Gun Fights in the Violent Wild West
Stock Brokers Jumping Out of Windows When The Market Crashes
Feminist Bra Burnings
America Goes Crazy Over War of the Worlds
Help Wanted : No Irish Need Apply
Elaborate Medieval Torture Devices
Gun Fights in the Violent Wild West
Stock Brokers Jumping Out of Windows When The Market Crashes
Feminist Bra Burnings
America Goes Crazy Over War of the Worlds
Help Wanted : No Irish Need Apply
Elaborate Medieval Torture Devices
They’re all pretty accurate, with the exception of the last one, about Medieval torture devices. Sure, maybe the Iron Maiden, Spanish Chair, and that pear looking thing didn’t really exist, but I know for a fact this did: The Brazen Bull. It was invented originally in ancient Greece, and it was used less and less as the years went on, but there were people tortured with this horrible contraption until well into the medieval middle ages. It was basically a hollow bronze bull with a door on the bottom which prisoners were forced into, which was then locked in place. Then a large fire would be lit underneath the bull, basically boiling everyone inside. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a system of tubes inside that led to the mouth, which, through trial and error, made the screams of the victims inside sound like an infuriated bull. Pleasant, huh? ALSO, as if that wasn’t enough, the leader who ordered it to be made was so cruel that, when the guy who made it finished it and brought it to the leader, the leader asked the guy to get inside and show the leader how it worked. However, in a cruel trick, the leader locked the door shut as soon as the guy got inside and lit the fire beneath, killing the very maker inside of the bull. I could go on for a while; there are hundreds of horrible tortures that were used more often than people thought the Iron Maiden was.
I’m done ranting. XD
I am a long term Bits and Pieces reader, but this is my first post. First of all I love this Blog, however I know this content is not yours but a third party. The bra burning thing was big in the 70’s and 80’s in Europe, I was not alive in this era, but in western europe in this era it was popular for die hard feminists to burn their bra’s, although it was a minority, it was a common place at big rallys and a well known fact with many reports by reputable sources across europe made note of this trend. In addition to this the medieval torture was also not a myth, although few people suffered at the hands of these devices, there were a significant number who did, the museums across europe have existing devices on show all across western europe to prove this. In general I believe it to be one of those things lost in the trans atlantic translation(or localisation to be precise).
You don’t have to look that far back. How about the completely ridiculous myth that the health care reform bill that just passed through normal congressional procedures by majorities in both houses of congress through the votes of people democratically elected to office, and signed by a president elected by about 54% of the population is not “constitutional?” Or that the bill, which incorporates many ideas pushed by republicans for years–individual mandates, end-of-life counseling, etc–is a plot concocted by socialists? Or that even though it greatly increases the power, the profits and the reach of private insurance companies, it constitutes a “government takeover of health care?” Now those are some insupportable myths!
This guy is not exactly a certified mythbuster. Just because the New York Times in the 1800’s didn’t list how many people out west were shot, or how many jobs were denied to the Irish… seriously, how many working class people actually subscribed to the NYT? How many immigrants could read English and would use the paper to look for a job? If you went shooting a bunch of immigrants, what records would reflect that? He’s applying the 20-21st century technology to support his “clarification” of the past. The New York Times didn’t list how many dinosaurs died off, so I guess that never happened either!
Acorvid – chill out! If you want to eliminate national health care – cancel Medicare! You don’t seem to mind a nationalized military, or a nationalized postal service. Either way, End-of-life counseling is not a bad idea – how many people keep their vegetative seniors on life support to collect their pension/medicare checks? Everyone should have a living will – make that decision as to what *YOU* want to have done before someone else (whether its government, insurance company, or well-meaning / guilt-ridden relative) make the decisions for you.
I vote that we change Acorvid’s name to Buzzkill.
I don’t think it works that way, Richard. 🙂
“I vote that we change Acorvid’s name to Buzzkill.”
I might go for mythbuster. But given the nonstop dishonesty of conservative leaders, and the readiness of many to receive their opinions and information without testing them against readily available facts, that would be a full-time job and then some. Are you in that group, Richard? Is a name-change to “willing dupe” in order? Just asking…..
