RWDT XX: The System Is Kapp Putsch

[Cisairse]

The Aksumite Empire was undoubtedly an empire and I have no idea why anyone would deny this, other than racism.

With all due respect to the Ethiopian people, casually glancing at a map of the Aksumite Empire suggests that it wasn't larger in area than the average modern European nation-state.

Many of which would have been considered empires in 100 CE.

[The Archbishopric of York]

The Aksumite Empire was undoubtedly an empire and I have no idea why anyone would deny this, other than racism.

With all due respect to the Ethiopian people, casually glancing at a map of the Aksumite Empire suggests that it wasn't larger in area than the average modern European nation-state.

It is not the size of the territory ruled that determines whether a state is an empire or not, and anyway I suspect that you are underestimating the area covered by Aksum as a consequence of maps generally showing the African continent as much smaller relative to other continents than it is in reality.

[Nakena]

With all due respect to the Ethiopian people, casually glancing at a map of the Aksumite Empire suggests that it wasn't larger in area than the average modern European nation-state.

It is not the size of the territory ruled that determines whether a state is an empire or not, and anyway I suspect that you are underestimating the area covered by Aksum as a consequence of maps generally showing the African continent as much smaller relative to other continents than it is in reality.

Very much so. The total size of the Aksum Empire would be roughly half across continental europe from the french atlantic coast way into Poland.

Here, this will demonstrate this very effectively: https://thetruesize.com/

A lot of people might be suprised.

[Bear Stearns]

The Politics of Rap and their Implications
Cek Oviu
Miss Lenhart - 5th period

The primary obstacles to the demonstration of whether rap is left- or right-wing are defining rap itself and defining left- and right-wing. So as to not expend much time on this relatively trivial issue, allow me the privilege of using Merriam-Webster’s definition for rap music: “a type of music of African American origin in which rhythmic and usually rhyming speech is chanted to a musical accompaniment,” with well-known representatives of this genre including Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Drake, Kanye West, and Snoop Dogg.

The definitions of left- and right-wing are harder to settle upon. They originally meant the location in which members of the French National Assembly would sit during the French Revolution, but seeing as relatively few rappers were members of the French National Assembly in the late 18th century, we can’t really use that definition. Instead, I will use a modern definition: we will consider left-wing to mean “broadly opposed to hierarchy” and right-wing to mean “broadly in favor of hierarchy.”

One immediate issue in trying to identify rap as right-wing that a sharp reader might notice is that rap frequently opposes governments, particularly police (“Fuck tha Police,” “How to Kill a Cop,” “Coffee, Donuts, & Death,” etc.). It is important to remember that hierarchy need not be legal in origin, lest anarcho-capitalists be suddenly redefined as left-wing.

Let us then turn our attention to social hierarchy, which is prevalent in parts in rap music. In particular, rap is well known for its extreme widespread sexism. Late 20th century gangsta rap is rife with descriptions of physical and sexual assault against women portrayed positively. A variety of later studies have exposed systemic misogyny in rap music, to the point that much rap can be clearly read as an endorsement of patriarchy, that is, male supremacy towards women. Rap was and to a lesser extent is frequently homophobic, decrying homosexuals and implying that heterosexuals are superior. Yet simultaneously — see the study linked previously — rap often endorses racial equality (some scholars argue that it promotes racist stereotypes of black people, but this is not the internal intention, so I will not consider this here). Clearly it’s not blanketly pro-social hierarchy if it generally supports racial and ethnic equality, so it isn’t hard-right, per se.

So what’s special about gender and sex? Why are these the issues where seemingly leftlibby rappers turn to hierarchy? I would argue that rap is merely a reflection of the culture of the lower classes in American inner cities; the sexism in rap is not something about rap, but betrays our patriarchal and heteronormative culture. Rap isn’t right- or left-wing, per se, because it is a merely a product of the culture in which it is created, a culture which is fundamentally syncretic, containing right-wing and left-wing influences — the sexism in rap is simply reflecting cultural vestiges of patriarchy, the support for racial and economic equality is a reaction to the socioeconomic oppression that has created such a distinct inner-city culture. The question we should be asking of rap is not whether it is right-wing, but how and why it is.

