WTFhistory

On the surface it could be seen that way, yes.

But comments do not exist in a vacuum. Nothing does.

If you have even an ounce of respect for me, hear me out:

Had that person come to me asking, simply, if I had a nose ring, I’d have been happy to answer. Had they asked for info on it (advice on obtaining or taking care of one, my opinion on body mods, how long I’d had it, etc) I’d have been happy to answer.

Had they simply said “I think you’re pretty” or “I think it’s awesome that you know so much about history”, I’d have been fine with it. 

But that was not what was said. I felt threatened by the comment that this person wants to play with my nose ring, and I think that it is wildly presumptuous of this person to think they could talk of kissing me - a complete and total stranger who has never invited or welcomed any such attention over the internet from any person, and who, in fact, actively makes it known that these approaches are NOT welcomed.

They openly ignored my FAQ where I talk about how these comments make me uncomfortable.

I know that it was probably not meant literally. I’m not foolish enough to think that this person had active intents. But this is where that whole “not a vacuum” thing comes into play. Because for every joking comment, there are countless very, very real comments. When I am told by a stranger, “I want to do this/that/the other to you”, I have no way of knowing if it’s a joke. I have no way to be sure that this person isn’t going to follow me, harass me, stalk me, to get what they want. I have zero proof that there isn’t a threat.

And, unfortunately, we live in a world where women are constantly under fire and where lots of people COULD and WOULD carry out a desire to play with my nose ring or kiss me, with or without my consent.

Is it any wonder that I feel threatened by these sorts of messages?

Furthermore, the phrasing of the comments threw up massive red flags for me. “Sorry if this is rude, you’re just cute…” “…and then possibly kiss you because of how awesome you are.” Think about that. Think about how those are phrased. Both comments reassign the causation of these urges from the person feeling them to me. These comments make it MY fault that THEY want to kiss me. They make it MY fault that THEY are saying these things. When - again - I have never welcomed or encouraged this kind of attention, and have in fact actively discouraged it. The first comment, moreover, indicates to me that this person knows very well that their ask is inappropriate, and is going to go ahead and send it anyway, and then try and make it look like it’s my fault that they’re sending it.

That is not ok.

This may be a minor sort of issue. But it isn’t alone. I’m not calling them out just to be mean. I’m trying to use it to explain WHY this is not ok and discourage further comments in this vein because clearly I do not like and do not want them! Hopefully this will not only show the anon that I DON’T take it as a compliment, but it will also show them WHY and if I’m very lucky, other people will see it and think “oh, maybe that’s a bad way to talk to someone”. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.

So, maybe I’m not just reacting to one little comment. Maybe I’m reacting to an entire system that threatens me, and trying to cut off a stem born of that system’s attitude. In which case, I’d say my reaction was quite in proportion.

Paragon response:

A) I do have a septum ring. 

B) Have you been by my FAQ lately? Particularly item 11, where I go into detail regarding how I feel about comments on appearance and sexually/”romantically” motivated messages. Hint: Not ok. Never ok.

Renegade response:

Jesus Christ NO you may NOT play with my septum ring. What the Hell makes you think that is an appropriate question to ask anyone? Why would I let anyone play with the hunk of metal in my nose? Do you honestly think I put it there for you to do that? For anyone to do that?

Don’t come to me and tell me that you want to kiss me because I’m awesome, because this is a remarkably problematic backhanded compliment that blames me for someone else’s advances.

And don’t tell me that you’re “sorry if this is rude” because that statement CLEARLY points out that you know damn well you’re being rude and that you’re going ahead and doing it anyway, so you must not be that sorry, now must you? Particularly when you follow it up with another statement “You’re just so….” which attempts to shift blame to me for the way YOU feel, when I’ve never done a thing to encourage you.

I’m glad you like the blog but you need to stop with the gross versions of compliments and reevaluate how you talk to people.

Thank, friend. Perhaps I shall.

I mean - just look at my humble squid-stache:

I don’t think you get to tell me what I should post on my blog.

I also don’t think you should be following me.

I absolutely refuse to assist in the systematic cover-up of queer history - MY history.

There’s too much erasure and ignorance as it is. So if you’re ok with hushing up the lives, contributions, and experiences of hundreds of thousands of human beings throughout the course of history, you can fuck right off.

This is a really, really good question.

And it’s actually a pretty big problem. Every country has propaganda. Every single one. (So if any Americans wanna come barking to me about how we don’t have any I have some strong words for them about invented traditions and militarization.) And very often this infects the way history is viewed and taught. You know ho they say “History is written by the victors”? It is, but it’s more than that. It’s also written by the ruling classes, those with the privilege to spread the information that best suits them. And it’s not just where they say things happened, it’s where they leave out things.

School-taught history tends to indoctrinate us. Not always, but it’s a strong tendency. All those facts in your textbooks are going to be presented in the most patriotic way possible, no matter the country, because that is in the government’s (and the ruling, privileged people in power’s) best interests.

