3 ms·

This is a little bit weird: https://www.fourmilab.ch/evilempire/noEU/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/evilempire/noEU/

defrost 3y ago
Perhaps, but certainly consistent. John was famously not a fan of large government, be it the USSR, the USofA, or the EU - a believer in small government and prepared to sell merch to just that end.
itsoktocry 3y ago
What's weird about having strong opinions about the European Union?
- walthamstow 3y ago
  I guess it's tongue in cheek, and it is funny, but some of what is written is a bit weird. "anti-democratic ... empire at the expense of the natural rights, individual liberty, local autonomy, and cultural diversity which made Europe the wellspring of Western civilisation." Firstly, I wouldn't call Mesopotamia and the eastern Med Europe exactly. Secondly, lot of cultural and scientific advances that did happen in Europe were under (among others) the Roman, Holy Roman, British and Spanish Empires, which are exactly what he is against! It's also weird that he thinks the EU "began to sprout" in 2003, a decade after Maastrict.
  - cnasc 3y ago
    Is Mesopotamia typically considered the “west?”
    - walthamstow 3y ago
      Latin and Greek are both successors to the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians settled parts of modern day Europe and brought their alphabet and other technologies that they inherited from Mesopotamian civs. The Greeks would have been nowhere without Babylonian maths and astrology. West and East is very grey though. I've made a distinction that I'm happy with, and pointed out why I'm not happy with John's. What do you think?
deleted 3y ago
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dontupvoteme 3y ago
could not tell if this was satire or not. interesting fella
- walthamstow 3y ago
  It seems like satire today given what's happened in the last 10 years but given it was published 2003, he was well ahead of the times and possibly writing with tongue in cheek, even if he did believe the thrust of it

Perhaps, but certainly consistent. John was famously not a fan of large government, be it the USSR, the USofA, or the EU - a believer in small government and prepared to sell merch to just that end.

itsoktocry 3y ago

What's weird about having strong opinions about the European Union?

walthamstow 3y ago
I guess it's tongue in cheek, and it is funny, but some of what is written is a bit weird. "anti-democratic ... empire at the expense of the natural rights, individual liberty, local autonomy, and cultural diversity which made Europe the wellspring of Western civilisation." Firstly, I wouldn't call Mesopotamia and the eastern Med Europe exactly. Secondly, lot of cultural and scientific advances that did happen in Europe were under (among others) the Roman, Holy Roman, British and Spanish Empires, which are exactly what he is against! It's also weird that he thinks the EU "began to sprout" in 2003, a decade after Maastrict.
- cnasc 3y ago
  Is Mesopotamia typically considered the “west?”
  - walthamstow 3y ago
    Latin and Greek are both successors to the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians settled parts of modern day Europe and brought their alphabet and other technologies that they inherited from Mesopotamian civs. The Greeks would have been nowhere without Babylonian maths and astrology. West and East is very grey though. I've made a distinction that I'm happy with, and pointed out why I'm not happy with John's. What do you think?

deleted 3y ago

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dontupvoteme 3y ago

could not tell if this was satire or not. interesting fella

walthamstow 3y ago
It seems like satire today given what's happened in the last 10 years but given it was published 2003, he was well ahead of the times and possibly writing with tongue in cheek, even if he did believe the thrust of it