher

Look me in the eyes and tell me that Kaladin doesn't understand drama.

Kaladin: [talking to an school administrator off to the side while the class watches] And you can tell the school board that the next time they want to cut funding to the arts, I will be there. Kaladin: I will be there at every meeting where even a word of funding reduction is breathed. Kaladin: I will haunt those meetings, carrying pictures of my kids doing their plays and being happy. Kaladin: And I will make them look me in the eyes if they dare to vote to take that away! New student, hesitantly: Performance art? Student: Nah, he always talks that way.

9. Sarene: English teacher

If only because I don't think they have dedicated fencing professors at most places.

Sarene: English is not simply about reading books--it is about learning to think and interpret information. Sarene: You can take the skills you learn in this class and apply them very widely: to understand the news, to read between the lines of what a person says to you, to craft effective rhetoric to get your own way. Sarene: Read everything. Sarene: Remember: you cannot defeat an enemy unless you understand your enemy. Student: ...enemy? Sarene: Don't worry: you'll have enemies when you're older. Student: Yay?

10. Navani: Engineering

Navani would be an engineering professor at a college.

Navani: Your job, students, is to get this ball through that window high up on the wall. You can do it any way you want. Student: I'm immediately seeing: trebuchet. Navani [nodding sagely]: Go with your heart.

11. Pattern: Math teacher

...Listen, I'm not saying he's a good math teacher.

Student: [staring gloomily at their test] Friend: That bad, huh? Student: Mr. Pattern wrote "Mmmm delicious lies" all over it! Friend: So...you failed? Student: Yeah...

12. Raboniel: Chemistry Teacher

She may seem strict, but she actually quite likes kids.

Raboniel: ...And that, students, is how you build a very effective chemical bomb. Students: ... Raboniel: Any questions? Bravest student: Uh, miss? We are seven. Raboniel: So...basically adults, right? Wait, how fast do humans age again? Teacher's aide: [whispering frantically] Raboniel: ...I may have made an error.

[transmutationisms]

along w ur plato post uve also mentioned disliking marxist syllabi that make you go chronologically just to understand one author (ie greek philo - hegel - marx)

i was planning to go down this route this yr to combine both my long overdue dive into theory and philosophy, and i actually found this to be less overwhelming than immediately diving into say, continental philosophy or critical theory. i wonder then what other route you'd suggest for philosophy? (since for marxist theory youve pretty much alr answered it in a past ask)

are greek philosophers still "useful" to read for beginners or is it much better off to start with contemporaries? is this a case of "we've actually been doing the math curriculum wrong this entire time" or is it just personal preference. help

depends what you're trying to accomplish, but if someone's in my inbox asking how to get started reading theory or philosophy then i think it's a) unhelpful, and b) needlessly deferent to received ideas of 'canonicity', to perpetuate the notion that there's a single correct order in which to read, and it begins with the same 20 ancient greeks writing about geometrical forms and elemental tetravalence. like, it's worth remembering what's missing from a typical global north university's philosophy syllabus: perhaps most obviously, reams of islamicate scholarship and centuries of dialogue between 'western' and 'eastern' writers often suppressed in favour of a 'dark ages' narrative that just sort of jumps up to the 'renaissance'... and there are so many other, egregious, historically unjustifiable lacunae like this.

it's noble enough to want to know where an idea comes from or what its genealogical lineage is, but to try to discover this by reading through a list drawn up by classicists or philosophy departments is dangerously optimistic about the politicking that shapes and perpetuates such lists. even just reading the works that an author is openly citing or arguing with is lacking: what about, say, hegel, whose idea of freedom and enslavement developed partially in response to reading newspaper coverage of the haitian revolution? he didn't exactly announce that in the text! to read the phenomenology of spirit as merely the next intellectual step after kant is deeply distorted; for that matter, kant's own intellectual influences came not only from a supposed philosophical canon but also from the scientific and anthropological discourses underpinning his biological theory of race and defence of racism.

my issue with the "read chronologically" approach isn't that it's bad to follow a topic over a process of historical change. it's that these received lists of 'canonical' thinkers are artefacts of their own social and historical contexts, and are both produced to certain ideological ends, & then appealed to later in order to enforce and even naturalise those ideologies. if what we want is the context to understand what hegel or marx or adorno were really talking about, we need to engage with the texts as historical documents and with the histories as products of imperfect, biased, and ideologically laden human labour.

i'm not here to tell you not to read whatever you were planning to read. for one thing, sometimes the intellectual influence named in the syllabus is a useful one (there are certain questions about marx and marxian ideas that are easier to understand and answer if you have read at least a little bit of hegel). but, in the context of the overwhelming gatekeeping of knowledge, and the hegemonic use of ideas about canonicity and the 'right' way to read 'classics', if someone asks what they need to do in order to read xyz, i'm pretty much never going to default to "start by reading plato". read things that are interesting to you, however old they are; read about their authors; make liberal use of online resources like the SEP if you need a crash-course on certain concepts or jargon. you certainly don't need to be afraid of reading one text to better understand another. i just don't think you need to be beholden to that mode of reading, either, especially not in a context where the common wisdom on whose work belongs in such a genealogy is predicated on centuries of colonial and imperial scholarship and disseminated by institutions structurally positioned to defend the idea of an enlightened and ennobling western intellectual tradition.

in a certain twisted way, these 'standard' (to whom?) or 'traditional' (since when?) reading lists are often presented as the shortcut to the 'correct' understanding of landmark texts or authors—only, this is a 'shortcut' that considers ideas as disembodied from their real contexts, relating only to one another in an intellectual realm and developing in more or less linear fashion often to some teleological end; and, by dint of the sheer amount of material involved, it's also a 'shortcut' that many people will never actually traverse. i don't have an inherent problem with reading chronologically. i just don't automatically defer to these kinds of syllabi, and i think dethroning them could do us all a lot of good.

[asterdeer]

hi!! ramble to me about moby dick for the ask meme! i read it once but i don’t think i properly appreciated it….. maybe you can lead me to the light 🐋

!!!!!!! thank you for letting me use my degree a little bit as well as ramble about things, bless

okay. so. i don't like moby dick so much as i am haunted by moby dick and its ridiculous over-verbosity which, somehow, grows a compelling story over top it like bread grows mold. i'm obsessed with the structure of moby dick - the actual story is pretty short, pretty thin, at least compared to the page count. i never did the math but i assume the Digressions take up half or more of the book, or at least that's how it feels even if that's not true, which should be infuriating and terrible and annoying and actually is all that to a lot of people, for good reason. (i get it, i started to read les mis and got so incensed when he straight up started the book with 'hey what i'm about to tell you actually has nothing to do with the story that proceeds it' that i gave it up on page 1, digressions aren't for everyone and every author).

but there's this completely off-page story going on in the framing of moby dick, there's this unpictured picture of ishmael himself trying to put what he has been through into words -- trying to express the depths of what he has experienced, the good men he's seen killed for nothing more than one man's megalomania, the senseless waste and destruction over what, practically speaking, stripped of ahab's forced significance, amounts to a dumb beast in the water -- and it's not enough. there's not enough story. there's not enough words. a whaling voyage is, a huge percentage of the time, pretty dull. florence + the machine says that "it's hard to write about being happy because.... / happiness is an extremely uneventful subject" and that's what this voyage was to ishmael -- maybe not happiness, exactly, but he was at home with queequeg and the other whalers. he was depressed and searching for anything that might steady him, might give him a place to land, and he found queequeg, he found the pequod crew. there is nothing to tell but he needs to tell us about it. he needs to make us understand the gravity of it, the weight of what he lost, but this isn't the story of a conquering war band, it's not a fantasy of knights and lords. they're just whalers. whalers die every day. whaling is an uneventful subject.

so ishmael makes the book heavy -- physically, in your hands, the book is dense and weighty. it's packed with not only narrative and story but information (sometimes/frequently incorrect!), the science and theory and philosophy and theology of whales and their hunters. what happens on the pequod feels loaded not because the story is necessarily so very compelling but because ishmael is doing everything in his power to make us understand what about it compelled him. with every "cetology" "the whiteness of the whale" "ambergris" he is saying LOOK. LOOK. THIS IS THE PRICE OF LIGHTING YOUR HOMES. WHEN YOU WEAR PERFUME OF AMBERGRIS YOU ARE WEARING THE BLOOD OF MY FRIENDS AND BROTHERS.