What is the solution to the right-wing ideals of rap? Since it is merely a reflection of culture, we need to change the surrounding culture. The misogynistic underpinnings of so much rap are a result of the pervasive American rape culture, so we must erase this. Sexual assault and rape can be reduced by the following:

• Ban alcohol and continue to keep recreational drugs illegal.
• Comprehensive sex education including robust discussions of consent.
• Crack down on the solicitation of prostitution in these heavily affected areas.

Further solutions for issues either unintentionally betrayed by or intentionally called out by rap:

• Reduce socioeconomic inequality by implementing socialism, universal basic income, universal healthcare, and/or higher taxes on the wealthy.
• Improve education in poor areas through resource reallocation and/or increased taxes to better fund schools.
• Increase barriers to acquisition of deadly weapons such as guns.
• Disband and reform the police and increase police force size to improve community relations, stop racial profiling, and better enforce laws.

In summary, rap is not entirely right-wing, but a deeper analysis of the politics of the genre reveal important and perhaps uncomfortable facts about our culture.

(709 words)

you are two for two

[Bear Stearns]

Deadline is Friday 23:59 BST

what if my essay is a rap song

[Bear Stearns]

Someone edited the Wikipedia page of Alexander Soros (son of George Soros) to say that he is a chad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Soros

[Fahran]

Someone edited the Wikipedia page of Alexander Soros (son of George Soros) to say that he is a chad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Soros

They made the article more accurate.

[Cekoviu]

Someone edited the Wikipedia page of Alexander Soros (son of George Soros) to say that he is a chad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Soros

i'm fucking dying, whoever did this deserves the presidential medal of freedom

[Mostrov]

Would you translate?

I could, but it being the most famous of Horace's works I thought there were enough translations readily availible—superior to what I could give—such that there was no need. If it is something that doesn't have a readily available translation, I would. Besides, everyone of some education should have some knowledge of Latin and Greek.

The ode is also slightly longer than what I gave, but it the second part is often omitted where he carries on about virtues:

Virtus, repulsae nescia sordidae,
intaminatis fulget honoribus
nec sumit aut ponit securis
arbitrio popularis aurae.

Virtus, recludens inmeritis mori
caelum, negata temptat iter via
coetusque volgaris et udam
spernit humum fugiente pinna.

Est et fideli tuta silentio
merces: vetabo, qui Cereris sacrum
volgarit arcanae, sub isdem
sit trabibus fragilemque mecum

solvat phaselon; saepe Diespiter
neglectus incesto addidit integrum,
raro antecedentem scelestum
deservit pede Poena claudo.

Horace?

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

I believe the Great War served to reshape the relationship between man and violence in a way that often goes unappreciated outside of academic circles today. A lot of the luster that had clung to the idea of war throughout the classical and medieval periods began to crack around the time artillery and accurate rifles became the go-to tools of the battlefield. That's not especially surprising given that the Iliad seems to speak to the dual nature of war, even in antiquity, with heroism and loss intermingled. And this is made more poignant by Achilles's lament in the Odyssey that "it would be better to have been a tenant farmer than king of all these notable shades."

While Japan didn't experience this shift in the same way as Europe, I find it difficult to believe that the average person, or indeed even the average soldier, could not feel the pang of regret that comes with sitting in a hole or plane and waiting to die for a cause that has become hopeless would engender. To the Greeks, war was almost a sport. If your phalanx didn't break, very few people would die. If it did break and you ran away, at most, thirty percent of you and your brothers-in-arms might be killed. It was a contest of physique and will. With modern warfare, the casualties are truly horrendous. Hundreds if not thousands of people dying of disease, poison gas, chemical weapons, aerial bombings, artillery barrages - and, more, there's often nothing they personally can do about it. They can't even fool themselves into thinking they have control.

The reason I quoted the poem in full rather than simply a couplet is because it speaks more broadly of the virtues needed for a soldier, and the expectation that war would shape people in a profound way. Horace is maligned because of blind patriotism, but I think he is really showing more nuance than that here:

Angustam amice pauperiem pati robustus acri militia puer condiscat et Parthos ferocis vexet eques metuendus hasta vitamque sub divo et trepidis agat	"A youngster should be toughened by the rigours of a soldier’s life, and learn how to put up with the constraints of poverty cheerfully." War is here seen as a necessary part of manhood, due to the realities of the times, and one part in which suffering is to to expected of it
— eheu, ne rudis agminum sponsus lacessat regius asperum tactu leonem, quem cruenta per medias rapit ira caedes.	"O that my princely fiancé, who has no experience of battle, may not provoke the lion that is savage to the touch and whose rage for blood sends him rampaging through the thick of the carnage!" The monstrosity of war in what it does to man is can be seen here, as well as its loss upon those affected at home.
mors et fugacem persequitur virum nec parcit inbellis iuventae poplitibus timidove tergo.	"Death hunts down also the man who runs away, and has no mercy on the hamstrings of the unwarlike youth and his cowardly back." Far from the sanguinary exultation you would expect after such famous lines, instead he realizes fully the idea of innocence lost and unnecessary death as a part of war, if not life.

