ikchen

[ikchen]

Tips for Spotting Bad & Bullshit History

There's no way to make sure you never fall for historical misinformation, and I'm not expecting anyone to fact-check every detail of everything they read unless they're getting paid for it. But you can make an effort to avoid the Worst Takes.

Ask yourself – if I wanted to verify this, where would I start? If you look at a statement and can’t actually find any facts to check, then you already know it’s bullshit.

Read the Wikipedia article on weasel words. Some experts say it’s very helpful!

Look for specifics: a who, a what, a where, a when. If one of those is missing or very broad, that’s a red flag. Statements need to be rooted in a time and a place. “People in the past have always…” Nope.

Vague is bad. Unless you’re looking at a deliberate large-scale overview that’s being broad and generalizing on purpose, you want names and dates and places and primary sources, pictures and quotes and examples.

But an example is not a trend. There’s a difference between what’s possible and what’s common, and history is full of exceptions and outliers. Extremely unusual people and events are overrepresented in the historical record (because nobody writes down what’s normal,) and they can tell us a lot about history, but they’re not directly representative of their place or time. Imagine a historian trying to reconstruct the 21st century based solely on Kiwifarm.

If a historian is competent or even just trying, you won’t have to go digging for sources, they will be shoved right into your face. Not out of mere academic rigor, but because a person who found them, either first- or second hand, is proud to have found them. People who have proof want to show you the proof, people who figured something out will want to show you their work, walk you through it. If they don’t, ask yourself – how do you know this? And - why won’t you tell me how you know this?

Someone might have a legit historical source, and then try to stretch it to cover times and places where it no longer applies. What’s true of 12th century England may not be true of 14th century Venice, even though both are “Medieval Europe,” so watch for those stretches.

Anecdotes are fine, they reveal a lot about people’s values and perceptions, pro historians often use them for context, but what anecdotes are not is factual truth. Notice when someone is feeding you cute anecdotes.

If someone attributes a large-scale social or cultural transformation to a single person or event, yeah that’s usually bullshit. Chances are, that person was part of a larger trend, a small link in a long chain. You can still appreciate their contribution, just put it in context!

Second-guess anyone who acts like they possess secret knowledge that the Media or Academia (or somebody) is hiding, they’re usually bullshit. Remember, if something has a Wikipedia article, it’s not actually a dark secret.

Remember that if it happened in the past sixty years, tons of people will still remember it, and you can literally just go and ask them.

Learn to recognise a smear tactic. Did this person really fuck dogs, or was their posthumous biography written by their worst enemy? Should we take it at face value? Also learn to recognise overt propaganda in the opposite direction: is the king that great or does he have a court historian on retainer? Remember that people sometimes *lie* in their autobiographies.

It’s fine to speculate about what “could” or “might” have happened, professional historians also fill the gaps in the sources with the occasional educated guess. But failing to differentiate clearly between fact and speculation is a huge mistake.

Do not seek validation in history. It's not there. I’m not saying you should approach history in an impersonal, apolitical way, of course not. Our present situation influences our interpretation of history, and it should. What I’m saying is, try not to hang too much of your individual or group identity on a historical narrative. Especially if it’s bullshit. You’re worthy and human because you’re worthy and human today, not because of the deeds and misdeeds of people in the past.

#history

[ikchen]

occasional posts from users

#tumblrmeme

[ikchen]

ID: the doge vs cheems meme. Doge is labelled as the Masker, donning an N95 mask and is described as being "Rarely sick, practices community care, avoids surveillance, doesn't cave into pressure and follows science".

Cheems, on the other hand, has a box of tissues and is labelled the Non-masker, being described as "Constantly sick, endangers the vulnerable, easily identified, craves acceptance and ignores science". (End)

Immunity debt debunked

COVID-19: Study Suggests Long-term Damage to Immune System

The Long-Term Effects of SARS-CoV-2 on Organs and Energy

Mutual Aid, Anarchist Preparedness and COVID-19

Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19

3 in 5 people who die from covid in the UK are disabled

Disabled people's exclusion from indoor spaces is a civil rights violation

The crackdown on face masks at protests isn’t really about masks at all

Britain’s got some of Europe’s toughest surveillance laws...