(it's very modern in this way, i wonder if there was something of the jungle to it in the mid 1800s that we don't see as clearly now)

when it comes down to it i am incredibly compelled by moby dick because of its overwhelming desperation. there are passages and whole chapters where i could practically feel ishmael reaching through, grabbing my shoulders, begging me to understand. it's just so palpably..... tired. grief is written all through it, even in the most boring cetology chapters. you have to understand that we weren't just out here whaling for the hell of it, the chapters are saying -- their purpose isn't to impart knowledge, it's to impart history. dignity.

aahhhhhh shit i've gone on way too long and i could keep going for a dozen pages more but imagine if i had read the damn thing recently enough to have fresh feelings for it lmao. one day i'll dig up my old lit homework and see if i can find that essay i read for class about this exact thing, i could have sworn edgar allen poe wrote it but i could never find it again. none of these thoughts are original to me, i just got assigned the essay to do a presentation on and it rewired my brain

[quietblueriver]

15 questions for 15 friends

Tagged by @gingerniiiija. Thanks, friend! This was super fun.

Were you named after anyone? I was. In good Southern (US) fashion, I have a double name that incorporates my grandmother's maiden name, which was also my mom's middle name and is now one of my niece's names.

When was the last time you cried? Today. I took one of my dogs to board at the same time that a pup was coming for their last vet visit and watching him surrounded by his crying family while an instrumental version of a Brandi Carlile song played over the vet speakers broke me. Managed to keep it together until I got to the car. Before that, Thursday during Critical Role.

Do you have kids? I do not. I do have wonderful nieces, and being their aunt is one of the best things in my life.

What sports have you played/do you play? I played church basketball and soccer when I was little. As an adult, I've played rugby but I tend toward activities like running, yoga, swimming, and hiking/wandering with my dogs.

Do you use sarcasm? Yes, in a dry humor way. My entire family is dry as hell, so it's a big part of my sense of humor, although I rein it in with strangers so as not to be a tool. I'm typically called a golden retriever gay, but one of the highest compliments I have ever received was one of my oldest friends telling me that Sister Michael from Derry Girls reminded her of me.

First thing you notice about people? I genuinely don't think I have a pattern here. Voice, maybe? Or smile? I do often appreciate and take note of people's style as well, especially shoes.

What is your eye color? Green

Scary movies or happy endings? Whichever has the better queer storyline

Any talents? I come in clutch in the following trivia categories: pop culture (non-reality tv); 90s country music/modern women of country; name that song; US history and politics and/or law; and queer things. Per my nieces, I am very good at the "funny faces" feature on FaceTime, a solid water slide escort, and an acceptable makeshift jungle gym. I have been told that I'm an excellent driver; I enjoy driving and have driven both a passenger van and a U-Haul up most of the East Coast of the US.

Where were you born? A military base in the United States.

What are your hobbies? I love writing, feeding/spending easy time with friends, reading (preference for fiction, poetry, and comics, although I do love some philosophy and theory as well), exploring good food and new places (solo or with friends, my own city or others), live music and theater, playing board games and Switch, watching tv and movies (my oldest niece and I see a movie every time I visit them in person and it brings me great joy), and being silly with my nieces. I'm a lawyer and a law nerd, so I also spend time following SCOTUS and listening to legal/political podcasts.

Do you have any pets? Two dogs, Annie and Buffy, a big doofy retriever mix and a tiny poodle-ish terror respectively.

How tall are you? 5' 8"

Favorite subject in school? Growing up, English/Lit, closely followed by History. At university, I majored in History and Gender & Sexuality Studies.

Dream Job? Obligatory note that I do not dream of labor. But I'm actually currently working on a career shift, so I'm giving this a lot of thought. I'd love to be a writer, journalist, professor, or preacher (last one is more complicated, for probably obvious reasons).

Would love to see answers from anyone who wants to do this! Tagging @korralone, @kasadilla11, @antlereed, and @overnighttosunflowers. Pls forgive me/disregard if you hate this, ha.

[johnbierce]

Hello. New account here. Some time back in 2020-2021 someone introduced me to Mage Errant. I knew nothing about progression fantasy but I took to the series like fish to water. I loved the exploration of magic and every type of it that could be done in the setting, I loved the adventures, most of all I loved the camaraderie and true found family elements.

My ask is mostly this. Your books have been representative of your socialist beliefs especially at the end in Last Echo of the Lord of The Bells, based on that what advice do you have for writers who want to write fantasy that's representative of people in today's social climate? Also, what advice do you have on avoiding appropriating BIPOC struggles and resistance in writing when writing BIPOC characters (that is, avoiding white saviourism and propagandized "all resistance fighters are terrorists" themes) especially when it comes to a setting of resisting systems of oppression and colonial rule?

I'm really glad you enjoyed Mage Errant, that's great to hear! And that my socialism came through well! (Though I do use a few anarchist tools of analysis too, their tools are great.) As for your ask... first off, gonna link you to this fantastic essay by Cory Doctorow ( @mostlysignssomeportents ) https://locusmag.com/2020/05/cory-doctorow-rules-for-writers/. It's what he sent me when I emailed him asking if he had any advice for combining activism with fiction a few years back, and though short, it was deeply useful. (I like to paraphrase it as "the rules exist not to tell you what you can't do, but what is harder to do.")

What I'm getting at is that if you want to get good at writing representative fantasy, it's gonna be a ton of hard work and practice. There's no right answer here, just learning to execute it well. That said, I do have a few more specific tips as well, because specific tips are always nice. Though... fair warning, it's a lot of work.

Read history. No, more history. MORE. Seriously, you want to really nail this, I recommend that you have at least the equivalent of a university history minor. And that's the bare minimum.

Study politics and political philosophy. More reading, woo! Dive hard into James C Scott, Naomi Klein, David Graeber, Howard Zinn, Rebecca Solnit, maybe even some Foucault. (If you've got the grit to dive into old-school leftist theory, more power to you, but ngl, I struggle with that stuff.) And find voices from the communities and peoples you're learning about, if at all possible!

Spend some time exploring art history on both sides of colonial divides. You don't need to go super hard on this one, but get an idea of what sort of art oppressors and oppressed were producing at, because, in spite of, in denial of, and for one another. Learning the facts is one thing, but learning the feeling? The art's worth its weight in gold.

Read and watch after-the-fact mythmaking- from both sides. Movies, comics, shows, whatever! I'm personally biased towards myths from the oppressed/resistors, but myths from the oppressors after the fact are valuable too. Understanding the ways in which people talk about these events decades or more later, how they choose what to and to not remember is valuable! And there's no one standard way people choose to frame these issues. There is, for instance, surprisingly little rancor in Vietnam towards America these days. (I once asked my wife- who is Vietnamese born and raised- about it, and her response was "of course we don't resent Americans, we kicked your ass!" Which, fair!)

Study relevant economics. There's a TON of texts about colonial economics out there- the aforementioned David Graeber goes heavily into it in Debt: The First 5000 Years. Thomas Piketty touches on it, the historian John Keay deals heavily with it, etc. And ELINOR OSTROM. Hell yes Elinor Ostrom. There's a reason she's one of the few empirical economists to win the "Nobel" in Economics, despite the field's resistance to empiricism, leftists, and field research. Governing the Commons is just that damn brilliant. Amazing examination of how communities use and maintain their shared resources without government oversight, colonial or otherwise.

(You'll notice a LOT of overlap between the history, economics, and political philosophy covering these topics- honestly, many of the best authors working in these fields could be shuffled between the categories freely.)