Translation stolen from Loeb (for times) sake by Niall Rudd.

Now, let us examine the Iliad, a useful text, as it would have been most, if not all, Greeks first encounter with warfare. In it you have plague, the murder of innocents, capture of slaves, bereavement over lost sons and, throughout it all, the most explicit depictions of violence: spears are thrust through brains and out again of the helms that were supposed to protect them; they cut through jaws such that tongues loll side-by-side. The phrase 'bite the dust' comes from a literal (if one can speak of it as such) Greek idiom made on the inglorious death of a warrior has when falling to the ground, when there are countless mentions of the world fading to black. Warfare was as bleak then as it was now, if not more so because now we have sanitized it killing at a distance by press of a button or the pulling of a trigger in order to kill someone; the world of heroic poetry involved a very literal butchery with great bronze knives, blood and gore being showered on any victor in their triumph.

I am reminded of the death of Lycaon in Book XXI of the Iliad, he, a noble son of Priam, had previously been ransomed by Achilles, and, a poor warrior, again finds him at his mercy, disarmed and naked. Running under the spear shot of Achilles, Lycoan clasps his legs and begs: citing the previous civility of the war, his parents and the short and wretched life he has led. Achilles, now at the height of his fury (before his battle with the river Xanthus) shows no pity and, indeed, nothing will now slake Achilles' thirst for blood. Realizing his entreaties are in vain, he lays his neck before the blade and dies a pathetic death. There is no glory in this, only inhuman brutality.

ὣς ἄρα μιν Πριάμοιο προσηύδα φαίδιμος υἱὸς
‘λισσόμενος ἐπέεσσιν, ἀμείλικτον δ᾽ ὄπ᾽ ἄκουσε:
νήπιε μή μοι ἄποινα πιφαύσκεο μηδ᾽ ἀγόρευε:
[100] πρὶν μὲν γὰρ Πάτροκλον ἐπισπεῖν αἴσιμον ἦμαρ
τόφρά τί μοι πεφιδέσθαι ἐνὶ φρεσὶ φίλτερον ἦεν
Τρώων, καὶ πολλοὺς ζωοὺς ἕλον ἠδ᾽ ἐπέρασσα:
νῦν δ᾽ οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅς τις θάνατον φύγῃ ὅν κε θεός γε
Ἰλίου προπάροιθεν ἐμῇς ἐν χερσὶ βάλῃσι
[105] καὶ πάντων Τρώων, περὶ δ᾽ αὖ Πριάμοιό γε παίδων.
ἀλλὰ φίλος θάνε καὶ σύ: τί ἦ ὀλοφύρεαι οὕτως;
κάτθανε καὶ Πάτροκλος, ὅ περ σέο πολλὸν ἀμείνων.
οὐχ ὁράᾳς οἷος καὶ ἐγὼ καλός τε μέγας τε;
πατρὸς δ᾽ εἴμ᾽ ἀγαθοῖο, θεὰ δέ με γείνατο μήτηρ:
[110] ἀλλ᾽ ἔπι τοι καὶ ἐμοὶ θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή:
ἔσσεται ἢ ἠὼς ἢ δείλη ἢ μέσον ἦμαρ
ὁππότε τις καὶ ἐμεῖο Ἄρῃ ἐκ θυμὸν ἕληται
ἢ ὅ γε δουρὶ βαλὼν ἢ ἀπὸ νευρῆφιν ὀϊστῷ.

