Racists Ruin Everything

This post may get whiny real quick. But, it is something I've been thinking about for a while, and watching unfold in real time. White Nationalism/Supremacy and Neo-Nazis are co-opting whatever cultural heritage I have, and it sucks.

Growing up, for lack of better information, I thought I was half German, and equal remaining parts Irish, Scottish and English. Turns out, I'm mostly German, maybe a bit Polish, and also smaller equal bits Irish, Scottish and English. So, really, from the start, this confrontation with the bad sides of my cultural make-up should have been foreseen.

seems like a natural friendship

What exactly am I talking about? White Supremacy, obviously, and specifically, all the crazy propaganda and symbolism. Hate groups, specifically white racist hate groups, love symbolism. They fly them on flags, and get them tattooed. Most of the iconography these groups use are linked directly to the Third Reich, or are specific to the Klan, which can easily be avoided. But they also like to co-opt a narrow set of culturally specific iconography, most of which just happens to also be mine.

Pretty obviously, anything German, or Germanic related has already been discovered, and reimagined by supremacy groups, mostly by Hitler's Nazis. White Supremacists are fond of Norse and Germanic runic symbols, and Crusader-era crosses. I am not Scandinavian, but a lot of the Norse imagery used by these groups is shared by Germanic people. Anyone would be hard-pressed to find anything Germanic that hasn't been used or utilized in one way or another by one or more hate groups. Even the part of me that may be Polish isn't immune. There are Polish Nationalist groups out there, and Poles and Germans do share ancient history, and a fascination with eagle logos. The Anti-Defamation League has a long annotated list of Hate Symbols here.

even this unofficial football logo is suspect

Speaking of Germanic/Norse imagery, there is nothing White Supremacy loves to do more than pine for the good old days when Europeans lived like kings in "racially pure" times. The times when waging wars against the evil Muslims in the Holy Land was a cultural past time, and everyone north  and west of the Mediterranean needed lots of sunblock. The Middle Ages is right in the white supremacy wheelhouse. There are plenty of articles out there about the struggles Medieval Studies is having with white supremacy, like this one from The Chronicle of Higher Education. But, they also like to go even further back... before Christianity gobbled up Europe and consolidated the cultures. Before Christians and Crusades, before the Romans even, there were Celts.

The Celts, if you hadn't ever taken a European history class, are this Iron Age (800-450 BC) cultural group that spanned Europe from the Urals (Russia) to the Iberian Pennisula (Spain). By the first century AD, the Celts were absorbed by, or pushed further west by Romans and Germanic tribes. The last remnants of this culture that used to span Europe exist within Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Brittanic culture groups, and even then it barely lives on through language.

However, White Supremacy groups view the Celts as the mythical Aryan master race, which was a theory highly prized by Hitler's Nazi party, and therefore by all descendant Neo-Nazi ideologues. Aryan, a word used for other culture groups from the Indian sub-continent, had been used by Freidrich Max Muller, and later Arthur Gobineau, and Charles Morris. But this "Aryan" race probably never existed, and are early terms created to explain ancient culture shifts. Modern and contemporary Archaeology names early proto-cultures very differently.

Regardless of historical truth, these racist groups use Celtic imagery also. In addition to all of the other stuff, Celtic knots and Irish crosses also have been taken by the White Supremacists.
Sierra Lumota at the University of Pennsylvania wrote about her experiences with the National Policy Institute here, which includes a bit about a tattoo artist specializing in Celtic imagery.

So... here I am, a white dude in the United States, a country with its own history of racist icons, Nazi sympathizers, and White Nationalist fervor, unable to enjoy, or display any cool cultural symbolism without worrying that I may be confused for these other hate groups.

I just want to be Knotty

I have no desire to belong to or be associated with these die hard ideologues that believe in half-truths, mythologized histories, and hate-filled rhetoric. I wish they'd picked someone else's cultural groups when cherry picking their iconography.

New Ideas for an Old Franchise: Indiana Jones Edition

There have been many who have realized the corporate culture of movie making has ruined film. The tendency for capitalism to double down on a great success in order to continue to make profits has led the movie industry to continue to produce terrible sequels and reboots (followed by more sequels) of existing series and franchises instead of creating anything new.

