Matt C

I live at BlueSky now. I suspect most people who follow me already know about it, and how much better it is, but if not, head on over: bsky.app/profile/mwic.b…

@kristenklopez The Noble Warriors Defending Our Great Tradition from the Savage Hordes apparently know exactly 2 things about said Tradition: 1. It was created entirely by straight white men 2. It contains brawny bohunks beating each other to death.

Contemplating a piece for TFM on why everyone is crashing out over THE ODYSSEY (not just the E*on of it all but the "dad" discourse, accents, etc.). My question: what is it about this movie that is making it such a lightning rod for discussion? Is it the Nolan? Or something else?

@xdreage @MattBruenig @Noahpinion They might do that, and they might not. I'm one of those people who thinks they can live wherever they want.

@MattBruenig @Noahpinion Can they please disperse throughout the states instead of congregating in the same few neighbourhoods and bringing the most atrocious restaurant and entertainment tastes with them?

It was a tribute mission

@YukiThePrince My take on the Emily Wilson Odyssey translation discourse:

i really hate the fact that the average human actually believes stereotypes because literally all of them are created in a variation of this:

@sarahsalviander @vadabac340 You mentioned the moon a couple times, but the moon is not a light and the verse says that it is a light.

@vadabac340 He didn't make the Sun on day 4. Did you read my post? I explained this.

People keep saying this, but what in Genesis 1 contradicts scientific research: - that the universe began to exist a finite time ago - that the Earth was formed a finite time ago - that oceans appeared, then land - that plant life emerged first - that animal life began in the oceans - that land-based and flying animals came later - that humans appeared later - that human consciousness was the last big development? Genesis says first the universe was created, then the stars, then it zeroes in on Earth and describes the development of its surface from unformed and chaotic to brimming with life, starting with less complex and progressing to more complex lifeforms. How is this scientifically wrong? This is incredible knowledge for uneducated, backwards, Bronze Age goatherds to possess. Why did it take thousands of years and the rise of modern science for us to rediscover what Genesis 1 says? We only discovered that the universe is finite in age about 100 years ago. But the author of Genesis knew it thousands of years ago. What non-believers typically do is point out a couple of seeming out-of-order events, like the Sun and Moon being made after the Earth or the appearance and description of plant life on day three, and say Genesis is completely unscientific. Even if those events were truly mistakes, it's still incredible that the author of Genesis mostly got it right. But Genesis didn't mostly get it right, the author got it entirely right. The Sun and Moon weren't made after the Earth, but before the Earth on day 2. Genesis says they appear from the surface of the Earth on day 4. Scientifically, we now know it took time for the atmosphere to become sufficiently oxygenated to become transparent. Prior to this, a hypothetical observer on the surface of the Earth would not be able to see any of the great lights in the sky. As for plants on day 3, since the Sun was made on day 2, sunlight filtered through an opaque atmosphere would've reached the surface of the Earth. The description plant life seems a little out of place, since Genesis immediately talks about flowering and seed-bearing plants. But medieval biblical commentators already understood how to resolve this. As Gerald Schroeder explains in 'The Science of God': "When the Bible is relating a topic of immediate but not continuing interest, it condenses the chronology of that topic and presents the entire account in one place rather than break into the narrative at a later point." We clearly see another example of this narrative device in Genesis 11. The point of Genesis 1 is to get from the creation of the universe to humankind to the line of Abraham, so the author keeps things moving. The problem with modern readers and Genesis is that they're looking back on Genesis from the perspective of, "Duh, we already know this stuff scientifically." But look at it from a perspective that's contemporary with Genesis. Compare it with the Babylonian account of creation to see what a stark contrast there is. I've linked it below. The Enuma Elish is a political myth focused on wars and personal clashes, like a super-violent soap opera about gods and monsters, from which human emergence is almost beside the point. Genesis 1 is utterly unique in its austerity and matter-of-fact description of a stepwise development of the universe, Earth, and life on Earth that culminates with the deliberate creation of the most complex form of life on Earth - human beings. The criticism leveled against Genesis 1 as contra-science isn't supported by the evidence. worldhistory.org/article/225/en…

@rbnmckenna86 There was a certain media critic awhile back whose slogan for her channel was "Be critical of the media you love" (She was harassed more savagely than anyone else I can think of from this century)

The humanities should teach us that there are emotional responses other than veneration and hatred

@RudyAmbiento @PAHoyeck I think you mean "everything, good, and holy" ?

@PAHoyeck Yes, C. Please don't say you mean B? That Oxford comma is an abomination against everything good and holy.

Two of these options are technically correct. However, only one of them is compatible with reverence for the good, the beautiful, and the true.

@TheMiddleborne I think for a lot of these guys "non-conventionally attractive" is just a synonym for "not Sydney Sweeney"

How Is Lupita Nyongo “non-conventionally attractive?”

@Courtne00289911 @B0BM9R @Chili1179 This is Texas. He was almost-certainly given salsa for his taco without having to ask.