ὣς φάτο, τοῦ δ᾽ αὐτοῦ λύτο γούνατα καὶ φίλον ἦτορ:
[115] ἔγχος μέν ῥ᾽ ἀφέηκεν, ὃ δ᾽ ἕζετο χεῖρε πετάσσας
ἀμφοτέρας: Ἀχιλεὺς δὲ ἐρυσσάμενος ξίφος ὀξὺ
τύψε κατὰ κληῗδα παρ᾽ αὐχένα, πᾶν δέ οἱ εἴσω
δῦ ξίφος ἄμφηκες: ὃ δ᾽ ἄρα πρηνὴς ἐπὶ γαίῃ
κεῖτο ταθείς, ἐκ δ᾽ αἷμα μέλαν ῥέε, δεῦε δὲ γαῖαν.
[120] τὸν δ᾽ Ἀχιλεὺς ποταμὸν δὲ λαβὼν ποδὸς ἧκε φέρεσθαι,
καί οἱ ἐπευχόμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντ᾽ ἀγόρευεν:
‘ἐνταυθοῖ νῦν κεῖσο μετ᾽ ἰχθύσιν, οἵ σ᾽ ὠτειλὴν
αἷμ᾽ ἀπολιχμήσονται ἀκηδέες: οὐδέ σε μήτηρ
ἐνθεμένη λεχέεσσι γοήσεται, ἀλλὰ Σκάμανδρος
[125] οἴσει δινήεις εἴσω ἁλὸς εὐρέα κόλπον:
θρῴσκων τις κατὰ κῦμα μέλαιναν φρῖχ᾽ ὑπαΐξει
ἰχθύς, ὅς κε φάγῃσι Λυκάονος ἀργέτα δημόν.
φθείρεσθ᾽ εἰς ὅ κεν ἄστυ κιχείομεν Ἰλίου ἱρῆς
ὑμεῖς μὲν φεύγοντες, ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὄπιθεν κεραΐζων.
[130] οὐδ᾽ ὑμῖν ποταμός περ ἐΰρροος ἀργυροδίνης
ἀρκέσει, ᾧ δὴ δηθὰ πολέας ἱερεύετε ταύρους,
ζωοὺς δ᾽ ἐν δίνῃσι καθίετε μώνυχας ἵππους.
ἀλλὰ καὶ ὧς ὀλέεσθε κακὸν μόρον, εἰς ὅ κε πάντες
τίσετε Πατρόκλοιο φόνον καὶ λοιγὸν Ἀχαιῶν,
135οὓς ἐπὶ νηυσὶ θοῇσιν ἐπέφνετε νόσφιν ἐμεῖο.

So spake to him the glorious son of Priam with words of entreaty, but all ungentle was the voice he heard: “Fool, tender not ransom to me, neither make harangue.
[100]Until Patroclus met his day of fate, even till then was it more pleasing to me to spare the Trojans, and full many I took alive and sold oversea; but now is there not one that shall escape death, whomsoever before the walls of Ilios God shall deliver into my hands—
[105] aye, not one among all the Trojans, and least of all among the sons of Priam. Nay, friend, do thou too die; why lamentest thou thus? Patroclus also died, who was better far than thou. And seest thou not what manner of man am I, how comely and how tall? A good man was my father, and a goddess the mother that bare me; yet over me too hang death and mighty fate.
[110] There shall come a dawn or eve or mid-day, when my life too shall some man take in battle, whether he smite me with cast of the spear, or with an arrow from the string.” So spake he, and the other's knees were loosened where he was and his heart was melted.
[115] The spear he let go, but crouched with both hands outstretched. But Achilles drew his sharp sword and smote him upon the collar-bone beside the neck, and all the two-edged sword sank in; and prone upon the earth he lay outstretched, and the dark blood flowed forth and wetted the ground.
[120] Him then Achilles seized by the foot and flung into the river to go his way, and vaunting over him he spake winged words: “Lie there now among the fishes that shall lick the blood from thy wound, nor reck aught of thee,1 neither shall thy mother lay thee on a bier and make lament;
[125] nay, eddying Scamander shall bear thee into the broad gulf of the sea. Many a fish as he leapeth amid the waves, shall dart up beneath the black ripple to eat the white fat of Lycaon. So perish ye, till we be come to the city of sacred Ilios, ye in flight, and I making havoc in your rear.
[130] Not even the fair-flowing river with his silver eddies shall aught avail you, albeit to him, I ween, ye have long time been wont to sacrifice bulls full many, and to cast single-hooved horses while yet they lived.2 into his eddies. Howbeit even so shall ye perish by an evil fate till ye have all paid the price for the slaying of Patroclus and for the woe of the Achaeans,
[135] whom by the swift ships ye slew while I tarried afar.”