This has been well documented by Ethan Anderton from First Showing, and by Andrew Allen from Shortoftheweek who both use the same infographic from Box Office Mojo. The guys at Cracked have also weighed in, like they often do, with 5 reasons. If you type in phrases like "Hollywood unoriginal", or "no new ideas from Hollywood" into google, there is a wealth of similar articles, tweets, blogposts, and commentary about this problem. We've also known about it for quite some time, most of these articles are 5 or more years old.

However, There are some franchises that I think we can all agree should never stop. James Bond is a great example, no matter who plays the characters, or what evil villain Bond is stopping, those movies are super fun, and never a bad time. If Disney were to remake those awful Star Wars prequels (pleeeease, pretty pretty please, make them not suck), I'd be the first in line to buy a ticket.

Also, on this list, is Indiana Jones. Now, I know Harrison Ford is super old, but so is Sean Connery, and that didn't stop the Broccoli's from making 24 films with 6 different actors. Like James Bond, Indiana Jones could potentially be played by anyone. Knowing this, I propose an idea for Disney and LucasFilm.

The mystical and cryptoarchaeological (is that a word?) themes of Indiana Jones is what makes the franchise, I think, so attractive. Aside from Harrison Ford's portrayal of the hero, the quests for macguffins based on legendary artifacts turn the plots of these movies into high stakes scavenger hunts full of far-away, secretive places, borderline illegal hijinx, and sinister competition and doublecross.

I would like to see Indiana Jones tackle the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. 

Think about this: In my opinion, the most successful Indiana Jones films are Raiders and Last Crusade, both dealing with biblical artifacts. The mythology of apocryphal Abrahamic religions, the power imbued into seemingly worthless artifacts, surrounded in archaic mystery, unlocking ancient powers, but without relying on extraterrestrial origins made these movies special. Why not the Cthulhu mythos?

To my knowledge there hasn't been a successful adaptation of anything Lovecraftian. There sure have been plenty of science fiction/horror stories that are heavily influenced by the Cthulhu mythos, like Hellboy and Batman, Scooby Doo, Supernatural, X-Files, South Park, Rick and Morty, The Ghostbusters, True Detective, Evil Dead, and many others. But not yet have we seen a major motion picture explore the horror suspense created by Lovecraft, culminating in a situation where "top men" had to bury the evidence.

Just put it in a box, between the ark of the covenant and Jimmy Hoffa

Imagine Indiana Jones, searching for some kind of artifact... the Necromonicon perhaps, or eltdown shards, or g'harne fragments. Along the way he visits Arkham, Commoriom, The Nameless City, runs into the Black Brotherhood, the King in Yellow, The Great Race of Yith perhaps, and ultimately stops the awakening of Cthulhu.

I think there is great potential for this mashup. And, well, if Indiana Jones doesn't work out, I'm sure the Tomb Raider camp could take a crack at it.

Someone with Photoshop has the same idea

Battle of Man and Machine

Recently, there has been a focus on an American labor force that has been displaced. The Conservative Right has successfully blamed migrant workers and overseas outsourcing. But realistically, the jobs do not exist anymore for manual laborers, they have been steadily replaced by automation. Technology has replaced good old fashioned man power.

Folklore sometimes uses fables to illustrate actual struggles within society. The story of John Henry has been used for decades by labor and civil rights movements, but it best highlights the changes presented during the Industrial Revolution and the losing battle against technological innovation. Industrial and technological advances have drastically changed economies, and this particular song echoes themes and issues still at the heart of our society.

Not only is the story of John Henry a fable for displacement of labor at the hands of technological advancement, but it is also a story of equality. Of all the American folk stories of the last 200 years, John Henry is one of a few that feature a hero of color, and probably the only one easily recognized by most of the public. John Henry is a black man. Not only is he a black man, but presumably a free black man, and a symbol of a hard working man in pre civil rights America.

The story of John Henry has been translated to song many times in a few different ways, but essentially the story is the same, and ends in tragedy. The many musicians to record songs about the American folk hero include Pete Seeger, Ramblin Jack Elliot, Mississippi John Hurt, Harry Belafonte, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, and Bruce Springsteen.

The lyrics seem to be pretty standard, although I can't find evidence of a credible writing credit. Songs usually share 3 parts, young John Henry foreshadowing his fate, the race against the machine, and John Henry's wife taking up where his legacy left off. I've included the lyrics to Pete Seeger's version below.