Study the harmful tropes you want to watch out for. Easier to spot the pitfalls if you're looking for them. Sounds like you're already on the right track there!

Find beta/sensitivity readers with relevant experience. (And, you know, pay them. Either in kind- lotta writers out there willing to trade beta reads- or in cash.) You want to do a good job? You're gonna have to do a ton of work, no way around it. And some even more specific writing tips:

Allow oppressed peoples in your books to be bastards. Don't valorize anyone, let everyone in your books just be people. Flawed, messy people with conflicting values.

Do your best to introduce a sense of complexity in the history of both cultures before oppression.

Greed as a motive is your friend. It's so easy to make believable colonial oppressors with a bit of greed.

Portray the oppressors using the exact harmful tropes you're looking to avoid as propaganda. This one's a bit risky, of course, if you execute it improperly it can seem like promotion of the harmful trope, but if you pull it off successfully, it's a fantastic way to examine and avoid the trope. It's basically an advanced level of lampshading. (Lord, I love lampshading as an author.)

Hope some of this is helpful!

[singular-yike]

Hi there! I remember in one of your previous analyses that you'd love an opportunity to talk about shikigami (I think). As someone who is also quite curious about it, would you mind divulging on the subject?

Oh of course, thanks for reminding me!

Shikigami: From History to Len'en

Shikigami, like barriers (which I also did a Len'en-focused analysis on), is one of those things I feel like many who are into Japanese media, especially traditional fantasies, have a general idea about, yet don't really have a grasp on their real-life conception and history.

So, just like in the barriers post, let's take a look at what shikigami are all about, in real-life history and in the Len'en series!

Origins of Onmyōdō

To understand the origins of shikigami, we first have to have a cursory understanding of the complex art of Onmyōdō (陰陽道 lit. "the way of Yin and Yang").

Roots in Chinese Philosophy

Onmyōdō, as we understand it, has its roots in the Chinese philosophical Theory of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases (陰陽五行思想).

Yin and Yang (陰陽) can be described as the fundamentally opposite but interconnected forces that constitute as well as cause change in everything in the universe.

The Five Phases (五行) is a conceptual framework which is used to classify and explain a wide array of phenomena, including the movement of celestial bodies, the interaction between internal organs to, the rise and fall of political regimes and the properties of medicine, amongst other things. The five phases are, in order, fire, water, wood, metal, earth.

The Theory of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases then combines the two, and was associated with and used for a variety of (what were at the time considered) natural sciences, such as astronomy, calendar making, time keeping and divination.

Development in Japan

When transmitted to Japan alongside Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, it was accepted by the Japanese people as having actual power, and its associated practices like divination and manipulating fortune were accepted as well.

As these beliefs and practices fused with the native Japanese beliefs (what one may classify as Shinto) and Japanese Buddhism (remember that Buddhism also had its own major developments in Japan), a system of beliefs and practices that were uniquely Japanese was born.

This was Onmyōdō, and it was a state-controlled craft. Onmyōji (陰陽師 lit. "master of yin and yang") were the practitioners of this craft who belonged to the Bureau of Onmyō (陰陽寮), and they offered their services to the royal family and the noble elites.

The Historical Shikigami

Examining the Word "Shikigami"

Now that we can finally take a look at the historical shikigami. They are known by a number of names: shikigami/shikijin (式神・識神), shiki-no-kami (式の神・識の神), shi-ki (式鬼) or shiki-kishin (式鬼神).

No matter the rendering, there is a common element throughout most of them: 式 read shiki or just as shi. It means "to make use of", and refers to the onmyōji's control over these beings.

The specific beings that these names list are kami (神 gods/spirits), oni (鬼) and kishin (鬼神). The last term refers to a myriad of concepts, from wild and rampaging kami to divine spirits to any supernatural thing that causes mysterious phenomena.

Below: Famous onmyōji Abe no Seimei (in black) accompanied by two of his shikigami (below Seimei).

So, from the name, we can tell that shikigami refers to the gods, spirits, supernatural beings and even just supernatural forces under the onmyōji's control. Additionally, it is said that the process through which an onmyōji summons these spirits is also called shikigami..

Types of Shikigami

Shikigami are in fact invisible to everyone except their master, but can take on forms that are visible to the average person. In general, shikigami can be classified in to two ways:

One is according to the form they appear in, such as human-shaped (人型), bird/beast-shaped (鳥獣型), youkai-shaped (妖怪型), etc.

More interesting, perhaps, is classifying them based on how they were created:

First are "mental-action shikigami", (思業式神 shigou-shikigami) they are manifested through the onmyōji's thought, and are said to directly reflect their master's ability.

Next are "personified shikigami" (擬人式神 gijin-shikigami), they are produced by imbuing a doll, often made of paper, straw or plants, with spiritual power. Those which obtain a will of their own are considered higher-rank, while those that do not are considered lower-ranked.

Below: A straw doll used to summon a shikigami into.

Final final type are called, literally, "gods of evil deeds and revealed retribution" (悪行罰示神 akubyoubasshi-kami). It's rather unwieldy and not exactly clear what it means.

So instead, I'll call these "shikigami through karmic retribution". They are typically beings who committed evil deeds in the past who are defeated and subjugated by onmyōji, becoming their shikigami.

The final type, perhaps obviously, are considered particularly dangerous, as an unskilled master can be overpowered by the shikigami, allowing it to cause harm to its master and others.

Functions of a Shikigami

Basically, there's nothing a shikigami cannot do, as they are (provided that the onmyōji is powerful enough) completely bound to the will of their master.

Here I'll just briefly list a few of what shikigami were said to be used for throughout history and myths:

Defeating harmful and devil spirits

Possessing someone to cause them harm

Placed at key locations as protector deities

Pass on messages and deliver objects

Reconnaissance

Housework, house-watching and personal care

Yeah, basically anything you can think of.

Onmyōdō in the Present Day

Persistance and Development

Onmyōdō and onmyōji, along with the Bureau of Onmyō, persisted throughout Japanese history, slowly gaining popularity amongst the general populace as well. It has its ups and down, even losing its official status once, but it never faded away.

One particularly famous Onmyōji that should not go unmentioned is Abe no Seimei (安倍晴明), said to be a genius in the art. Many of his exploits are left behind as legends, and he himself is a popular topic of many modern fiction stories.

Below: Mitori's Pentagram "Bellflower Seal Crush", based on a seal of the same name invented by Seimei to ward off demons.

Fall and Modern Status

It was not until the after Meiji Revolution, in 1870, that the new government passed a bill to ban Onmyōdō as a superstition, under the support of pure Shintoists and the exclusionists, who rejected Onmyōdō based on its Chinese roots.

After this, the Onmyōdō of old basically disappeared from Japanese society. Later, when the ban was lifted, Onmyōdō was already reduced to a point where it would never return to the level of prestige and power it once held during the Heian period.

Nowadays, there are two schools of Onmyōdō left, the "Tensha Tsuchimikado Shinto" (天社土御門神道) and the Izanagi School (いざなぎ流).

Tensha Tsuchimikado Shinto

This school was established by a family that traces it lineage back to Abe no Seimei, the Tsuchimikado Family.

Thanks to its fusion of Onmyōdō and Shinto, it was able to survive the ban on Onmyōdō by leaning on its Shinto side. Though it would lose official support regardless and turn to private practice.

The Izanagi School

A unique folk religion developed independently in the archaic Tosa Province (modern day Kōchi Prefecture). It has elements of Onmyōdō belief and practice, but aren't recognised by Tensha Tsuchimikado Shinto.

Popular Culture

The colourful stories of onmyōji from various legends, especially of them binding youkai to their control and excercising other mystical powers, captured the popular imagination and lead to a myriad of fictional depictions of them.

It is here that the most common depiction of shikigami emerges, as youaki bound by onmyōji, or spirits summoned into paper dolls by them. And it is here that we loop back to Len'en.

