Things That Are Wrong With Common 'Knowledge'.

[Conserative Morality]

Well, they did carve out a state, pushed Austria out of Germany, helped beat up Napoleon, took the Alsace-Lorraine, almost won WW1, murdered a bunch of Jews, and took over a bunch of Europe. Though thats only the basics I know. Maybe its because they've always been obsessed with military excellence and, as Frederick the First said, "The most beautiful girl or woman in the world would be a matter of indifference to me, but tall soldiers - they are my weakness." He liked tall soldiers, so that kinda makes him seem warmongering I'd guess.

By the same measure, Britain carved out a State, tried to conquer France, brutally conquered hundreds of foreign cultures, started literal drug wars with sovereign nations, murdered a bunch of natives, and took over a great deal of the world.

Yet the British are almost never condemned like the Germans are.

[Yootwopia]

Haters gonna hate.

[Bombadil]

By the same measure, Britain carved out a State, tried to conquer France, brutally conquered hundreds of foreign cultures, started literal drug wars with sovereign nations, murdered a bunch of natives, and took over a great deal of the world.

Yet the British are almost never condemned like the Germans are.

Baldrick: The thing is: The way I see it, these days there's a war on, right? and, ages ago, there wasn't a war on, right? So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away, right? and there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?

Edmund: Do you mean "Why did the war start?"

Baldrick: Yeah.

George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.

Edmund: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.

Pretty much everything about WW1 can be summed up in a Blackadder Goes Forth quote..

[Isolated China]

Well, they did carve out a state, pushed Austria out of Germany, helped beat up Napoleon, took the Alsace-Lorraine, almost won WW1, murdered a bunch of Jews, and took over a bunch of Europe. Though thats only the basics I know. Maybe its because they've always been obsessed with military excellence and, as Frederick the First said, "The most beautiful girl or woman in the world would be a matter of indifference to me, but tall soldiers - they are my weakness." He liked tall soldiers, so that kinda makes him seem warmongering I'd guess.

By the same measure, Britain carved out a State, tried to conquer France, brutally conquered hundreds of foreign cultures, started literal drug wars with sovereign nations, murdered a bunch of natives, and took over a great deal of the world.

Yet the British are almost never condemned like the Germans are.

Stupid Propagandists and their Jewish influences. NOT ALL GERMAN PEOPLE ARE BAD YA KNOW!

[Alqania]

I study languages, so I wouldn't know where to start describing people's misconceptions - there are a lot of things that people hold true about languages that aren't. One of my favourites though is the tendency for people no matter what their native language is to believe that their language is particularly hard to learn as a second language. In reality, a language cannot be of any objective difficulty to learn as a second language; the difficulty is determined by such factors as the learner's native language, method, motivation and skill/talent/verbal intelligence.

[Ramaguka]

I have a nasty habit of forgetting Byzantium outside of a Middle Eastern context

I think 'common knowledge' in general has that habit. 'History' starts in Egypt (or Israel) and then steadily progresses westward, through Greece and Rome to Western Europe and Britain, before hopping the Atlantic to America.

Not picking on you at all here; it's simply that your comment got me thinking about this.

[Demonatrix]

We were being treated better than Ireland?

Yes. By a long way. Americans paid basically no tax on anything, had some opportunities to rise above any serfdom they were born into (unless they were black, obv.), and had some level of autonomy.

Ireland was British territory (meaning British levels of taxation), was owned largely by landlords on the mainland, and was also close enough to the UK to be extremely badly-run, because it was only ever a very short boat trip away from Northwest England.

Owned largely by the anglo-irish gentry, families like the Wellesley's, such as Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (you might have heard of him, he was, apparently, quite famous).

[Tahar Joblis]

I have a nasty habit of forgetting Byzantium outside of a Middle Eastern context

I think 'common knowledge' in general has that habit. 'History' starts in Egypt (or Israel) and then steadily progresses westward, through Greece and Rome to Western Europe and Britain, before hopping the Atlantic to America.

Not picking on you at all here; it's simply that your comment got me thinking about this.

Ironically, I overheard a fellow graduate student describing exactly this to an undergraduate - that all civilizations moved westward over time.

[Demonatrix]

I think 'common knowledge' in general has that habit. 'History' starts in Egypt (or Israel) and then steadily progresses westward, through Greece and Rome to Western Europe and Britain, before hopping the Atlantic to America.

Not picking on you at all here; it's simply that your comment got me thinking about this.

Ironically, I overheard a fellow graduate student describing exactly this to an undergraduate - that all civilizations moved westward over time.

I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who think that "qualified members of academia" are always right, even in fields that they have no qualifications in or knowledge of.

[Horsefish]

Pretty much everything about WW1 can be summed up in a Blackadder Goes Forth quote..

All the misconceptions yes.