John Henry was about three days old,
sittin' on his papa's knee.
He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel;
said, "Hammer's gonna be the death of me, Lord, Lord.
Hammer's gonna be the death of me."
The captain said to John Henry
"Gonna bring that steam drill 'round.
Gonna bring that steam drill out on the job.
Gonna whop that steel on down. Down,
Down.
Whop that steel on down."
John Henry told his captain,
"A man ain't nothin' but a man,
But before I let your steam drill beat me
down,
I'd die with a hammer in my hand. Lord,
Lord.
I'd dies with a hammer in my hand."
John Henry said to his shaker,
"Shaker, why don't you sing?
I'm throwin' thirty pounds from my hips on
down.
Just listen to that cold steel ring. Lord, Lord.
Listen to that cold steel ring."
The man that invented the stream drill
Thought he was mighty fine,
But John Henry made fifteen feet;
The steam drill only made nine. Lord, Lord.
The steam drill only made nine.
John Henry hammered in the mountain
His hammer was striking fire.
But he worked so hard, he broke his poor
heart.
He laid down his hammer and he died. Lord,
Lord.
He laid down his hammer and he died.
John Henry had a little woman.
Her name was Polly Ann.
John Henry took sick and went to his bed.
Polly Ann drove steel like a man. Lord,
Lord.
Polly Ann drove steel like a man.
John Henry had a little baby.
You could hold him in the palm of your
hand.
The last words I heard that poor boy say,
"My daddy was steel-driving man. Lord,
Lord.
My daddy was a steel-driving."
Well, every Monday morning
When the bluebirds begin to sing.
You can hear John Henry a mile or more.
You can hear John Henry's hammer ring.
Lord, Lord.
You can hear John Henry's hammer ring.

Planet X is a Stupid Name

Recently, two scientists at CalTech attempted to disprove a theory that another Neptune-sized gas giant is hanging out in a distant orbit beyond Pluto. They couldn't, and announced the other day that they have compiled evidence of a previously undiscovered body. This body hasn't been actually seen yet, but usually mathematics doesn't lie. You can read more about it on Science Magazine.

They refer to the possible new planet as Planet X, which actually sounds like something out of a B movie horror film, populated by vampire porn stars, or something. I can't wait for someone to hurry up and approve this discovery so they can officially name it something cool.

We have a habit of naming our planetary bodies after Greek and Roman gods. Just in case you missed some days in elementary school, there are 8 actual planets in our solar system, and a variety of asteroids and dwarf planets.

We've already used Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to name the major planets. All of these are the Roman names for Greek gods, except one. For some reason we decided to use the Greek Uranus, instead of the Roman Caelus. I'm not sure why. Caelus would have prevented decades of butt jokes.

In addition to those 8, we've also named a bunch of moons, dwarf planets, and large asteroids. So far Pluto, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Astrea, Eris, Hebe, Iris, Metis, Hygeia, Eunomia, Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, Dione, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are all taken. Some of these are Greek, some Roman, and some not even gods or titans. In fact there is one moon just named Titan, which isn't even a name for an individual god, but a type of proto-god.

This supposed planet is so remote, and far from the sun that it doesn't reflect light, which is why it hasn't been physically observed yet. Far away, dark and cold, it should have a name that reflects that, and since we already gave Pluto the name of the god of the dead, we'll have to find something else.

Ophion is my choice for a new name

Bare with me, it makes a ton of sense.

According to the Orphic tradition in Greek mythology, sometime between the Titans' revolt when they ganged up on Uranus and castrated him, and Kronos taking power as the King of the Titans and the universe, there was another Titan in charge named Ophion. Kronos fights this other Titan and physically tosses him off of Olympus into the sea. Ophion doesn't appear anywhere else in Greek mythology, and the story doesn't appear anywhere outside of the Orphic tradition. It is speculated that Ophion is another name for Oceanus, who was the Titan of the oceans, and did not participate in the castration of his father Uranus. The theory is, Ophion is cast out of Olympus into the sea, and becomes Oceanus, the lord of the deep, dark, cold world-circling ocean. Oceanus, though, is a stupid name for a planet, especially one that probably doesn't have any water.

It has been theorized that early in the solar system's life, Jupiter and Saturn played a part in ejecting other large gas giants from the solar system. It is also theorized that this Planet X was probably one of those planets to get thrown out, which is why it now exists so far from the sun. If this is true, than Planet X, like Ophion, was physically removed by Saturn (or Jupiter, whatever), and tossed out into the cold space at the edges of the solar system. I told you naming it Ophion made a ton of sense.

Denial 101: Hopelessly Clinging to... Something

This is another post in the series of trying to understand stupid people.