Shikigami of Len'en

The most info on shikigami in the Len'en series can be found in Garaiya Ogata's BPoHC profile:

A shikigami receives spiritual power from its master, and can act using the accumulated spiritual power from them. How much spiritual power they can save up and what they can do with said accumulated power varies from shikigami to shikigami. [...] However, the master's spiritual power is naturally limited. [...] However, since a slight amount of their master's power is constantly consumed to keep their shiki up and running. Multiplying too much will overburden their master, ultimately deactivating the shiki.

It would seem that shikigami run on a fairly unique set of rules in Len'en, that of an exchange and balance of spiritual power between master and subject.

The master needs to use their power to somehow activate and maintain a shiki contract with the subject, which creates a link between the two and allows the subject to draw on their masters power. In the case that the master runs out of power, the contract immediately deactivates.

The amount of spiritual power a shikigami stores seems to be somewhat proportional to how powerful they are, as seen in Kuriju Kesa being technically weaker than Kaisen Azuma, but still seen as more useful thanks to the former being better at storing spiritual power from Garaiya.

We don't really know much else about shikigami in the series, though there are a few things that we can speculate upon.

Bound Evildoer Shikigami

First we can examine the most prominent master-shikigami pairs, that between Garaiya and Kaisen & Garaiya and Kurjiu.

Below: Garaiya with Kaisen and Kujiru in animal form.

It's possible that these two are what I called "shikigami through karmic retribution", as they were apparently "pretty mischievous" in the past, prior to meeting Garaiya.

This is particularly likely with Kaisen, as one of their inspirations, the Chinese mythological creature known as Jinchan (金蟾 Lit. "gold/golden toad"), actually has pretty much this play out, just framed under Daoism instead of Onmyōdō.

In the folktale Liu Hai Tricks Jinchan (劉海戲金蟾), it is said Liu tamed a malevolent and greedy three-legged toad after fishing it out of the east sea. It became Jinchan and was henceforth the immortal's companion, following Liu wherever he went.

So yeah, basically "evil youkai does bad deeds" → "good person comes around and tames it" → "evil creature now serves the good person somehow".

With Kujiru, it's not as direct, since their basis, Kesa-gozen (袈裟御前), was the victim in her story, rather than the villain or a villain redeemed. Still, if JynX wanted to somehow collapse both the villain and the victim into one, they certainly can, so I can't really say that this disproves Kujiru as a "shikigami through karmic retribution".

Bonus Note: Jinbei

There's really not enough information on Jinbei to say much about them as a shikigami, but it's interesting to note that they don't (or at least don't only) draw power from their master.

Rather, they draw power from and supply power to the Mugenri Barrier, the current Senri priests (Yabusame and Tsubakura) as well as a yet undisclosed source.

On a personal note, Jinbei gives me the vibe of a spirit that was summoned into an object. Similar to the personified shikigami, though not summoned into a doll, but into the very jinbei that they're always wearing.

Conclusion

There's still much that we don't know about shikigami in Len'en, so other possibilities still exist with both Kaisen, Kujiru and Jinbei.

For example, Kaisen and Kujiru can also be spirits summoned into the youkai, akin to how the Touhou series conceptualises its shikigami. Or Jinbei could be a youkai who's subjugation contract is renewed with every new Senri priest.

Basically what I'm saying is that canonically all we have is the Garaiya profile and the two related 2021 interview answers that I've linked.

In any case though, I hope you at least got something out of the first part about the historical shikigami, and how they are classified and used even to this very day.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[theressomethinghappeninginparis]

I have Carvier's diary pages next to me, but I don't want to read them now. I...can't read them now.

Instead, I want to show the analysis I found by Kurmo Konsa, a professor in Estonia who specialized in history and archeology. He wrote about "Technology creating a new human: the alchemical roots of transhumansit ideas". He is a professor with kind eyes mostly writing in Estonian, yet this one was in English. I'll write down what is important for me, the whole text is here to read.

Transcript of the first, second and third page: On the first page, he assures that alchemly is a science teaching how to transform any kindof metal into another and that by a "proper medicine". This certain "medicine" is called Elixir and when it is cast upon metals or impoerfect bodies it does perfect them in the very projection. This Elixir seems to be a cure-all, and it could be that "imperfect bodies" really means organic material since alchemy also deals with illness and healing.

Konsa references Roger Bacon, a man who dealt with mathematics, philosophy, optocs, alchemy and magic. According to him speculative alchemy was practised by only a few alchemists both with lifeless bodies and living substances and the human body was indeed the main subject. He also claimed a person could prolong their life if they used the "right tools"; whatever that means.

Finally, Bacon also claimed that since accidental processes and external factors can shorten a lifetime, there was also a way to prolong it. He also recommended a theoretical foundation of the Elixir: The elements have to be prepared and purified, so that they would be reduced to pure simplicity, and that would make the "perfect medicine".

Transcript of the fourth page: Here are the most important points I've taken:

Perfect imperfect bodies is a goal

Human beings, dead or alive, were used as subjects

Lifespan can be (probably) extended

Elements have to be purified for the "perfect medicine", an Elixir

Separate humours to purify them

I know I'm tinfoiling but I can't help and write down whatever comes to my mind. So. If Eckhardt is the 500 year old dude from Germany that was supposedly killed by the LV. And Vasiley, who uses the LV symbol in his papers, is also an anceint being. What does this tell us? I'm perhaps tripping, yes. Maybe Vasiley just has an old family tree. Okay, but then the Black Alchemist was killed, again, int he 14th century. But he was an alchemist. And he keeps popping up like the Lux Veritatis and Lara Croft and Vasiley.

Mega-tinfoil: What if both of them really are old, old, ancient, dusty as hell people and exist today? If the castle was owned by the LV, and Vasiley was/is part of them, he MUST know Eckhardt. This shackled Nephilim drawing with the helmet, do you recall? What if it's him and they kept him in the castle?

Transcript of the fifth and sixth page: My so called "theory" which is none since there is no proof but only speculation is as follows:

Eckhardt was killed by the Lux Veritatis in 1445

the LV were hired/owned(?) the castle Bouzor from 1939-1945

Vasiley uses the symbol the LV use as well

One of Werner's mails gives me the impression the Lux Veritatis, Eckhardt and the paintings are connected (how??)

the Obscura paintings were found in a monastery, what is the link to religion? Is there an alchemic one?

since the membership of the LV was hereditary, are there any members today?

the Periapt Shards are said to be the weapons of the LV

So. All this leads to this funny graph. Eckhardt is murdered by the LV. Their weapons are Periapt Shards. Vasiley uses their symbol. They were in castle Bouzor so Vasiley might know. He found the Obscura Engravings. Werner has knowledge of them. The Obscura Paintings also exist. And von Croy has been murdered by...Lara Croft? I seriously see no reason for her to do that. I mean, maybe it was personal. But all the shit that is tied to this, is this on accident?

Okay... I'm officially losing it, if you want to stop reading, go ahead. Also check the death notices in the newspapers please, I might appear there. You need to get my notebook and destroy it, I don't want anyone to think I am insane. This blog, too. The access details are on my desk, second drawer.

You will do that for me, right?

Right?

[arcticdementor]

On my "REAL Banned Book List", unlike Barnes and Noble's fake "banned" book tables, works of fiction very rarely appears.  School teachers might want children to believe short simple books readable by adolescents are "Banned" because Oooo👻 forbidden fruit, don't read the age appropriate short fiction the school librarian tells you to".. But in reality 95+% of real banned books are non-fiction political tracts, censored histories, or terrorist manuals. And the fiction books that are banned are usually fictionalized versions of those, works like "Camp of the Saints", or "The Turner Diaries", despite their ability to move people emotionally are not banned for their emotional content but for their political content (and in the case of "The Turner Diaries" its accurate instructions on bomb making)Subscribe HOWEVER! There is one series that was driven from bookstores, and by the late 90s was almost totally disappeared based purely on the... "feelings"... it generated in its readers. A fantasy series set entirely on another world with more or less nothing to say about politics back on earth, awakened... stirrings... in its readers so disturbing to the powers that be it had to be stopped.

