The Bitchy Historian

Where history meets snark and pop culture.

[perpetuallyflirtyrichard-deacti]

You know what really annoys me?

When you have an actual historical fact, which is supported by all contemporary sources and all actions everyone took, and people go: “I don`t believe this idea/theory”.

Well, you don`t have to believe in it, but that isn`t going to make it any less true. You can also believe that two and two equals five, but that isn`t going to make that true.

[objectoccult]

Before the availability of the tape recorder and during the 1950s, when vinyl was scarce, people in the Soviet Union began making records of banned Western music on discarded x-rays. With the help of a special device, banned bootlegged jazz and rock ‘n’ roll records were “pressed” on thick radiographs salvaged from hospital waste bins and then cut into discs of 23-25 centimeters in diameter. “They would cut the X-ray into a crude circle with manicure scissors and use a cigarette to burn a hole,” says author Anya von Bremzen. “You’d have Elvis on the lungs, Duke Ellington on Aunt Masha’s brain scan — forbidden Western music captured on the interiors of Soviet citizens.”

http://objectoccult.com/

OBJECT OCCULT

[sheholdsyoucaptivated]

- “You think you’re very clever.” - “I don’t think it. I know it.”

The Razor’s Edge (1946)

[fymodernflapper]

Egyptian postcard, 1920.

[scotland221]

Fashion 1900-1973

[securelyinsecure]

Representation matters!

[pvtdncr-deactivated20160829]

[missmarlenedietrich-deactivated]

Tamara Karsavina.

[sixpenceee]

This horror comic is known as the Kelpie. This mythological creature is a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. It has usually been described as appearing as a horse. It tricks people into riding them and then drowns them. (Source: porceliandoll.deviantart.com)

[djunglvrl]

welcometothisby

[nixxie-fic]

Women in World War One Photos - Celebrating all that women did during the First world war - ¾

1st: Women war workers march to Buckingham Palace in London, 29th June 1918.

2nd: Two women sweeping the road in Chiswick, London, 1914.

3rd: A female mechanic reclines under a car while performing repairs to the vehicle, 1917.

4th: A group of Red Cross workers who have taken over the distribution of coffee and cigarettes to soldiers on the way to France, circa 1918.

5th: Members of the Women Porters At Marylebone Station Group loading wicker baskets onto a trolley, 1914. (x)

[murphycooper-deactivated2017072]

IT’S THE SAME JACKET

IT’S THE SAME ONE HOW COME I NEVER NOTICED THIS BEFORE

[thebitchyhistorian]

To all the jingoistic assholes in the world...

… today is not a day to cheer. Today is not a day to congratulate yourselves on getting ‘revenge’ for Pearl Harbor. Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Trust me when I say this with all confidence I can muster: I know more about Japanese war crimes than you do. I know more than I want to know and more than is healthy to know.

But that is nothing to discuss in this situation. The death of people, no matter who they are, is never a reason to cheer.

All of you who said these people deserved to die, might I remind you of J.R.R. Tolkien, a man who saw combat and death, a man far wiser than all of us:

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”

[trevorthered]

[refractionandreflection]

[thebitchyhistorian]

Quality journalism?

" $700 million, the rough amount that Hughes earned when he cashed out of the company in 2007, is a pretty good take for a glorified call-center operator."

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/08/the-rise-and-fall-of-chris-hughes-and-sean-eldridge-america-s-worst-gay-couple.html

And let's not forget about this:

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/05/the-new-republic-implodes.html

Who even writes these articles? Why do they get money for it? If living out your personal vendetta is what earns ya money these days, where can I sign up? I have some bones to pick, too! :D

 Whilst it is clear that Chris Hughes isn't the shaggy-haired boy wonder I (and many others) wanted him to be, it's vile and, quite frankly, juvenile to paint him as an incompetent villain who's throwing his money at innocent and completely disinterested bystanders. It's safe to say that people were very glad to have his money. What they couldn't handle was a young man turning an old boys' club upside down. There's some serious jealousy going on here. How dare Chris Hughes have money and, you know, actually do something with it?

Another quote from the first article shows the sheer incompetence and any lack of real skill that went into this journalistic bar brawl :

"Several years ago, before he ever announced his candidacy, a source close to Eldridge told me that he had SKDKnickerbocker draw up a plan for him to become the first openly gay president of the United States." x

Unless Canadian-born Sean Eldridge is in league with the Illuminati, it seems really unlikely that he ever harboured any hope of becoming the president of the United States. So where did that, well, 'journalist', come up with that? Does he know that sources, especially emotionally involved sources, are not necessarily the most reliable? Does he simply not care? He does admit that he is aware of Sean Eldridge's citizenship, so that makes no sense whatsoever. It seems to me like this entire piece is meant to somehow discredit these two men for no good reason.

I do not think that article is all wrong about the Hughes-Eldridges, but it's not so much what you say as how you say it. Ya know, just to end this with a platitude similar in scope to these articles.

[faster-than-asparagus-is-cooked]

[fall-on-demand]

I’m reading up on the Memoirs of a Geisha controversy, since I’d neither seen the movie nor read the book, and the more I read about it, the more pissed off I get.  Basically it went down like this:

Japanese woman tells white American man about her past life as a geisha.  White American man then writes a novel that sells itself as an accurate memoir of Japanese woman’s life, but instead falsifies a number of her life events, misrepresents her trade, and exoticises her culture.  He also names her as a source even though she specifically asked him to keep her anonymous.  Japanese woman gets death threats.  White American man becomes bestselling author.

Then Japanese woman gets fed up and writes her own memoir to set the record straight.  Meanwhile, white American man’s book gets adapted into a film that grosses $162 million and wins three Oscars.