Meanwhile, I imagine the actual historians and scholars who study and teach of the classical world professionally rarely feel the need to drop lists like this.
They probably have more insightful conversations avoiding these specific *phers.
I’m sorry do we have medieval Italian political satirists on the table for basic conversion? the crazy thing is, I’ve read books by all the individuals mentioned, and most of it is very old, and very specific to it’s time, and largely entertainment. this is like someone 500 years from now saying they can’t hold a conversation with someone if they don’t have a deep familiaity with the deeper meanings of The Simpsons and Family Guy and how they impacted society.
I see “Blake” in the list and my first thought is “Blake Lively”
You wrote Cellini twice, idiot.
That’s a literary technique called “anaphora”, or in layman terms, “repeating shit”, it’s a highly advanced technique used to emphasize the importance of something, his use of it is actually a demonstration of how much of a big brain smart boy he is
/j
We like Cellini.
Charming…
Maybe it’s like Dumas…
I used to have a friend like this. He was always acting like a condescending prick to everyone for not knowing as much about his favorite books.
I don’t talk to him any more.
I had a friend like this, too. I have a memory of him saying “uncultured swine” because I enjoyed Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and thought six hours of the Godfather sounded awful.
That was highschool, though. He turned around over the next few years; now we’re thirty and I happily see him every week because he’s our DM. I’m not saying you were wrong to stop talking to that dude, not at all you gotta set boundaries, just wanted to say that there is at least one example of growth!
That hits very close to home.
Unfortunately my friendship with said person ended up blowing up, because he had never had that period of self reflection and course correction.
I’m glad it worked out for you and your friend though.
Hopefully in 10 years, he will read this and cringe, although it sounds like he’s actively driving away people who think differently and would call him out on his bullshit to help him grow as a person, so maybe not.
Bare minimum for holding a conversation: don’t be like this guy
I have an advanced degree. I don’t think I know/nor do I want to know everything. But I’m an expert in my field. Outside of that, I like to consume fluffy, shallow media. Because my work is very hard with high burnout and depression, I can’t be super serious all the time. So, I have stayed single after my marriage because it was always “you think you know everything” variants any time I engaged in logic. I don’t want to be run down by people who are supposed to care. I haven’t read classics that often because I simply find them way less interesting than watching JJK. So it’s like being trapped in this space of super serious or super aggrieved potential mates, and as I’m getting older…dying alone is my only sane option.
Bare minimum for holding a conversation: Cézanne, Renoire, Rembrandt, van Eyck, David, Vermeer, Fragonard, Turner, Courbet, Matisse, Kahlo, Picasso, Basquiat, Richter
hey look, i can gatekeep my special interest, too! 🤦
Bare minimum for holding a conversation: Scott, Palmer, Malone, Hudson, Martinez, Martin, Howard, Kapoor, Bratton, Lapin-Vance, Bernard, Lewis, Hannon, Philbin, Halpert, Beesly, Schrute
It’s kind of fun in an ironic meme way!
Bare minimum for holding a conversation: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy Tactics 2, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Dirge of Cerberus was very underrated.
Bare minimum for holding a conversation: Obscure conspiracy theory websites and subreddits, Robert Monroe, Courtney Brown, David Icke, Aldous Hickey, Michael Palin, Steven Greer, John Lear, Richard C. Hoagland, and Linda Moulton Howe
Also you must be able to quote at length from the original Time Cube by memory.
No van Gogh? Fucking casual.
/s
If there is no “Dick and Jane” school primer on the list then that guy is a posturing phony!
“Guy who keeps a Rubiks cube in a display stand on his desk at work so he can explain it’s not that hard to solve them” energy.
“I know, I just taught my niece how to solve one. She’s so smart they’re letting her skip kindergarten!”
I do wonder sometimes why most of the history nerds I know are men. Not that I know no female history nerds at all, but men appear to be more drawn to history, or more encouraged to be casually interested?
I’m not sure, this could be all exclusively anecdotal and the actual numbers may not reflect my experience.
Most of the male history nerds, especially the ones who are dicks about it, are into war history. Talk to women who are into history and they’re out there building historical recreations of clothes, making historical food(there are some men doing great here, too), talking about niche histories of human rights, and all manner of crafts.
Most importantly, the history men learn is called “history” and the history women learned is called “traditional techniques” or “neat little facts” or basically anything that tries to not count it in the same way. They “don’t know history” and their “traditional techniques” are considered to be just crafting hobbies.
Thank you for writing the comment for me so I didn’t have to. Every history nerd I know in my life is a woman except one. The women know all sorts of interesting contextual things ,the origins of traditions, crafts, foods, the local area, and social development. The guy I know knows all about wars and battles amongst other classic History things. Both are valid and count!
I think there is likely a more even gender distribution of history nerds who are truly interested in history when it comes to topics outside of politics and military. A lot of men tend to use it for ego stroking and fantasizing about being the great men of history, while there is no similar avenue for women in that regard.
Exactly this. You’ll notice that some men like this only know history from a certain racial or geographical background so it’s not so much a general interest in history as it is feeling great vicariously through a historical figure.
oh! That is such a great point! To be fair, a lot of the male history nerds I know use it for practical purposes like writing TTRPGs, which were predominantly played by guys for a long time, but I feel like even that is evening out gender-wise lately as they grow in popularity.
That being said, I have definitely seen examples of the fantasizing and ego-stroking on the internet.
in fact, now that you mention it, I do know a fair few of women with a very deep interest in philosophy, and you can’t exactly get deep into philosophy without historical context, ergo, female history nerds. Women are also a lot more interested in history when they are represented, and I don’t think I need to soapbox to you about the lack of feminine representation in history texts.
Anecdotally, I’ve noticed the same thing, but I think it might have something to do with the type of gatekeeping and “well akshually” apparent in the original post.
Bare minimum to enjoy a beer around a campfire: ACDC, Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, White Stripes, Dire Straits, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Kenny Loggings, Gorillaz, Jefferson Airplane, The Animals, Bon Jovi, R.E.M, Bonnie Tyler, Eminem, 50, System of a Down, Rage against the Machine, Rob Zombie, Nirvana, Papa Roach, Tenacious D, Dorothy, Floggin Molly, The Subways, Bush, Disturbed, Wolfmother, Guns and Roses, Scorpions, ZZ Top, Armand van Helden, Die Antwoord, Billy Idol, Fleetwood Mac, Ram Jam, Eagels of Death Metal, deadmau5, Foreigner, Daniel Norgen, The Weekend, Cari Cari, Shakira, Cher, Gaga, Rihanna, Michael, Prince
How did Hendrix and The Hu not make the list?
no Phish?!? check out billy breathes sometime great campfire album.
Name 5 songs
Twinkle twinkle little star
Itsy bitsy spider
Mary had a little lamb
Jack and Jill
Row, row, row your boat
thunderstruck, thunderstruck, thunderstruck, thunderstruck, thunderstruck
black betty
amber lamps.
hopital
Uh huh. Uh, yeah. Oh, I recognize some of these!
pipe alert
Minimum women authors/thinkers required to be familiar with: 0.
No that’s the maximum
And yet so many : Jane Austen Agatha Christie Countess of Ségur …
I personally won’t consider a man worthy of having a conversation with unless they know Bell Hooks, Angela Davis, Rosa Lichtenstein, Ursula K Le Guin, Octavia Butler and Judith Butler (token enby)
Margret Atwood
