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Nothing drives me to anger faster than seeing people act like the solution to massive systemic issues (healthcare costs, poverty, etc.) is to simply hyperoptimize every decision in your life. I hate it. A regular person shouldn't need to negotiate with their doctor over the cost of a procedure!

This week I wrestle with a very thorny issue: Should history make us uncomfortable or comfortable? I don't know if I fully came to a conclusion but here are some ideas about using history to teach us morality, how we abdicate responsibility to the past, and how we draw meaning from it.

Should History Make You Uncomfortable?Spend enough time on the internet and it's likely you've come across the sentiment that "history that makes you comfortable isn't history but propaganda." Sometimes it is expressed more bluntly as "hi...among-the-ruins.ghost.io

Interesting! #medievalsky

#medievalsky

Film I've watched more than six times (decided not to do Fury Road, M&C, or Michael Clayton which also rock)

Green Knight WhatAlt: Green Knight: "What else ought there be?"static.klipy.com

The problem with evaluating historical periods is that it often tilts into what I think of as "tier list" debates that use invented and imperfect metrics. Think "who has the best army in the middle ages" or similar. Metrics are very difficult to gauge and use, so opinions can easily differ

I also frequently get people who are really excited when they hear I am a medievalist. People love this stuff and don't let those destroying the humanities convince you otherwise

One of the best activities we had in grad school was to get assigned two books on the fall of Rome, one arguing from the material side for collapse and the other for transformation/continuity. It was easier to reconcile than it may seem, which is good.

#medievalsky

A lot of this has little to do with actual historical reality and more to do with modern preoccupations that Rome = Civilization. If you are deeply invested in that idea then the fall of Rome must be a cataclysmic event. Also tied to ideas that empires are the highest form of govt

I'm not strong enough for another round of Fall of Rome/Dark Ages discourse. No serious medievalist is arguing that the early middle ages was a time of sunshine and roses. This is different than saying it was a time of pure collapse with no "culture" or writing or whatever metric you wanna use

OK can't resist so my 1 take: lots of people here seem to be using that review to justify their already-determined dislike for Nolan or his movies. You can just dislike him, its fine you don't need permission

Day 2: Resist the urge to post challenge

More heated Odyssey discourse?

I do in fact need to reshare this every time I see it

'Taxation is theft!' Cool let me know what type of cake you want for your 10th birthday

Fundamentally this is the only solution to gotchas that seek total ideological coherence

As usual @aselrod.bsky.social is one of my favorite writers

My plea to social media is to be generous, be a generous reader, engage generously. Instead of assuming something is in bad faith, problematic, etc. Especially when you don't have all the information about what is going on behind the scenes.

I don't think you should need to have three security questions for an online ebook platform