���

The Chronicles of GOR by John Norman (Pen-name of Philosophy Professor John Lange) Begun in 1966 and continuing to... today (he's 92), the 38 book series is a Pulp Science Fantasy series in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom" series (shout out to John Carter of Postcards From Barsoom ) It has a lot of neat fantasy/historical/military hypotheticals to get the young male mind going "what if Vikings raided Japanese samurai cities with flying monsters?" but the thing that outraged the feminists and what they'd never admit enraged them, was its effect on female readers.

…

This is the world and theory of mind Norman paints with a philosopher's attention to completeness... 38 books deconstructing and undoing not only modern feminist ideas of equality, but Christian ideas of the equality of the soul and nobility of the feminine spirit. By any standard maybe the most sexist misogynistic books ever written, not out of ignorance or resentment but a philosopher's indifference to any social or ethical preening that might impede the truth... And women freaking loved it.

…

Consummately refusing to acknowledge or accept that Norman's audience ws well beyond 50% female (men read it for the war and there's tons of books on that) feminists starts campaigns insisting that Norman's audience was entirely male abusers and misogynists, and naive young impressionable boys who needed to be taught not to rape, but were being taught the opposite. Of course Norman had merely written the type of violently sexual romances that had been staples of harlequin romances and women's lit had been romanticizing for decades if not centuries... on paper he'd just made the war scenes more realistic and engaging aside from the fantasy fortresses and rideable giant birds. But he did something 30s romance writers like Margaret Mitchell, and now tens of thousands of romance, erotica, and fanfic authors never did in all their sexy violent stories... Something the feminists could never forgive him for. Sandwiched between the fighting and the fornication, he explained with a philosopher's exactness, WHY those stories are sexy. Amidst the pulp adventures and wars on an alien world, and the sexy slavery, Norman lays out a comprehensive theory of human sexuality utterly incompatible with feminism, "Democracy", equality, and possibly even Christian civilization. He summoned the primordial lusts and hungers from the cruel ages of humanity into the hearts and souls of his readers, and he told them their names such that they could never forget them, nor look upon the egalitarian world world around them with anything but boredom and disdain. In short: It's pretty hot.

[denimbex1986]

'Honestly, I had no interest in seeing this movie originally, simply by virtue of the billboard featuring an explosion. This implied that the film would be an action movie, about the nuclear bomb, as told by the American side. It seemed like poor taste. I imagined Nolan being his usual anti-special effects self and opting for a real nuclear bomb to be built and dropped on Japan again. Then he could shoot the impact and fallout in his favorite high-quality film stock and make it look cool. I really wasn't interested, but I went to the matinée anyway. Imagine my surprise when it went an entirely different route, but in equally bad taste.

Oppenheimer begins in cliché. There's a large traumatic event- an explosion of some sort, followed by a sweaty character waking up, or coming back from PTSD-enforced mediation. This is our first introduction to Cillian Murphy's blank face that we'll see using the same expression throughout the rest of the film. Have a good memory for faces? No? Fine, you don't need to. A nice chunk of this film cuts between poorly written quip and Cillian looking blank to quip and Cillian looking blankly at something else with his mouth slightly agape. Reader, I hope we've brushed up on Soviet montage theory recently, as you should know when you're being manipulated. Naturally, if a film's opening shot is cliché, there's absolutely no chance that it'll take a wild turn towards originality in later minutes. The entirety of the film is a series of empty aphorisms, contrived metaphors and visual analogies that first-graders, let alone theoretical physicists, would find condescending. Marbles in a fishbowl? I felt patronized. Proving genius by scrawling wildly on a chalkboard? Shame on you.

Oppenheimer's political wavering might have stabilized had he read his contemporary, Orwell, on matters like the Spanish Civil War. Nolan's use of dying metaphors and the like might similarly have improved had he read Orwell as well. Oppenheimer is rife with "metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves." One phrase that Orwell mentions, "toe the line," is even used verbatim in the film. I doubt that Nolan wrote this line with knowledge of the phrase's meaning, which is, as Orwell would phrase it, a "sure sign that the writer is not interested in what he is saying".

We are told repeatedly that Oppenheimer is, at least early in his career, a communist. Short of him telling us that he has some interest in the professors unionizing, there's no substantive understanding of what his politics were, or why. Considering that his history of leftist involvement is what gets him a good ole fashioned kangaroo McCarthy court, and is the central dramatic device for the whole film, Nolan might have done well to explain the philosophy behind Oppenheimer's beliefs, beyond family proximity and a desire to get laid. Instead, exposition is drowned out by music. It's too loud. Subtitled audiences are at an advantage against those of us who were subjected to the whims of the sound mixer. Every time a truly dramatic or thoughtful scene came on, the score would bump up and up, drowning out something politically nuanced or robustly scientific. The actors might have done well to yell over the music, at least it would have forced them to emote more. The bits of Science™ that we do get to hear are pop science, a stoner's understanding of the golden ratio, but for particle physics.

Nothing in the film is aided by the editing, either, which seems to have taken its pacing from Rick and Morty's Interdimensional Cable Quick Mystery segment, as hastily realized by the editor from Battlefield Earth.

As a character study, it fails. The writing for every character is the same. One of them drinks more, one of them throws flowers in the trash, one of them has an accent that makes some question his loyalty to the project. Everyone says Oppenheimer is an asshole. We only know this because we're told that he is. Yes, he's curt, but so is his lover who throws his flowers away. This botanical quirk could have easily been applied to our protagonist, his wife, his colleagues, even his brother. Nothing anyone does is particular to their character as individuals. However, only a true asshole would look at New Mexico and think, "we should bomb this."

I ran into a friend who had just come back from seeing the movie before I had watched it. I asked him if "the line" was said in the film. You know, "I am become death." Yes, he told me, but he wouldn't tell me how. This is by far the best scene in the movie and played completely seriously, à la Leslie Nielsen in Airplane. For this scene alone, I recommend watching this piece of comedy. Following my friend's lead, I also won't divulge the particulars of this segment. Once he says, "destroyer of worlds," you can leave the theater.

An especially strange component of the film is its entire plot, which focuses on Oppenheimer's McCarthy era hearings and the events leading up to it. There are all of two minutes total dealing with the actual effects of the atom bomb, which, let's face it, is why the audience is sitting in the theater in the first place. The box office can thank the billboard. Instead, we're treated to three hours of a man who willingly worked the US military apparatus getting told that he's going to lose his security clearance. Who cares? This might make an interesting chapter in his biography, but it's definitely not important enough to warrant an entire biopic. Clearance or no clearance, this man can spend the rest of his life in a mansion situated next to a conveniently sage Einstein. And what's this clearance for, anyway? Should we be cheering on another chapter of bigger, better bomb development? Are the Japanese a moot footnote in the larger picture of American military imperialism? That Oppenheimer focuses on his "martyrdom" and the McCarthy era's targeting of Real® Patriotic ™ Americans© despite their contributions to the military industrial complex is at best a mistake and at worst, deeply conservative filmmaking.'

[misssakuramochi]

Hello ! I'd like a persona 5 matchup please :)

Personality: I'm an INTP, I'm intelligent, unbothered, calm, curious, easy-going, charismatic and stubborn.

I'm very often bored and I love to have fun, I move on from things very quickly, I love detective games (I'm basically a detective 😜), I enjoy researching topics and theories, l'm able to pick up on things very quickly.

Hobbies/interests: I'm a dancer ( I do any style of dance, contemporary, hip hop, openstyle, voguing etc), I love video games (Ace attorney, Danganronpa, Omori, Sally face, Final fantasy, Hades etc), reading, writing and I play the electric guitar.

I like philosophy, history, astronomy and Greek mythology. I like entertaining people who can make me laugh, and who I won't die of boredom being with.

I'm someone who if I feel comfortable with someone will talk their head off about all of my interests. I think you're cool 🤔 here's what I think about this philosophy concept, you like video games 🤔 here's why you should play (whatever game), you like animals 🤔 here's why I think the nurse shark is the best shark, you mentioned an apple 🤔 did you know there's 7,500, and here's why I think the red delicious is the best one.

