random history thoughts

[ceecee]

There has never in the history of shipping or humans been such a thing as free shipping. Free Shipping is just something we tell ourselves to make us feel better as we huddle around the dying light of the fire while out in the darkness lions roar and hyenas laugh at us. Free Shipping is a lie. There is always a price that must be paid.

That price is $139/yr + for the rest of your life.

 

[The Cat]

That price is $139/yr + for the rest of your life.

Dragons and Giants didn't die out. They just rebranded.

 

[The Cat]

The beanstalks have been replaced by sky scrapers and the castles in the sky are penthouse suits.

They all come in and terrorize the little people and expect us to sacrifice our sons and daughters to slake our owner's greedy hunger all while failing to stop their cruelty. Tale as old as time song as old as rhyme. The system is a beast.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

There is always a price that must be paid.

You gotta pay the troll toll, after all.

 

[The Cat]

You gotta pay the troll toll, after all.

So its clear that Charlie was obviously molested as a kid with consent of his guardian right? The Nightman comes for the boy's soul which is taken by violating his hole and he pays a troll to do it. It's pretty obvious that's the implication of the Nightman Cometh right?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

So its clear that Charlie was obviously molested as a kid with consent of his guardian right? The Nightman comes for the boy's soul which is taken by violating his hole and he pays a troll to do it. It's pretty obvious that's the implication of the Nightman Cometh right?

I think it's meant to be his uncle.

 

[The Cat]

I think it's meant to be his uncle.

That tracks. His uncle the lawyer. That's some dark ass layered comedy.

 

[ceecee]

You gotta pay the troll toll, after all.

Great. That song is in my head now.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

That tracks. His uncle the lawyer. That's some dark ass layered comedy.

I'm always amazed how layered many of the episodes are. There are so many callbacks and references to other things, or jokes within jokes, that I can often discover something new upon re-watching.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

My tentative and subjective ranking of the top 10 presidents:

1. Lincoln
2. Truman
3. T Roosevelt
4. F Roosevelt
5. Washington (I know he sucks for a lot of reasons but he helped define the job and for the most part rose above party squabbling, despite himself being more of a federalist than a democratic-republican)
6. Grant
7. Eisenhower
8. Jefferson
9. Adams
10. McKinley

 

[ceecee]

My tentative and subjective ranking of the top 10 presidents:

1. Lincoln
2. Truman
3. T Roosevelt
4. F Roosevelt
5. Washington (I know he sucks for a lot of reasons but he helped define the job and for the most part rose above party squabbling, despite himself being more of a federalist than a democratic-republican)
6. Grant
7. Eisenhower
8. Jefferson
9. Adams
10. McKinley

There is a lot one can say about Truman and it's often limited to dropping the bombs. I've always thought that overshadowed several really important things like - desegregating the US military, an unprecedented hard push for civil rights and universal health care, signing The Marshal Plan, NATO...

He had a good grasp of what the future would hold - McCarthyism and red scare bullshit aimed at communists - In 1950, Truman vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which was passed by Congress just after the start of the Korean War and was aimed at controlling communists in America.[251] Truman called the Act, "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798," a "mockery of the Bill of Rights" and a "long step toward totalitarianism".[252][253] His veto was immediately overridden by Congress and the Act became law.[251] In the mid-1960s, parts of the Act were found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.[254][255]

But I mostly enjoy that he was a prolific shit talker at a time when people really didn't talk like that in public.

Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home—but not for housing. They are strong for labor—but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage—the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all—but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine—for people who can afford them ... They think American standard of living is a fine thing—so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it. — Harry S. Truman, October 13, 1948, St. Paul, Minnesota, Radio Broadcast

And certainly what he said about McArthur.

The country was going around the fucking bend about communism at this time. Harry Truman was right to to not take the more insane approach or listen to a lot of people around him (and one that would be worse in his successors presidency) towards communism while making sure the anti-West got sat on hard, didn't give funds to rebuild to fascists like Franco... this was in no way an easy presidency. I give him credit for accomplishing as much as he did for the country as well as keeping us out of further conflicts. And let's face it, FDR was a tough act to follow.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

An amerocentric take

19th century proper begins after the war of 1812 ends
20th century begins late 1890s with the birth of american imperialism
21st century begins on 9/11/2001

the "sixties" as we think of them are basically 1963-1969, the "seventies" 1970-1981, the "eighties" 1982-1991, the "nineties" 1991-2001. Obviously these eras have a lot of cultural overlap, for instance music and hair styles in the early 80s still look and sound very 70s, but also a lot of songs and bands that are thought of as "80s bands" are starting out in the late 70s (example, you often hear songs like "heart of glass" on 80s radio or playlists even though it was released in 1978).


Semi-related, I think study of generational cohorts is more interesting and precise when we narrow it down to micro-generations. elder X'ers are a lot more similar to Boomers than they are to the youngest Xers. Elder millennials have more in common with generation X than they do with the youngest millennials, and so on

And again, this is all based very much on an amerocentric view of modern history and I realize generational cohorts and historical periods are defined differently in other nations and cultures.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/17p9qgx
most noticeable aging seemed to be with FDR, Clinton, Bush II and Obama. WWII did a real number on FDR, plus he was in office for longer than anyone else. I think the lewinsky scandal accelerated Bill's aging. 9/11 and the Iraq war for Bush, who probably expected an easy Presidency after the relatively smooth previous administration. Obama also dealt with a lot of bullshit, from inheriting two unpopular wars to constantly dealing with a gridlocked, ubstructionist congress.