[Jagalonia]

It was called the 'Dark Ages' because the rate of scientific advancement declined rapidly, IIRC....

I actually challenge that statement as being "common knowledge" that is incorrect.

The period between the fall of Rome and the rise of the new European states was rife with advances in military technology in Europe, and saw the rise of the first universities and the foundation of new nation-states. In the Arab world, after the Muslim expansions, science and medicine flourished beyond that of old Rome, and some of these scientific advances found their way into Western Europe. Most of the "Renaissance" was built upon Dark Age and Medieval foundations.

I didn't say there wasn't ANY scientific development, there just wasn't as much.

[The Shrailleeni Empire]

I think 'common knowledge' in general has that habit. 'History' starts in Egypt (or Israel) and then steadily progresses westward, through Greece and Rome to Western Europe and Britain, before hopping the Atlantic to America.

Not picking on you at all here; it's simply that your comment got me thinking about this.

Ironically, I overheard a fellow graduate student describing exactly this to an undergraduate - that all civilizations moved westward over time.

This makes me sad on the inside where my soul is. At least I'm aware of my academic shortcomings

I actually challenge that statement as being "common knowledge" that is incorrect.

The period between the fall of Rome and the rise of the new European states was rife with advances in military technology in Europe, and saw the rise of the first universities and the foundation of new nation-states. In the Arab world, after the Muslim expansions, science and medicine flourished beyond that of old Rome, and some of these scientific advances found their way into Western Europe. Most of the "Renaissance" was built upon Dark Age and Medieval foundations.

I didn't say there wasn't ANY scientific development, there just wasn't as much.

True. I guess it's more of a "we just shouldn't call it the Dark Ages" thing.

[Rationallia]

hippees

[Seperates]

It was called the 'Dark Ages' because the rate of scientific advancement declined rapidly, IIRC....

I actually challenge that statement as being "common knowledge" that is incorrect.

The period between the fall of Rome and the rise of the new European states was rife with advances in military technology in Europe, and saw the rise of the first universities and the foundation of new nation-states. In the Arab world, after the Muslim expansions, science and medicine flourished beyond that of old Rome, and some of these scientific advances found their way into Western Europe. Most of the "Renaissance" was built upon Dark Age and Medieval foundations.

The period known as the "Dark Ages" is more commonly known as the "European Dark Ages". Everywhere else was progressing smoothly enough, but inquiry and philisophical development outside of the Catholic Church in Europe came to a practical stand-still for much of what is considered to be the "Post-Roman Period" which also encompasses the "Arabic Golden Age".

However, I find contention with the idea that "science" flourished during these time periods as "science" hadn't even been established. Modern science is the elaboration on and the expansion on the methods for observation and inquiry established and propogated by Francis Bacon. The methodology's soundness was confirmed by it's application to physics by Galileo Galilei, in confirmation of Copernican theory. Before the expansion of it, "science" was not performed, what was performed is refered to as "natural philisophy", which can apply from anything to mathematics, early forms of medicinal trials, or even theology. If it does not follow the method, it is not, by definition, science.

[The Anti-Cosmic Gods]

Haters gonna hate.

I have a question for the limeys- when everyone is kicking dirt on America and talking about what awful imperialists we are...do you guys miss it a little?

[The Shrailleeni Empire]

I actually challenge that statement as being "common knowledge" that is incorrect.

The period between the fall of Rome and the rise of the new European states was rife with advances in military technology in Europe, and saw the rise of the first universities and the foundation of new nation-states. In the Arab world, after the Muslim expansions, science and medicine flourished beyond that of old Rome, and some of these scientific advances found their way into Western Europe. Most of the "Renaissance" was built upon Dark Age and Medieval foundations.

The period known as the "Dark Ages" is more commonly known as the "European Dark Ages". Everywhere else was progressing smoothly enough, but inquiry and philisophical development outside of the Catholic Church in Europe came to a practical stand-still for much of what is considered to be the "Post-Roman Period" which also encompasses the "Arabic Golden Age".

However, I find contention with the idea that "science" flourished during these time periods as "science" hadn't even been established. Modern science is the elaboration on and the expansion on the methods for observation and inquiry established and propogated by Francis Bacon. The methodology's soundness was confirmed by it's application to physics by Galileo Galilei, in confirmation of Copernican theory. Before the expansion of it, "science" was not performed, what was performed is refered to as "natural philisophy", which can apply from anything to mathematics, early forms of medicinal trials, or even theology. If it does not follow the method, it is not, by definition, science.

I'm just going to keep the whole quote, but focussing on the science issue, I was implicitly refering to natural philosophy, acknowledging that methodology would not become commonplace until later. So, yes, not science.

[Kalysk]

Haters gonna hate.

I have a question for the limeys- when everyone is kicking dirt on America and talking about what awful imperialists we are...do you guys miss it a little?

They love the abuse.

