But, but, but… They all wore black suits!
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When it was clear that Margaret Thatcher was losing her marbles, a respected backbench MP (Sir Anthony Meyer) was persuaded to run against her - not to win but to demonstrate that it was time to change.
Thatcher’s supporters went to various journalists to tell them that Meyer had a mistress, which was supposed to discredit him.
The journalists knew that Meyer’s wife was bedridden with an incurable illness, and refused to publish the story.
And that is an example of how things have in some ways gone backwards since the late 1980s.
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Yes, @MarjaE, that’s even better than Joyce’s, “history is a nightmare from which I’m trying to awake.” Wow.
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I fucking like that one too!
Jesus, I need better quotes about history!
I like the “history isn’t even past” and “history is a foreign country” and also marx’s “history weights like a nightmare on the brains of the living” (paraphrasing, obvs).
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What the hell do they teach you in history school?
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I mean, how to understand historians and to conduct research! Clearly, GSU needs a graduate class solely devoted to cool quotes about history!
[ETA] Maybe this needs it’s own thread?
Apparently, it did - Thanks @MarjaE !
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Barbara Kingsolver aims for the vitals.
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Yisssssss!
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One quibble:
If any contract between men required the non-white one to adopt the legal identity of his Caucasian companion, would we pop the champagne? If any sport wholly excluded people of colour, would it fill stadiums throughout the land? Would we attend a church whose sacred texts consign Latinos to inferior roles? What about galas where black and Asian participants must wear painful shoes and clothes that reveal lots of titillating, well-toned flesh while white people turn up comfortably covered?
The answer to that is, sadly, yes.
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Sure, but she’s aiming at the people who think they’re moderates in that paragraph. The people who think they’re nice and polite and we’ve moved on and things are so much better now.
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The answer to all of that is, been there done that got the t-shirt.
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That’s why it’s only a quibble, but I couldn’t remain comfortable with ignoring it. It doesn’t undermine the whole argument, but we can (and should!) do better.
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For reference, there is a sad group (who knows, maybe of one) calling themselves the SFF GUILD (not to be confused with SFWA) running around trying to convince writers that they ought to be “less political” in their SF/F stories and “focus on telling good stories”. Those familar with the Hugos: puppies, basically. Butthurt whiners who are sad that wimmins and POCs have invaded their sacred space (somehow oblivious that SF/F is the most political genre going, outside of political writing).
Please enjoy this epic response (see the entire thread):
And buy her books, because she is a good writer, not just because it will make sad puppies even sadder. The Wayward Children series is my favourite.
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Ah well, there goes The Odyssey, The Iliad, The Jungle Book*, all of Mark Twain, Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov…and that’s just the first thirty seconds of thinking about it.
*Edit - the Jungle Books contain, among other things, an attack on seal hunting, and an account of the use of animals in war which begins cheerfully and then gets darker and darker.
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And interesting stuff here:
https://www.abctales.com/story/lailoken/rise-and-fall-goddess-and-descent-woman
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Bookmarked for an in-depth look at. Kali is the goddess of both creation and destruction of maya, so in a very loose sense the ruler of this world.
Interesting as a 50 000ft overview.
I have occasionally wondered if the takeover by men happened when fighting became organised and specific weapons were developed, at the time that early civilisations started to become socially and functionally stratified. Ireland and Scotland were not “civilised” until historically very late and the Tain Bo Cuailnge describes a society in which men fight (and steal cattle) but women very much run society and the number of Irish queens, goddesses etc. (The Morrigain, Brigit, Medb, Edain and Niamh being perhaps the most famous) suggest a gradual emergence from more of a matriarchy. But I’m probably overspeculating.
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First words to my mind:
“Let me interrupt your confidence with actual facts. Or a good left hook. Your choice.”
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