Least noticeable effects were on Truman, JFK (for obvious reasons), Ford (only served about 2 years), and Reagan. Never been a big reagan fan but I'll give it to him that he aged well and was a stylish dude. Look at him here, looking like a hipster Charles Bronson

https://i.redd.it/zvou1847uqyb1.jpg

www.reddit.com

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

https://preview.redd.it/op0chvwb2syb1.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=f4de1c2ab4ca6f78e29273bc3a4d4cbd9f648138

www.reddit.com

el BJ looking like a cross between Bond villain and aging country singer

 

[ceecee]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/17p9qgx
most noticeable aging seemed to be with FDR, Clinton, Bush II and Obama. WWII did a real number on FDR, plus he was in office for longer than anyone else. I think the lewinsky scandal accelerated Bill's aging. 9/11 and the Iraq war for Bush, who probably expected an easy Presidency after the relatively smooth previous administration. Obama also dealt with a lot of bullshit, from inheriting two unpopular wars to constantly dealing with a gridlocked, ubstructionist congress.

Least noticeable effects were on Truman, JFK (for obvious reasons), Ford (only served about 2 years), and Reagan. Never been a big reagan fan but I'll give it to him that he aged well and was a stylish dude. Look at him here, looking like a hipster Charles Bronson

https://i.redd.it/zvou1847uqyb1.jpg

www.reddit.com

lol He definitely had work done (maybe he and Nancy went together) but they also came out of that Hollywood golden age too, where that was very commonplace. It's amazing that the Republicans went from this to the cartoon caricature of Trump.

 

[ceecee]

https://preview.redd.it/op0chvwb2syb1.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=f4de1c2ab4ca6f78e29273bc3a4d4cbd9f648138

www.reddit.com

el BJ looking like a cross between Bond villain and aging country singer

Woof, LBJ always looked rough as hell. I think he should have leaned into the whole TX/cowboy stuff much harder than he did - it worked for him.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

lol He definitely had work done (maybe he and Nancy went together) but they also came out of that Hollywood golden age too, where that was very commonplace. It's amazing that the Republicans went from this to the cartoon caricature of Trump.

Yeah, Ronald and Nancy had that plastic look older actors get when they've had work. Reminds me of how if you look at shots of Roger Moore in his last Bond film, it's apparent he had something done, because he looks older (but more natural) in the previous 2 films.

Reagan's whole America's Grandfather image was a carefully crafted facade. It's still weird to me how many people fell for it and still love him. I've spoken to hardcore pro-union Dems who opposed his policies but for some reason they just loved the guy. Emotional appeals and charisma go a long way in politics. Meanwhile someone like Carter comes out with a cold but hard truth that the country was having a crisis of confidence and no one wants to hear it. They just want to be jerked off and given warm feels even if the guy in charge is practically raping them. We're kind of doomed.

 

[ceecee]

Yeah, Ronald and Nancy had that plastic look older actors get when they've had work. Reminds me of how if you look at shots of Roger Moore in his last Bond film, it's apparent he had something done, because he looks older (but more natural) in the previous 2 films.

Reagan's whole America's Grandfather image was a carefully crafted facade. It's still weird to me how many people fell for it and still love him. I've spoken to hardcore pro-union Dems who opposed his policies but for some reason they just loved the guy. Emotional appeals and charisma go a long way in politics. Meanwhile someone like Carter comes out with a cold but hard truth that the country was having a crisis of confidence and no one wants to hear it. They just want to be jerked off and given warm feels even if the guy in charge is practically raping them. We're kind of doomed.

Oh yeah we are doomed. People can't fathom choosing policy over personality but that's mostly because US media does thought experiments about "who you would want to have a beer with?" These idiots picked Trump, a known teetotaler who despises people that drink, to have a beer with. Speaks volumes his voters but the libs do exactly the same thing.

 

[The Cat]

Yeah, Ronald and Nancy had that plastic look older actors get when they've had work. Reminds me of how if you look at shots of Roger Moore in his last Bond film, it's apparent he had something done, because he looks older (but more natural) in the previous 2 films.

Reagan's whole America's Grandfather image was a carefully crafted facade. It's still weird to me how many people fell for it and still love him. I've spoken to hardcore pro-union Dems who opposed his policies but for some reason they just loved the guy. Emotional appeals and charisma go a long way in politics. Meanwhile someone like Carter comes out with a cold but hard truth that the country was having a crisis of confidence and no one wants to hear it. They just want to be jerked off and given warm feels even if the guy in charge is practically raping them. We're kind of doomed.

This is why.
Also he got shot. It's very humanizing.

Member berries used to be called nostalgia before we started getting nostalgic for it.
But whatever you call it, it can be used to manipulate you by motivated people in power.​