Fun facts:

- It's very easy for me to guess plot twists in an instant and piece thing together.

- I love burgers with my whole life, I can eat at least 3-5 big burgers in one sitting.

- I love handshakes and making up little raps/rhymes

- My favorite artist is Tyler the Creator

-I'm very flexible and double jointed

- I like experiencing and learning new things

- very un organized

I don't mind be matched up with anyone

That's pretty much it, I hope you have fun writing my matchup and have a great day <3

I match you with...

FUTABA

○ Futaba is something of a mystery to new people. This catches your interest instantly. It takes a stubborn detective to crack her code, and let her get to know you. Stubborn and intuitive, you manage to do what most people cannot and get Futaba to open up to you.

○ While your easy going nature can sometimes make Fitaba worry, it more often pits her at ease. If your relaxed maybe she can believe it will be ok. You make her feel safe.

○ Futaba is super funny and has so many interests and things to talk about - it just takes some time to pull it out of her. You can go back and forth in conversarion about your favourite things for hours

○ Gamer couple extraordinaire, you have a common interest in that thay really roots your conversations. Its how you first get to get Futaba to talk to you more than a peep, and something you can either debate or agree on endlessly!

HEADCANONS

○ Futaba would never tell you but she spends hours researching fun facts about things you like to try to impress you. You like nurse sharks? Here's a cool.obscure fact about them she found. Dancing? Here's a super cool new dance she found a video of. She remembers the little things and tries to show it whenever she can in her own way.

○ Futaba is a light eater. You like the same goods though, which is your gain, as you always get to finish her burgers.

○ Detective movies become games on whi can guess the plot twist faster. Or, Futaba will show you old obscure mysteries to see if she can finally find a movie that will stump you. Movie nights are frequent.

○ I feel like you're a memey person, and so is Futaba. You have 100 inside jokes and references that only some people ever get but they make you two laugh all the time

[hadesoftheladies]

So I recently had this exchange with a trans woman that goes by “proletarianfeminist” on Instagram, and there are some genuinely good posts on the page regarding feminism and class.

There’s quite a lot of anti-prostitution posts as well.

But then….

This is basically a BLATANT denial of sex-based oppression. This person genuinely believes and advocates that the only way to eradicate misogyny or patriarchy is by destroying the ruling class (capitalist and imperialist). But the ruling class IS the MALE CLASS. That's what patriarchy is! Capitalism and imperialism are a RESULT and CREATION of male domination. OF COURSE, THE AVERAGE MAN WIELDS STRUCTURAL POWER OVER THE AVERAGE WOMAN AND ABUSES IT. THE AVERAGE MAN LITERALLY CREATES AND UPHOLDS PATRIARCHY EVEN WHEN HE DOESN'T HAVE TO. THAT'S HOW PATRIARCHY STARTED. Radical feminists do not blame trans people for the declining status of women in capitalist society, they blame them for being complicit in an age-old problem which is patriarchy! They accuse many other people groups that are not trans for being complicit, too!

Men are historically, economically, socially, and anthropologically the oppressors and enemies of women (and men) and the liberation of women. The reasons are largely SEX-BASED. That is what RADICAL FEMINISM IS ABOUT. THIS IS THE ROOT IT ADDRESSES THAT NO OTHER THEORY DOES! The fact that there is an insistence that radical feminism is just "reactionary" just . . .like bro what? We have centuries' worth of evidence that the common culprit in all this madness is men. BUT OF COURSE, MEN DON'T EVER WANT TO INTERACT WITH THAT FACT AND WILL KEEP INVENTING NEW TARGETS TO BLAME. Because that's what oppressors do. Classic misdirect.

"Radical feminism is simply not fit for the task of advancing the conditions of masses of women." Delusional take. Female solidarity is literally what has advanced women's liberation every step of the way. It's history.

This is why I think a lot of empathetic, intellectually-minded people get so easily swayed by these kinds of personalities (like ContraPoints). They are well-read, and a lot of the information they share can be accurate, and empathetic people who cannot stand the idea of being a bigot or causing someone else pain will look for ways to agree with them, but the best way to lie is to tell a little truth first, and earn credibility points from your listeners. But for ContraPoints, Jessie Gender, Philosophy Tube, and prolaterianfeminist, there always comes a point when their brilliant analyses come to a SCREECHING HALT whenever it gets to the real problem: male dominance and the reality of sex-based oppression. That's when the real bullshitting starts. That's when they'll dance around topics of gender abolition with vague dismissals or bullshit claims. That's when they'll bring up shitty metaphysics in biological discussions and make false equivalences and equivocation fallacies in culture. They've already gained the trust of listeners and readers by having "non-extremist" and factual takes, and they've already proven their intellectual superiority, so now, by the time the average listener or reader has lost count of how many academic words they don't recognize, they are now loyal and ready to regurgitate the simplified slogans on the internet. Now it doesn't matter who you are, question gender ideology and you're anti-intellectual terfscum. Question a man claiming to be a woman and you're a bigot that needs to read more. They'll accuse you of being the champion of the imperialist and colonial empires of the west, a holocaust supporter, a science denier, and even a conservative regardless of your ethnic background or political alignment. You are not allowed to disagree with them on who you are, either! They just know that about you! IN FACT, if you're a woman of color from the global south or east, they just might talk down to you EXTRA. White men love to feel morally and intellectually superior! White lib women will gladly join them in talking down anyone who disagrees with them, regardless of their ethnic history. Are you Indigenous Americans, Jewish, African, Asian? This only makes it sweeter. This is the opportunity of a lifetime to turn the language you use to criticize the imperial and colonial oppression you're fighting on you, who is facing it (my dad is literally as old as my country's independence, my grandmother was a slave, and white people keep accusing me of "upholding colonialism"). They will sympathize with male behavior, and the "poor average working man" but never the plight of women or the curiosity of a woman, at least, not if she isn't actively making herself their doormat.

And of course, there's always the honorary "pick me" transwoman jab at what they assume to be heterosexual women (most "TERFs" I know are same-sex attracted). For someone who doesn't like reactionary takes, proletarianfeminist sure likes to dish some baseless, frantic reactions to a basic statement. TERF isn't an accurate term for radical feminists, or my personal stance. RF includes transmen, unless transmen aren't considered transpeople or something. I also don't give a shit if a man dresses "manly" or "womanly" or not I don't believe in gender, this person does. It is literally necessary for the definition and justification of transness. Stop projecting. It is YOU who upholds patriarchal gender roles because that is what you use to define yourself.

Anyways, radical feminists have already written lots on the socio-economic and historical consequences of patriarchy, but I think it's good to acknowledge that these guys aren't dimwits, and people don't just agree with them because they're dimwits, too. They're just insanely dishonest. And even smart and kind people aren't immune to propaganda.

white males will rly be like “actually all women are inferior to males” like ok thanks for the truly astonishing, modern, original, never heard before take. men have totally not been saying this for thousands of years and forming religions around that belief or anything.