@B0BM9R @Chili1179 Shoulda been offered fresh salsa with it—get that tomato/onion/garlic/jalopeno freshness that perks up that papas con huevos. Was the tortilla at least hot and fluffy?

What kind of taco order is “Potato egg and cheese??” Is this queer Talarico ordering a taco or a breakfast quiche?

@B0BM9R @Chili1179 He didn't order "bland potatoes..." these tacos are well seasoned, and available at 2 different places within a mile of me. Yum.

@Chili1179 It might technically be called a breakfast taco but the ingredients are terrible. No meat, peppers, or anything else besides bland potatoes eggs and cheese?

@PPosey42052 @sentantiq ? .. do all typos trigger a weirdly specific hall-monitor-centered repressed trauma for you?

@sentantiq This image reeks of a sash wearing hall monitor with a library card lanyard who is so confidently incorrect that they post it without a simple grammar check; I’m looking at “Okay buy you …” and raising an eyebrow.

here's advice for if you're thinking about commenting on Emily Wilson's Odyssey

@peteVII @Lons I've been using the phrase "Appeal to Aithority"

@Lons will def be borrowing “AI is not an arbiter of truth” important to remember

AI is not an arbiter of truth that's doing historical research to produce slop photos. It's just looking at previous depictions of these characters and reproducing them as best it can. When you post things like this, all you're doing is proving that you don't know how AI works.

@Lons This is a new, idiotic fallacy that is taking over the world (and makes me physically ill) The Appeal to Aithority

@ExTerMINater267 @Yeenie_Mcbeenie Holy hell, dude. "Our bloodlines" ?!! Holy hell. I mean, also : what even?

@Yeenie_Mcbeenie Incorrect. Our savior wants us to prosper and continue existing. Not just now our heads and allow our bloodlines to go extinct. Jesus’ teaching explicitly warn of the outsider, and to not allow them to overthrow us by means of extorting our values of empathy and acceptance.

This is why your brand of Christianity is repulsive Believing this means your savior died for nothing

@esjesjesj I've thought for many years that Nyongo is the prettiest woman alive and that it's not even very close.

So this is just open racism

@NoahProoval @SCOTUSPOTUS @arnaa @Wiesen_Heimer @MattBruenig @djinnandjuche It might clear things up if you explicitly state *which* type of law you think *ought* to apply to recipes (and/or the dishes one produces by them) This thread gestures to copyright, trade secret, and even patent in a haphazard manner that is difficult to follow.

@SCOTUSPOTUS @arnaa @Wiesen_Heimer @MattBruenig @djinnandjuche They're just different kinds of IP is all. Music is the most convoluted type of IP.

Yeah, but the fact is God or whoever zapped the idea for Chewbaca into George Lucas's brain. It's his property. Just like the 2hr marathoner gets to make licensing deals to put their picture on a Wheaties box. You're talking about randomly assigning property rights.

@ChristiansSTDT That last question mark is doing a lot of work... 1. d4#?

There is never any justification for owning slaves. This isn't the devastating argument you think it is.

@OGTaylorB @alloftheeenergy @romanhelmetguy >I think it's great we can debate a translation, just wish we could assume people are reasonable instead of turning everything into a culture war. You might be in the wrong place. This is the land of "WOMZ intellectually inferior and woke"

I don't think any of those are better, but I also don't disagree that "complicated" has its drawbacks, too. Wilson probably agrees with you since she wrote about agonizing over polytropos. I think it's great we can debate a translation, just wish we could assume people are reasonable instead of turning everything into a culture war. I've had people insist Wilson's translations make Homer woke, and it's such a stupid accusation.

In Emily Wilson’s own explanation of why she misleadingly translated ‘polytropos’ (literally ‘many-turned’ or ‘many-turning’) to the pejorative epithet ‘complicated’ when describing Odysseus, she gives the correct translation:

@DougKlaaJohnson @romanhelmetguy My classics professor suggested that "versatile" was probably the best single-common-word translation ("vers" means "turn"), but I don't hate "complicated" ("plic/ply" implies folding, i.e. intricate layers)

@romanhelmetguy What the hell does “many-turned” / “many-turning” / “much-turny” mean?

@SonOfAnchis3s Love this. The villain in the Iliad is -- at least partially -- the violence & honor-based "heroic" society that causes relentless, gruesome suffering.

The fundamental error of modern historiography is that we believe every war is between good and evil. The modern mind cannot comprehend a war that’s not between good and evil; where both opponents are virtuous, nobly pursuing their tragically conflicting ends.

@DrLokiWick3d @liekitisnot @esjesjesj Sick burn.

@mwicDallas @liekitisnot @esjesjesj “I can’t stop thinking about making kids trans” ~ Matt C

Troy fucking sucked. Achilles is fucking gay. Elliot Page is a good actor. Achilles is in the Odyssey in one fucking scene. Suck my fucking dick.