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Acorvid – Your rants have gotten seriouly out of line. A main tenent of this site is respect for others. Your wild statements and comments that are only supported by questionable sites such as Daily Kos are not appreciated by those of us who don’t label ourselves as Liberal or Conservative. Take a clue from Paul in Boca who respects the views of Libertarians and Conservatives without resorting to name calling and playground retorts.
Not ranting, Richard, just accurately describing the deeply disturbing state of our national discourse. If something’s a lie, it’s a lie. If something arises out of hate, then it is hateful. If someone is a hypocrite, as almost every contemporary conservative spokesman can easily be demonstrated to be, then it’s just a fact that they are a hypocrite. If someone is ignorant, as tea bagger spokepeople demonstrate themselves to be every time they open their mouths, then it’s not name-calling to say they are ignorant, but simply a fact. If conservative “views” are dishonest, hateful, ignorant and hypocritical, then no, I don’t respect them, nor would any fair-minded person. The simple fact is, that describes almost every conservative spokesperson in the country today.
This item was about myths. In keeping with that theme, I identified some contemporary myths that cause great harm. I’ll listen to your guidance when I see you discouraging and disapproving the casual and smug racism that several commentors here add on a weekly if not daily basis. But that’s OK with you, isn’t it?
I knew he’d eventually get around to his “racism” accusation again. No matter the wide and quickly expanding variety of legitimate reasons someone don’t agree with the Squanderer-in-Chief, it all comes down to racism. Thus, of course, we can obviously extrapolate that, because of those very same concerns, that’s why the black Pelosi has an approval rating of 36%, the black Harry Reid has an approval rating of 29% and and is about to be tossed out of office by a bunch of racist white folk, and that gang of 535 black DC thugs, the US Congress, has an approval rating of 16%, far worse than anything that white guy Bush ever polled.
As someone who’s worked against racism…racism from both directions…as someone who for my entire long career has sought out and mentored black apprentices, who has worked with Habitat for Humanity, who helped to integrate the Carpenter’s Union in my town, who has supported local black firms in my field, who has striven to buy and reside and engage in diverse neighborhoods and who’s wedding included our most beloved friend and maid-of-honor (yeah, she’s…you guessed it), I find you and your blanket accusation repulsive. People like you do more to set back interracial relationships in this country than you’ll ever do to help.
“Squanderer-in-Chief” 🙂 good one DJ
Well, good for you DJ for your work with a cross-section of society. I assume you have done some good. But if you don’t see the blatant and unapologetic racism that motivates a number of the commenters here, you’ve got your eyes closed tighter than Sarah Palin. BTW, I haven’t made one “blanket accusation,” but I do think it’s a point well-made that Richard feels so ready to scold me for telling the truth here, but says very little if anything about the obvious racial and cultural prejudice that show up every day. Don’t you find that repulsive? Or is your horse so high you can’t see what’s really on the ground all around you?
As for “squanderer-in-chief,” are you recycling this term from the days when you called George W. that, back when he was starting illegal wars of aggression and adding ALL the costs to the deficit, signing into law unpaid-for senior drug benefit programs, the costs of which were misrepresented from the start, etc, etc,? Or have you invented it just for Obama, who’s spending has all been detailed on the government web site, has all been demonstrably for the good for the country and/or the economy, now or in the future, and who continues to try to engage Republicans in discussion on how to realistically reduce the deficit? That is to say, are your concerns about the deficit based on principle, or politics?
The black cloud of Acorvid drifts back into the sunny B&P skies.
@Orthodoxyn http://www.snopes.com/history/american/burnbra.asp They even give the name of the reporter who later confessed to having made up the bra burning story. Sure, in later years some feminists did something similar because they themselves believed the story. But it’s not like it was a rampant trend. If there was … where are the pictures? If bra burning was so wide spread and iconic, I wonder where all the photos are. Google Images is unable to get me any bra burning pictures from feminists before the 90s. The most used photo is the one used here (it also quotes the editor who made the story up): http://drx.typepad.com/psychotherapyblog/2009/11/bra-burning.html . It shows women throwing their bras away, not burning them.