[transmutationisms]

hii, do you have any reading recs for where to start in terms of the history of medicine? thank you so much and i adore reading your succession analysis

if you're new to this subfield i would recommend starting out by just thumbing through the cambridge history of medicine (2006, ed. roy porter). you don't have to read every word in here, but definitely the introduction and any chapters that look particularly relevant to your interests. there are also some medical chapters scattered throughout the cambridge history of science volumes. cambridge volumes are often limited to europe and north america, and they're generally not methodologically daring, so you don't want to get stuck on them forever. but as a starting point, they can help you start to recognise a few influential names in the field, and give you a sense of what the history of medicine 'canon' is & draws from.

after that you can start to get more specific. history of medicine is a bit of a misnomer field in that it contains a few distinct-but-overlapping subject areas: histories of diseases themselves (this will cross into history of biology, paleo-virology, molecular archaeology, genetics, &c); histories of sickness (often drawing from affect theory, disability studies, and history of emotions); histories of medical practice and practitioners (philosophy of health and medicine, labour history, studies of class and discipline formation, military history); histories of public health (broader population thinking, archaeology and anthropology, history of hygiene, history of state formation and biopolitics); histories of medical devices and instruments (history of technology, material history, economic and industrial history). you'll also serve yourself well if you have some sense of specific time periods and places you're interested in—not that i'm telling you to be close-minded, but it just helps if you have some idea of what you're looking for.

you are more than welcome to come back and ask about a more specific sub-topic :-) since you've basically given me free reign, i'll just toss out a few histmed books i've particularly enjoyed, in no particular order:

medicalizing blackness: making racial difference in the atlantic world, 1780–1840, by rana hogarth (2017)

the expressiveness of the body and the divergence of greek and chinese medicine, by shigehisa kuriyama (1999)

doctoring traditions: ayurveda, small technologies, and braided sciences, by projit mukharji (2016)

plague and empire in the early modern mediterranean world: the ottoman experience, 1347–1600, by nukhet varlık (2015)

killing the black body: race, reproduction, and the meaning of liberty, by dorothy roberts (1997)

hearing happiness: deafness cures in history, by jaipreet virdi (2020)

pasteur's empire: bacteriology and politics in france, its colonies, and the world, by aro velmet (2020)

contagion: disease, government, and the 'social question' in nineteenth-century france, by andrew aisenberg (1999)

colonial madness: psychiatry in french north africa, by richard keller (2007)

curing the colonizers: hydrotherapy, climatology, and french colonial spas, by eric t jennings (2006)

ideals of the body: architecture, urbanism, and hygiene in postrevolutionary paris, by sun-young park (2018)

[lovelanguageisolate]

Say what you will about Fukuyama, but I credit reading The End of History and the Last Man with realizing I have been keeping the thumotic part of my soul on a hunger diet—and helping me understand the role of thumos in politics generally.

It seems that the only popular part of the internet that cares about thumos is the meninist internet. And the meninist internet, so far as I can tell, thinks thumos is roughly the magic juice inside men that causes them to beat up motherfuckers in bars who spill the drinks of their friends. And this isn't...obviously wrong, but to me, the best example of a thumotic person is Gandhi. Or maybe those people who set themselves on fire in protest of various things.

Thumos seems to be about the unwillingness to trade basic dignity* against either mere survival (which, according to Hegel, is beastly and slavish) or fungible economic goods and base pleasures (which, according to Nietzsche, is Last Man-ish—that is, nihilistic, ahistorical, listless, feckless, pain avoidant dicklessness impotence). Thumos is, centrally, about insisting that something has dignity because one is a person** and had better be treated like it!

When you don't get respect, your thumos is injured. If you take the disrespect, your thumos will wither from under you until you are a powerless, soul-trampled husk who doesn't listen to their own spirit. On the other hand, thumos must be the slave of reason and good judgement, lest it get out of control and start setting fire to things and biting that dumb bitch who stepped on your last nerve and should have known better.

I think a lot of the social media Perpetual Fires of Gehenna rage machine is far more intelligible in this light than in realpolitik/public choice theory terms of people politicking because they want certain goodies out of the government budgetary treasure chest or whatever. Angry Internet People are usually not upset that this or that person didn't get a certain amount of money for a thing. Rather, as Noah Smith has argued I think pretty persuasively, woke people online are mad because they don't feel they or others are respected.*** Fukuyama himself now thinks a similar thing has been going on on the identitarian right in Europe and the USA.

In general, I consider the stuff on thumos to be a strong point of Fukuyama's work. It's interesting and seems to explain the world in some helpful ways that other approaches seem to miss, try to get rid of, or unfairly minimize, to the harm of their own causes. I also think I understand now somewhat better why I'm deflated despite being manifestly comfortable and do Jungian shadow-throwing about internet activists, especially the full gamut of those in anything political and gendered, even activists who make good points or I'm sympathetic to. I don't respect this shadow-throwing on my part, and I think the thumos idea helps me treat them and myself with more respect.

And of course, as a fairly orthodox Popperian critical rationalist, I am not supposed to appreciate Plato or Hegel, especially not the bits that feel kinda mystical or low-key fashy. Alas, I am a thoroughly intellectually promiscuous internet idea ho and will not be put upon to justify my lifestyle, proclivities, or trashy taste in memeplexes even to you, dear reader, so I kindly ask that you not tell the discerning parts of the internet where you heard this wooey nonsense.

---

*The dignity can be of oneself, of those esteemed people or things one recognizes, or even of the truth, which would be insulted in allowing blatant falsehoods or affronts to reason and spirit to stand.

**The only philosopher I know of who has tried to explain why personhood is an important moral category of similarly dignified beings for good fundamental natural reasons is David Deutsch, who calls people "universal explainers". Whether this speaks more to the poverty of my own philosophical training or to how unproductive most academic philosophy is, especially that disconnected from physics and information science, is unclear to me.

***Of course, orthodox Marxists and other leftists in a hardcore materialist vein who understand their own projects well will probably recoil violently from this idea—or indeed from the suggestion that there is anything like "dignity" that isn't reactionary false consciousness or doesn't reduce to control over the stocks and flows of the material world. However, those people are in a somewhat tough spot to explain, if something like thumos doesn't real, how labor is necessarily alienated from the fruits of its labor under capitalism, or indeed why a perfectly rational worker who so much as has ordinal utilities should give a shit about the rate of exploitation if they bring home more bacon. Nor have vanguardists ever not helped themselves to what sure seems to be thumotic energy at any historical point. All this to say that if I were this kind of person, I would want to answer the question of how the politics of dignity, which often seems economically nonsensical, can fall so neatly out of materiality.

[whywoulditho]

I STAND WITH PALESTINE 🇵🇸

Check here for protests near you & here for online donations!

If you in any way sympathize with the genocidal apartheid state of Israel kindly fuck right out of this blog and go educate yourself.

blog introduction below the cut

Hiii! Welcome to my chaos of a blog! I'm Lily. I'm 20. I speak Turkish and English, learning French too but it's super annoying. I write, read, try to read and write too many things at once and fail to keep up with them most of the time. I'm an INFJ and I identify as an ace-spec. I don't like specifying my gender online so feel free to use whatever. I like psychology, history, political philosophy and I really, really like analyzing media. I watch anime and read comics & manga. I mostly post opinions and bad takes and -occasionally- theories about whatever the hell I'm fixated on at the moment. I engage with fictional ships in a very casual, non-committed way so if you're the kind of fan that thinks shippers ruin fandom or whatever, I'm not gonna be your favorite person on tumblr. And I think tumblr isn't gonna be your favorite place either. What are you doing here-

Fanfiction I write in Turkish are on my wattpad & ao3.

I have strong opinions on most things but I really like respectful debates so feel free to talk to me/correct me if you need to.

My asks are always open for mutuals, strangers, anyone. even for the randomest things. drop an essay or tell me what you ate for lunch, i dont care. i really like asks <3

[nightswithkookmin]

GOING ON A HIATUS

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time out to read my posts and has enjoyed it so far. It's really been fun and entertaining exchanging thoughts and having these much deeper ship discussions.

I thought this issue was gonna go away but I woke up this morning to more people messaging me about finding my last video analysis on several other platforms without appropriate credit.

But that's not disturbing. The disturbing part is the people sliding into people's DM'S on other platforms to get them to take down my video because they don't want people sharing my content on other platforms as they believe it would only make my blog popular.

For those worried about this whole credit business, thanks for showing this much concern for me? I really appreciate the love and concern if it's from a genuine place of concern. Thank you...

I think some of you already know this by now or might have figured it out, I am a law student, I am very much well aware what is and what isn't within my rights? Lol

I honestly didn't see this whole credit thingy as a big deal. It's not. Not to me. Lol. I repost people's photos without credit too all the time. Often, it's because I don't know who to credit and most time my lazy ass just forgets to. Lol. I think it's normal? It's inconsequential I mean.