I found this today: a paper proving that dinosaurs were not real, and it's just a huge hoax.  This, of course, is full of logical fallacies and is based nearly entirely on the premise that the religious text of Genesis is undeniable fact.  Further proof is the picture below.  One can only hope murieljcompton is an instigator commonly known as a troll.  But this is probably, and sadly, legit.

The overwhelming belief in Creationism is of course responsible for this fringe conspiracy theory actually gaining considerable support in the face of rational thought. Creationism, and the inability to understand how petrification and fossilization works, has led to an irrational dismissal of science. It is also interesting to note that according to this board, even the crazy conspiracy theorists think Creationism is nuts.

I can understand how indoctrinated hate works, I can understand Pro-life.  I can even understand the fear, misunderstanding, and misinformation that leads to racism, homophobia, and the oppression of women.  What I can't understand is Creationism.

These statistics give a pretty clear picture on Creationism in American. And no huge surprise, there is a correlation between education and belief in Creationism. I am actually impressed that there are people out there living and participating in a society that is arguably the strongest post industrial nation on the planet, who still cling to the theology of the Middle Ages. These people vote in national elections, and yet have made the choice to dismiss much of the science that allows modern humanity to understand our world and universe. Creationism's essential belief, that the world is only between 5 and 10 thousand years old, was rejected by theologians as early as Philo (50 CE) and Augustine (430 CE), and by the majority of serious scholars by the 18th century.

How can you go through 12 years of grammar school and, at the end of it all, deny everything you learned in science classes as not legit? You'd have to be either incredibly stubborn, incredibly stupid, or when confronted with the seemingly incompatible ideas of science and religion, instead of trying to reconcile the differences and find meaningful ways for them to coexist (like the Catholic and Anglican churches have) you just threw up your hands and ran screaming from the room.

I guess it all comes down to some people unable to think for themselves. They must have been absent the day the schools taught how to make an informed opinion. These are the same sorts of people that try and ban books, change textbooks in school, handle poisonous snakes and believe god will keep them from being bitten, do these sorts of things, and ban dancing until Kevin Bacon saves the day.

Drawing in Miniature

When people ask me if I have any hobbies, I usually hem and haw and end up saying things like, "I read a lot", or "not really, but I play softball".  What I don't say is probably closer to the truth, that I really don't have any hobbies, and I'm pretty boring.  The real truth is that I like to draw, but I don't believe I'm good or talented enough for this interest to qualify as a hobby, or even a very good skill.

I like to draw things small scale.  Some call this thumbnail sketching, which is a practice used by real artists to conceptualize for larger scale drawings, designs, and compositions.  I haven't really ever expanded my thumbnails into bigger things, because I don't have any real talent, and the smaller scale hides this fact pretty well.

Mythologies have always fascinated me.  Greek mythology specifically, because there is so much recorded information that has been retained over the centuries.  Compared to Norse and Egyptian, and Assyrian mythologies, the Greek mythologies much more depth because of all of these preserved sources.

I put many hours of time and research into a project meant to creating an illustrated genealogy for Greek myth.  It turned out to be a bigger project than I had intended.  The website Theoi.com proved to be invaluable.  Below are some photos.

three 30"x20" panels equal a 90"x20" tree. it's long

left panel

center panel

these pictures give pretty good, clear detail. I tried so hard to get a clear detailed picture of all three panels today, but its so long that I couldn't get a clear, clean shot. All illustrations are done in pencil and ink, colored with pencils and ink, on inch and half circles cut out of bristol. They are mounted on black presentation board. I put too much detail into these to completely describe it here and do it justice, if I don't say so myself.  But here is are a few close up examples: 

 The first picture is from the central pane. I used silver and gold ink to display the names of each character, which are all done with the Greek spellings. As you can see, there are symbols also which denote certain types of deities. Gaia and Ouranos both have a symbol for the Protogenoi, the first gods. I used an Alpha/Omega combo. Next to Kronos is the symbol I used for the Titans, which is a symbol used in astrology for the planet Uranus, the father of the Titans. The Olympians are wreathed in a representation of an olive branch.

After this project, I started to put together similar trees for Norse mythologies, and recently, Egyptian mythologies. These have proven to be more difficult, as there is less information compiled that makes any discernible sense. Below is my smaller Egyptian tree, extrapolated from several sources of Egyptian mythology, some of it creative fill in the blanks, and connections that may not be fact. But I did my best to organize the missing pieces.