/nods

[Demonatrix]

Haters gonna hate.

I have a question for the limeys- when everyone is kicking dirt on America and talking about what awful imperialists we are...do you guys miss it a little?

To under stand the british empire, you have to understand what conditions were like in britain...

A man stands in a narrow doorway, sheltering from the pouring rain, smoking a rollup of matchstick thinness, trying with eye watering effort to draw air through the soggy stick of damp tobacco mixed with wood shavings...

He watches dispassionately as a dead dog floats down the gutter, then lifts his head at the sound of footsteps eching along the narrow alley like excuse for a street...

A fat sergeant, decked out in a splendid scarlet coat, and a peaked cocked hat, dripping with campaign medals appears followed by a gagle of recruits, and two corporals with drum and Colours, strides up the street...

"Roll up my fine lads, join the South Middenshire regiment of foot, it's a mans life in the Army... Hey you there, fancy a stint serving your country?"

"Don't be daft, why would I enlist..."

"Well, you gets a fine spanking uniform, free boots, 3 squares a day, a roof over your head, and a rifle and bayonette, regular pay, and the chance to give johnny foreigner a bloody good and well deserved kicking..."

"A suit I dont have to share, dry boots, free grub, and beer money? Whats the catch?"

"Well you has to go off to Klatchistan, and fight the foreign foe... Thousands of em, but it aint that bad, cos they is savages, waving spears, and you gets a fine rifle..."

"What have those heathen devils done to me that I should go and kill em?"

"You may well ask, they eats fresh fruit every day, it only rains once a year, and the rain is warm, and they has four wives each..."

"What, fruit EVERY day, without having to pick it out of the gutter when some toff has finished with it? Warm rain?"

He looks up at the clouds...

"Sods, still 4 wives..." He thinks about his Doris, indoors and visibly shudders...

"Oh they aint proper wives, they is all nubile, from some place called Nubilia, exports licky teenage girls dressed in two saucepan lids and a couple of hankies..."

The man stares...

"Bastards... They need sorting out, where do I sign..."

"Here ya go, just make yer mark here in the company ledger... Thats the ticket... and hers yer enlistment bonus, 10 quid, thats 6 months wages, and Her Majesty will stand you some free beer at the pub tonight before we move on to the next town... Your one of my little lads now and I will look after you..."

And so the man marches off, to make the world England, bringing enlightenment, and proper trousers to the darkest regions of the earth, teaching the natives to speak a proper language instead of that heathen foreign gabble, and drink tea, and play cricket and not mind losing, to take their hats off to women, and give names to dogs...

And later, in some forsaken mountainous dunghole filled with superstitious savages, some pettey hill chieftain stares in awe and asks...

"Are you Gods?"

"No, we're Englishmen, which is the next best thing..."

Problem is, as the song says, "Britons never shall be slaves..." so, once we taught the natives to be like us, to be British, they would never be slaves either, part of somebody elses empire... So now they wear their proper british trousers, on proper british railways, traveling to their proper british universities, to learn how evil we British are, and join the cricket team so they can beat us at our own game...

But... We're British, we don't mind losing at cricket... It's how the game is played...

[West Failure]

"Well, you gets a fine spanking uniform, free boots, 3 squares a day, a roof over your head, and a rifle and bayonette, regular pay, and the chance to give johnny foreigner a bloody good and well deserved kicking..."

See now I have an image of the Battle of Waterloo being won by men dressed as schoolgirls.

[Demonatrix]

"Well, you gets a fine spanking uniform, free boots, 3 squares a day, a roof over your head, and a rifle and bayonette, regular pay, and the chance to give johnny foreigner a bloody good and well deserved kicking..."

See now I have an image of the Battle of Waterloo being won by men dressed as schoolgirls.

"Now my brothers, it is time to rise up, our curvy swordsat the necks of those sons of dogs of the female persuasion..."

*honk screech parp*

"...what in the seven hells is that noise? sounds like a cat trying to go to the toilet through a sewn up bumhole..."

"... The DEVILS IN SKIRTS! Flee my brothers... To the hills..."

"See yez Jimmy, tak a face ful'o HEID..."

*smack*

Ah, regional speciality terror troops... Yeah we had plenty of those...

[Zanarkenisia]

See now I have an image of the Battle of Waterloo being won by men dressed as schoolgirls.

"Now my brothers, it is time to rise up, our curvy swordsat the necks of those sons of dogs of the female persuasion..."

*honk screech parp*
Battle of Waterloo's Ladies from hell.

"...what in the seven hells is that noise? sounds like a cat trying to go to the toilet through a sewn up bumhole..."

"... The DEVILS IN SKIRTS! Flee my brothers... To the hills..."

"See yez Jimmy, tak a face ful'o HEID..."

*smack*

Ah, regional speciality terror troops... Yeah we had plenty of those...