—English Translation by A.T. Murray, 1924

Even the later 'more civilized' age of the Hoplite was full of barbarities; the savagery of the Peloponnesian war bears testament to this, with lengthy seiges, insurgencies, civil wars, mass enslavements and so on; though it is a discursion that I feel no desire to elaborate on.

On Wilfred Owen, I am of the rather strong opinion that he should have been damned to be forgotten for the creation of such demoralizing works. While no doubt the Great War was terrible in its horror, he has helped create an image of war itself as something that is horrible even when noblest sentiments are involved ('I ought to protect the innocent') and also has led to both the image of incompetency, at least among the British Commanders and upper-class (who ironically suffered proportionally the highest casualties) due to the attritional nature of the war and that horror and suffering were unique to this modern war. In saying this, the examples I gave with both Horace and Homer serve to show that they had many of the same themes in their culture, yet weren't cowed into thinking that because something is terrible that it must be avoided at all costs, as appeasement was the prove so disastrously for England.

On the original subject of the Japanese Kamikazes, I think, for all the varied evidence that has been provided, it was still an act of upmost valor in defending their countries by giving their lives in the most literal sense of sacrifice. I would go so far as to say I see some of the same sort of nobility in suicide bombers (who it might be reminded are not purely Islamic); though I think it an uncivilized mode of warfare.

Forgot about this...

Archaic Period

(Image)


But it's not an Imperial era though.

The Classical era showed the greatest vitality, indeed, quite possibly of any civilization ever. Borders come and go, but literature, history and science are immortal.

[Questarian New Yorkshire]

Deadline is Friday 23:59 BST

what if my essay is a rap song

All submissions will be accepted

[Novus America]

It is not the size of the territory ruled that determines whether a state is an empire or not, and anyway I suspect that you are underestimating the area covered by Aksum as a consequence of maps generally showing the African continent as much smaller relative to other continents than it is in reality.

Very much so. The total size of the Aksum Empire would be roughly half across continental europe from the french atlantic coast way into Poland.

Here, this will demonstrate this very effectively: https://thetruesize.com/

A lot of people might be suprised.

I blame Gerardus Mercator for our screwed of geographical perceptions.

[Cekoviu]

what if my essay is a rap song

All submissions will be accepted

note: i will alert the cultural appropriation police if bear stearns does so, so tread lightly

[Hanafuridake]

Dalai Lamas vs Tsars which had the better aesthetic?

I don't even know what Dalai Lama aesthetics look like.

[Italios]

All submissions will be accepted

note: i will alert the cultural appropriation police if bear stearns does so, so tread lightly

lol i think i found bear stern's track

[Cekoviu]

note: i will alert the cultural appropriation police if bear stearns does so, so tread lightly

lol i think i found bear stern's track

truth hurts, doesn't it bear?

[Questarian New Yorkshire]

imagine listenign to things that arent vaporwave or chillhop

or teh soundtrack of a 1990s civil war movie etc.

[Bear Stearns]

lol i think i found bear stern's track

truth hurts, doesn't it bear?

Just wait and see

[Cekoviu]

imagine listenign to things that arent vaporwave or chillhop

or teh soundtrack of a 1990s civil war movie etc.

>not listening exclusively to folk music
smdh i expected better

[Questarian New Yorkshire]

imagine listenign to things that arent vaporwave or chillhop

or teh soundtrack of a 1990s civil war movie etc.

>not listening exclusively to folk music
smdh i expected better

i feel like my aesthetic is deeply misunderstood here

[Cekoviu]

>not listening exclusively to folk music
smdh i expected better

i feel like my aesthetic is deeply misunderstood here

no, it's just that your aesthetic is bad and you should get a better one

[The Reformed American Republic]

i feel like my aesthetic is deeply misunderstood here

no, it's just that your aesthetic is bad and you should get a better one

Why are you creating such crazy flags?

[Questarian New Yorkshire]

?

[The Village Green SSR]

note: i will alert the cultural appropriation police if bear stearns does so, so tread lightly

lol i think i found bear stern's track

I was under the impression that something like this would be more to his preference.

[Sundiata]

One shrine is already one too many.

Down with papist idolatry.

My holy queen is eternal, England's is only flesh and blood.

Salve Regina.

[Cekoviu]

no, it's just that your aesthetic is bad and you should get a better one

Why are you creating such crazy flags?

because i'm bored and i like drawing animals?