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The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far

The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far and going to see an improvised carnival with an entourage of “bodyguards” with whips keeping people away from some guy walking thousands of laps around a track?

mncharity 7y ago
> The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. One idea for teaching history is to emphasize that which you, as a time traveler, would find startlingly strange ("wait, WAT?!?"). A 1700's British officer, traveling with American militia, is utterly boggled... the American officer, he is talking with his men, asking them what they think!?! A WWII American officer, with not-unfamiliar clothes, familiar language, many familiar ideas, and culture... and then he shares his commonplace views on negroes. A familiar city in the 1950's, with familiar still-there office buildings, in the summer... without any AC (so people sit by open windows to catch a breeze). Making arrangements to meet at highly specific locations and times (at noon under the clock at Grand Central)... because without cell phones, mobile incremental rendezvous is hard. The Sun goes down, so you stop working, because you can't see in the dark - it's been suggested that the greatest US technological triumph of the entire 20th Century was... rural electrification. Small-village farmers in Egypt, part of the Ottoman empire, using strikes and slowdowns to discipline local elites, who fear the attention of "what's wrong here and how do I fix it" imperial officials. Sales guy, eventually to head IBM, is said to have gone into stores with competitors' cash registers... and smashed them with a baseball bat. Fights and drawn knives on the floor of the US Senate. The opulence of Versailles... human excrement is cleaned off hallway floors not once, but twice a day! And so on, and on...
- Stratoscope 7y ago
  You have described many strange and fantastical worlds. And yet you claim these have actually existed? Surely, you must provide some proof!
  - russfink 7y ago
    Hint - they are the only one that avoids every annual time traveler convention / "landing spot." :-)
- arethuza 7y ago
  One of my favourites: at the height of the British Empire, a private rises on merit to become Chief of the Imperial General Staff - rising from the lowest rank to the very highest. The equivalent is impossible today. Edit: Correction.
  - Ntrails 7y ago
    > The equivalent is impossible today. I am not convinced that is true. In many ways the barriers to being an officer are far less pronounced today than they were in the days of the Empire.
    - arethuza 7y ago
      It was actually Richard Holmes who made that point I repeated in one of his books - unfortunately I can't remember which one! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Holmes_(military_historian) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Holmes_(military_histo... NB The chap in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Baronet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Bar...
  - mrslave 7y ago
    I heard a recent McDonald's CEO started at the fryer. No idea as to the accuracy.
    - dorchadas 7y ago
      Not sure about CEO, but I do know the owner of the one in my hometown (and a few others) started that way. He worked in one and was frugal and was eventually able to buy his own franchise.
    - ValentineC 7y ago
      I did a quick search, and that sounds like either Fred Turner [1], Michael Quinlan [2], or Charlie Bell [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_L._Turner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_L._Turner [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Quinlan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Quinlan [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Bell_(businessman) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Bell_(businessman)
- baud147258 7y ago
  > The opulence of Versailles... human excrement is cleaned off hallway floors not once, but twice a day I'm pretty sure they had developed latrines by that time period
  - Numberwang 7y ago
    nope. shitting on hallway floor was common practice.
pjc50 7y ago
> Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far and going to see an improvised carnival with an entourage of “bodyguards” with whips keeping people away from some guy walking thousands of laps around a track? The right person could absolutely pitch this as a reality TV show. The culture of the past looks different because the material conditions are different, but what are people really doing here? There's gambling, an ordinary person gaining memetic celebrity, and an audience watching someone struggle with physical endurance. All of those are present in the culture of today as then as in ancient Rome. Just their focus and intensity differs.
- JetSpiegel 7y ago
  > The right person could absolutely pitch this as a reality TV show. American Ninja Warrior / Unbeatable Banzuke, but for walking.
JetSpiegel 7y ago
I liked the specific note that two brothels were established there.

mncharity 7y ago

> The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. One idea for teaching history is to emphasize that which you, as a time traveler, would find startlingly strange ("wait, WAT?!?"). A 1700's British officer, traveling with American militia, is utterly boggled... the American officer, he is talking with his men, asking them what they think!?! A WWII American officer, with not-unfamiliar clothes, familiar language, many familiar ideas, and culture... and then he shares his commonplace views on negroes. A familiar city in the 1950's, with familiar still-there office buildings, in the summer... without any AC (so people sit by open windows to catch a breeze). Making arrangements to meet at highly specific locations and times (at noon under the clock at Grand Central)... because without cell phones, mobile incremental rendezvous is hard. The Sun goes down, so you stop working, because you can't see in the dark - it's been suggested that the greatest US technological triumph of the entire 20th Century was... rural electrification. Small-village farmers in Egypt, part of the Ottoman empire, using strikes and slowdowns to discipline local elites, who fear the attention of "what's wrong here and how do I fix it" imperial officials. Sales guy, eventually to head IBM, is said to have gone into stores with competitors' cash registers... and smashed them with a baseball bat. Fights and drawn knives on the floor of the US Senate. The opulence of Versailles... human excrement is cleaned off hallway floors not once, but twice a day! And so on, and on...

Stratoscope 7y ago
You have described many strange and fantastical worlds. And yet you claim these have actually existed? Surely, you must provide some proof!
- russfink 7y ago
  Hint - they are the only one that avoids every annual time traveler convention / "landing spot." :-)
arethuza 7y ago
One of my favourites: at the height of the British Empire, a private rises on merit to become Chief of the Imperial General Staff - rising from the lowest rank to the very highest. The equivalent is impossible today. Edit: Correction.
- Ntrails 7y ago
  > The equivalent is impossible today. I am not convinced that is true. In many ways the barriers to being an officer are far less pronounced today than they were in the days of the Empire.
  - arethuza 7y ago
    It was actually Richard Holmes who made that point I repeated in one of his books - unfortunately I can't remember which one! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Holmes_(military_historian) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Holmes_(military_histo... NB The chap in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Baronet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Bar...
- mrslave 7y ago
  I heard a recent McDonald's CEO started at the fryer. No idea as to the accuracy.
  - dorchadas 7y ago
    Not sure about CEO, but I do know the owner of the one in my hometown (and a few others) started that way. He worked in one and was frugal and was eventually able to buy his own franchise.
  - ValentineC 7y ago
    I did a quick search, and that sounds like either Fred Turner [1], Michael Quinlan [2], or Charlie Bell [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_L._Turner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_L._Turner [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Quinlan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Quinlan [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Bell_(businessman) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Bell_(businessman)
baud147258 7y ago
> The opulence of Versailles... human excrement is cleaned off hallway floors not once, but twice a day I'm pretty sure they had developed latrines by that time period
- Numberwang 7y ago
  nope. shitting on hallway floor was common practice.

pjc50 7y ago

> Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far and going to see an improvised carnival with an entourage of “bodyguards” with whips keeping people away from some guy walking thousands of laps around a track? The right person could absolutely pitch this as a reality TV show. The culture of the past looks different because the material conditions are different, but what are people really doing here? There's gambling, an ordinary person gaining memetic celebrity, and an audience watching someone struggle with physical endurance. All of those are present in the culture of today as then as in ancient Rome. Just their focus and intensity differs.

JetSpiegel 7y ago
> The right person could absolutely pitch this as a reality TV show. American Ninja Warrior / Unbeatable Banzuke, but for walking.

JetSpiegel 7y ago

I liked the specific note that two brothels were established there.