And the U.S. is no better

#covid #covid19

[ikchen]

#gnu terry pratchett

[ikchen]

New Solo RPG: The Tower in the Meadow

The Tower in the Meadow is a single-player RPG utilising the For Truth's Sake system pioneered by @hmooncreates

You have been invited into a mysterious, magical tower to de-mystify life there. As you prepare an account of your months in residence, you'll befriend all manner of mages, spirits, and perhaps even learn a little bit about gardening from the resident dragon!

You can get it below for its standard price of $1.99

OR if that's a bit much for you right now, here's a special code to get it for 20c!

And if you'd prefer a code to get it totally free, I can do that too! Check out the link below:

#roleplaying #neat

[ikchen]

What are some chronic illnesses that can only occur in a fantasy setting?

#storytelling #dnd #roleplaying #fantasy

[ikchen]

Okay, we're gonna take a minute to just talk about, and appreciate, the DRD design on Farscape.

Look at them:

They are Friend Shaped. They are disarming. They are useful and helpful. They have so much personality (especially 1812, I'd die for him), and they're essentially something that allows Moya and the crew to interact directly.

One of them is also the first thing Crichton (and kinda the audience) see of Moya. They say "Yeah, the show is gonna be weird, but not always. Look at these Little Guys, they're here to help and be cute." They show that in the insane, complex, scary world of Farscape, there's time for things to just Be Cute.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

#farscape #yes!

[ikchen]

reblog to give somebody a fucking hug because we are all struggling to get through it. solidarity in this tough ass world.

#hug

[ikchen]

One of the best things about stargate to me is the massive amount of behind the scence photos that show the cast and crew geniuenly enjoying themselfs. I have so many but here are some of my favs!

#stargate #sg1 #stargate sg1 #aww

[ikchen]

#i hope everyone knows about the Hoppenstedt anniversary special#in which the Gang gets together to celebrate the sketch#and everyone is like. @ the (presumably) young woman: and who were you????#and she was like: Dickie :D. -confused silence-

Icon request: Non-binary Dickie Hoppenstedt

es ist zwar Monate her seit du das requested hast, aber hier ist nonbinary Dicki 😌

[ID: Dicki Hoppenstedt in front of the nonbinary pride flag. End ID]

#germany #german #gender #heh

[ikchen]

Our blessed "(m/w/d)", their barbarous "(gender neutral)"

#german #germany #uh

[ikchen]

The idea of dragons in modern times is so fun because imagine a hot summer day on your vacay and go to use the hotel pool and staff is like "valued guests we regret to inform you that the pool area is out of service at the moment, we apologize for the inconvenience"

And people like "wtf why" looking out their hotel room window and there's this. This dragon just curled up in the pool chilling, literally, cooling itself down

Some of the staff are trying to gently shoo him away and the dragon does a soft little "rrrrrr" like a grumpy cat and a warning puff of smoke and they're like "fuck it i don't get paid nearly enough for this" and no ones using the pool today sorry!

#dragon #dragons #art #storytelling

[ikchen]

hallöchen popöchen truly is the german version of hewwo

#german #germany #oh no #no thank you

[ikchen]

#childhood memories #Uh Digimon??? #Sailor Moon #Wedding Peach #Weirdly also Escaflowne

[ikchen]

#search engines #internet #saving for future reference

[ikchen]

okay @cuydulce you asked for it!

#archaeology #meme #oof #true though

[ikchen]

are you a hot person? you punk? yeah??? what kind huh??? masc or femme hot vibes? cocky or down to earth hot vibes??? why dont you stick around and find out what incredibly long and oddly specific example of a hot aura you give off?

#uquiz #tumblrmeme #drunk girl in the bathroom hot