Discover Top Posts Tagged with #scrapironflotilla

What did William do during the US civil war?

He died in 1857 so he didn’t experience the civil war. His father served as a surgeon in the Union Army though. And generally for whalers who were alive during that period it’s not uncommon to see them in the Navy during the civil war, either enlisted or drafted.

#my bff william #asks #scrapironflotilla

been seeing a lot about likely republican attempts to get the courts to stop the count of mail in ballots. how successful do you think they'll be?

I have no doubt that Republicans would like to do that, but unless they’re able to put together a coherent narrative for why they want it done they’ll fail at it more often than they succeed. Worth looking at last week’s Texas GOP lawsuit trying to get a bunch of ballots thrown out that was rejected without comment by a conservative panel of judges

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do you have a favourite song from TISM, the most Melbourne band ever to have existed?

no, I still haven’t got into TISM

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You seem of an age to have enjoyed them. What did you think of TISM?

I actually never really heard much of them, although I have friends who got into them, should probably check ‘em out some day.

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scrapironflotilla replied to your post “Hey, do you know any good war films depicting British forces in modern...”

What about Dog Soldiers?

that’s my favourite horror film but does it count as a modern war film

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I know it's not medieval, but I study First World War history and I often like to push the contribution of the millions of non-white people who were involved in the War, especially the British and French colonial troops and the massive labour contingents from India, Africa and South-East Asia. I have noticed though that more and more often people get very belligerent about it and immediately start complaining about their inclusion and denigrating their contribution. Continued in next ask.

pt 2: I can relate to the Toni Morrison quote you posted because every time you put down an argument with facts they pull out another tired old racist line that you have to dredge up more information to put down again. It's an awful, tedious and tiring thing to have to do, but you inspire me because you do it so well and unfortunately, so often. Just wanted you to know you're doing a great thing here and it inspires other history peeps.

Thank you! And that is a big part of why I do it, honestly. Because it frees up many other people to just do what they want to do or what they need to do. So many creative individuals feel like they have to endlessly justify what they’re trying to do because racists are always trying to tear it and them down and waste their time.

Art from the past, I believe, can free the artists of the present and the future.

Here’s the quote with more of its own context (From Toni Morrison’s speech at Portland State, 1975) [audio] [transcript]:

"The very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over again why you are here. Somebody says you don't have any language so you spend 20 years proving you do. Somebody says you don't have any culture so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary. There will always be one more thing.

The strategy is no different than bombing Cambodia to keep the Northern Vietnamese from making their big push. And since not history, not anthropology, not social sciences seem capable in a strong and consistent way to grapple with that problem, it may very well be left to the artists to do it.

For art focuses on the single grain of rice, the tree-shaped scar, and the names of people, not only the number that arrived. And to the artist one can only say, not to be confused, not to be confused. You don’t waste your energy fighting the fever; you must only fight the disease.

And the disease is not racism. It is greed and the struggle for power. And I urge you to be careful. For there is a deadly prison: the prison that is erected when one spends one’s life fighting phantoms, concentrating on myths, and explaining over and over to the conqueror your language, your lifestyle, your history, your habits.

And you don’t have to do it anymore. You can go ahead and talk straight to me.

[...]

Complete your work without worry. Do not be confused. Don't waste your energy fighting the fever, you must only fight the disease. And I urge you to be careful, for there is a deadly prison. The prison that is erected when one spends their life fighting phantoms, concentrating on myths, and explaining over and over to the conqueror your language, your lifestyle, your culture, your habits. And you don't have to do it anymore.

You don't have to dwell on changing the minds of racists. Racial ignorance is a prison from which there is no escape because there are no doors, and there are old, old men and old, old women who need to believe in their racism, and need you to focus all of your creative energy on them.

They thrive on the failures of those unlike them. They are in prisons of their own construction.

But you must know the truth. That you are free."

And what I take away from this, what I believe in my heart of hearts, is that art is making and will continue to make the difference. Too many Americans believe in a whitewashed past because of art-because of movies, shows, and historical fictions that make whiteness and importance both synonymous and exclusive. Books that make whiteness and beauty synonymous and exclusive. Art that is meant to teach us that only whiteness has value.

One of the ways that art functions in society is the demonstration of human worth in a tangible form. When a people’s art is maliciously destroyed, neglected, or hidden, in creates not only a void of knowledge but a void of compassion, and of empathy.

That is why I fight art with art.