The videos I use are usually often water marked by the appropriate owners so I don't go through the hustle of figuring this whole credit business out. If I should decide to come back here again I will check that habit of mine?

While this whole credit business is not a big deal to me, malicious slander and defamation to my character is and I don't take it lightly.

It has been brought to my attention that some Jikookers from Tumblr have since been sliding into people's DM's on other platforms asking them to take down my video and or remove the credit they give to my post.

They are telling people I am problematic, calling me the Taekook Lives of the Jikook community. That I have been spreading lies about Jikook, that the Jikook Tumblr community hates me or something like that and to further caricaturize me and make me appear more evil in order to get people to turn on me and hate me, they make up the most ridiculous lies about me claiming that I believe a notorious serial killer is innocent.

Now I have since deleted my YT account because I don't want my colleagues to find out I am into shipping too lol- shipping is a guilty pleasure of mine and I know how this fandom works unfortunately. I've been a silent part of it since 2014. I mean it's started already. The Doxing and shit.

The original post under which these replies are from couldn't save sadly as my account has been deleted but you can see from my notifications the general feel of what my interests outside shipping looks like.

I am interested in a myriad of topics, from literature, Aliens, writing, Harry Potter, history, activism, advocacy, philosophy, law, politics, NASA, and mystery and murder among other things.

My quora is mostly filled with notifications from my Book community and True crime community and often I do share my thoughts and answer questions with regards to the psychology of murderers, legal evidence, notorious villains in literature- well I guess now you know the kind of lawyer I want to be if and when I'm able to complete law school.

But what has my interest in these topics got to do with Jikook and shipping please?? How does this prove I hate Jikook and spread lies about them?

This Kookie Min Monsta person slipped into someone's DMS and asked the person who had put up my video analysis to take it down or discredit me because to her I am problematic. She is not the only one.

You want so bad to paint me black- no pun intended just to win an argument? You claim I am the evil malicious person here but I am not the one sliding into people's dms trying to take credit away from people for their hardwork, spreading hate and negative energy, making things up to manipulate people's perception of others and get them to hate and turn on them- and all because of A SHIP? Damn. This is pathetic.

Who died and made you the gatekeeper of the jikook shipping community? Honestly antics like these don't work on me try again.

I made a video commentary on my Booktube YT account- yes I am part of the book YouTube community as well sue me or better still slip into their inboxes and tell them I voted for Trump therefore I hate chipmunks.

The commentary I made on YT months ago was when I was in the highs of finding a new passion and it was on Ann Rule's book, The Stranger Besides Me- a true crime novel on Ted Bundy which I found so poorly written that at the end of the book it left with me wondering whether or not Ted Bundy was guilty at all!

The Author's writing style which deviates from most writing styles of True Crime novels I have read gave me trust issues as I stated in the video. It felt more as if she was writing a made up fictional novel than an actual True Crime novel but because she knew Ted Bundy in person she made it seem as if we just had to believe her account.

Then there was this whole thing about the police not being able to match the DNA samples taken from his rape victims, to his own Semen because his Semen was DNAless- in lay man's terms. I'll spare you the technicalities involved.

As I stated in that video, I do believe Ted Bundy was guilty but I do not have much faith in the Judicial system, or criminal procedures or even the Author of that book- a sentiment most people within the true crime community share as well. We just had differing views on whether the writer's style took away from the narrative and waters down on the extent of Bundy's guilt.

We had a Similar conversation about Chris Watt. If the community I was engaging in didn't have a problem with my commentary why do you? Please don't meddle in things you know nothing about. It's embarrassing.

The conversation about whether or not Ted Bundy is innocent is moot but a philosophical one. It has nothing to do with Ted Bundy's guilt but more so the criminal procedures involved in his case and the different accounts that exists surrounding his case.

He was electrocuted, he confessed to his crimes no damn person with brains would think or assume he is innocent and I never said anything of that nature drew any conclusions to that effect.

Besides, I moved on from Ted Bundy a long time ago. Now I am into the Serial Killer who writes death poems and signs it off with drawings of the size of his dick at his crime scenes- mind your own business please or don't and let's have an intellectual discourse about him? Lmho.

I am also into cat memes if you care to know and have a whole IG dedicated to cat memes. I believe human beings are the most dumbest species in all the galaxies and when the Aliens arrive I am snitching.

When my mind is at rest, I often wonder if Aliens have masculinity complex and if they do whether or not their masculinity is contingent on the size of their dicks or whether they have to engage in a battle to the death with an alien grizzly bear to determine who is the man.

I love BTS memes too- a little too much and often end up debating over the internet with random people over whether BTS memes are funnier than cat memes- I'm weird, true. But how does all of that make me a bad person?

It's crazy how these people can go on these other platforms to ask people to take down the credits to my posts as well as my posts itself but can't ask people who run to these other platforms with misinterpretations of my work to take those down.

Instead they come on here to call me out for people's interpretations of my work?? It doesn't work that way. You are the author of your own opinion and interpretation of other people's work. You don't call out the original author for someone's opinion of their work. If that were so I would be emailing Stephanie Meyer for Anna Todd and her After series. Get some education.

I have since blocked this person and others whose Tumblr I have been able to find thanks to all those that's helped me finding them on here.

My gf also tried reaching out to the persons who shared my post after we realised this was becoming an issue and had asked them to credit her or my blog- but honestly I don't care about that yet she won't give it a rest. Lol. My ride or die this one. Sigh.

However, we realized soon that this is not about 'stealing' credit- can't call someone out for not giving credit when I suck at that myself. Lol.

This is about people's malicious intentions and their attempts to silence me and take away my right to freedom of expression however way that they can. This is wrong and evil.

I honestly don't care for all these ship politics these people are engaged in. I've had enough intelligent conversations to know the distinction between arguments that flows from bruised egos and actual conversations around a subject matter.

This whole I am right, she is wrong politics... y'all get that the point of having an opinion is not to be right, right? We all cant have the same perspective and you can't call someone a liar for holding views that is different from yours. That is a bizarre mentality to have.

As I stated in my post, that content I made was a rebuttal to the Taekook theories running around on the internet alleging JK glared at Tae when he pulled on his shoulder because he was jealous Tae and Jin were having fun behind him. He wasn't. He was worried Tae was gonna expose him and JM holding hands behind Suga.

If you don't think they were holding hands then Taekookers were right and his reaction was because he was Jealous of Taejin I guess...

But thats your truth. That's not my truth. I don't believe Taekook is real. JK isn't jealous of Taejin he is not Twelve- but then again he was sneaking around behind Suga holding his boyfriend's hands so I guess he is twelve? Lol. Jikook!

Do you.

But please stop the evil malicious attacks and seek immediate help. There is such a thing as right and wrong and this is just plain wrong. Your Karma and chakra are in the negative nodes and you need to fix it. It is not funny anymore.

Thank you to everyone who has shown genuine concerns for me in the past few days and thank you so much for trying to stand up for me. There are good people on here and I have met and interacted with a lot of them and thank you so much for such a wonderful experience and insightful discussions.

I don't hate people because of our differences in thoughts, beliefs, opinions. There's always room for dissenting opinions in every sphere. At the very least, we can agree to disagree and shake on it. But You can't make up shit about people just to prove your opinion is right and their opinions and views which differ from yours are 'wrong.

I am not a victim though, and they are not bullies, psst. They are just vile pathetic human beings exposing the greens of their insides. What you do says more about who you are as a person and human being. And this is who they are.

Just be a nice decent human being. That's what this world needs. Fix whatever is broken inside of you and free your mind and spirit. Hate is never the answer.

I'm going to be away for a while because I have studies, work and other interests I want to pursue at the moment- it's just my AADD flaring up so if you see me henceforth raving about Nana at least you'd know why. Lol. She's wrecking my Jimin bias. Lmho.

Spread positivity, do the right thing, stand up for a good cause and keep supporting Jikook. Jikook is real.

Until we meet again.

Signed,

GOLDY