Let me give you an example. Last week I was in a class I’m taking at college. The class looks at Chinese Women in Film. Our professor is a lovely lady who hails from Taiwan, and she was telling us what a culture shock it was to go to graduate school in the US and realize the places where the history she was taught in school misaligned with the history taught elsewhere, particularly in China and the US. I’ve been told that several students at my college from China have had similar experiences.

I personally feel that once you leave the realm of required schooling it improves. The internet, while risky in terms of unsourced information, usually has pretty solid info cross-nationally. Books about one’s country’s history written by people in other countries tend to give a new light to things as well.

The trick, no matter what you’re reading or studying, is to look for standpoint bias. They teach you how to do this in historiography (the study of history) classes, but I’m gonna give you the quick and dirty version.

When reading anything, ask yourself these questions:

This alone can shed so much light on a source. A letter written from the Major Domo of a wealthy noble’s house to his wife is probably going to tell a very different story than the same person’s letter TO said employers. A tapestry woven to hang in the Queen’s bedroom will look different than a textile woven for a peasant’s bedroom. A newspaper with a “liberal” bias will take a different stance on an event than a newspaper with a “conservative” bias.

Standpoint bias matters because everyone looks at the world differently, and everyone changes what they say and how they say it depending on their audience.

The other thing you can do is to compare and contrast multiple sources - as many as you can, preferably. Compile notes on what you’ve read. Look for things that match. Look for discrepancies. Look at all the standpoints of all your sources. Where lots of people agree is usually pretty reliable. Where thing don’t match up, try to find a primary source or three to see if they can clarify what really happened.

Hopefully that helps! It’s a good way to approach any information that is open to interpretation - so, essentially, if it’s not math you need to look at the standpoint bias. But with that info, you can look at anything through a clear lens!

Ah, but my dear friend, you fail to take into account the misguided glamorization of misrepresented and poorly understood historical figures.

While you raise an interesting and worthwhile point about “terrorist vs freedom fighter” (since Americans make movies like Red Dawn and murder young people in countries we invade for doing what those characters did - and viewpoint is of course EVERYTHING in politics and history alike) I am not addressing people who have an awareness of potential historical bias.

Also, they are not unquestionably “two sides of the same coin”. Not every freedom fighter uses terroristic methods. Not every terrorist is a freedom fighter. Political terminology used by opposing sides aside, they often have no overlap whatsoever, and to say that it is only two sides of the same time is a gross overstatement and complete generalization and I can just see my professors’ red ink allll over that highly problematic statement.

Furthermore I would present to you that Guy Fawkes himself was not much in the way of a freedom fighter. The Gunpowder Plot’s entire purpose was to disrupt/destroy Parliament and assassinate political figures along with King James in order to place James’s daughter, Elizabeth who was nine, on the throne. All because the organizers of the plot were Catholics and James was Protestant. They wanted the Princess on the throne because she’d be easier to control to their aims.

Furthermore, Fawkes himself was what you might call sore over having been on the losing side of a religiously motivated war over similar issues (he bet on the Spanish horse in the 80 years war. He also couldn’t get any foreign aid because everyone else recognized that his endeavors weren’t going to work and wouldn’t go to war for him. So he resorted to an attempted bombing instead. Because that, of course, is the reasonable thing to do.

What he wanted wasn’t Catholic freedom from oppression. (If you want freedom fighting Catholics using terroristic methods, I’d suggest looking into The Troubles in Ireland, because that’s what you’re thinking, here.) What Fawkes wanted was to work for Spain and assist them in fucking with the English and putting the Catholic religion back into place on the English throne.

I’m not going to say that the Catholics got it easy in the UK in that era. They didn’t. But I’d take the argument of Fawkes as a “freedom fighter” MUCH more seriously had he been from, say, Dublin, rather than York.

Oh I like that. I like that a lot.

I'll have to research that.... Why were they taking laxatives?

Yes, Person With A Legolas Avi, you're quite right! Dude was indeed a bamf.

Authors in general are really cool and often underrated research topics.

Oh, also Audrey Hepburn is a good underrated one. Just popped in my head.

So you DO want them to be famous or you DON'T?

Sorry, just a little confused.

Shhhh. You're onto my plans!

Thank you! I'm undeclared. But I think maybe Anthropology?

Though my English professor seems disappointed in me that I'm not going for creative writing. Hm. I dunno.

Ok, well in that case I'd be open to it. I'd just want to see the character and the website first.

I'm trying to think if there's any big limits I'd put on someone using me as a PB but every time one popped in my head I thought "Nah that'd be cool as long as it was written well", so odds are I'll say yes.

But PLEASE do not use my image without my consent. Thank you.

Um, both. Holy shit.

I, uh, um.... had not had a response prepared for such a question? Damn.

Could I please see what you'd wanna use me as a Face Claim for? I don't know if I'm comfortable with it or not, and I won't know until I have a peek at the character and site. 

But, Hell, I've RPed enough in my geeky life to know that feel! So let me have a peek before I decide anything.

I know about her, but I don't think I've had a chance to mention her before. She's a BAMF.