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Don't Take Advice from a Habsburg
- 082349872349872 2y ago> given the counterrevolutionary legacy of the Habsburg dynasty Might the Habsburgs have weathered 28 June 1914 any better if they'd only been a little less Bourbon during 1848?
- bee_rider 2y agoThey seem basically comfortable now, which I guess is about as much as they could have hoped for in the era of liberal democracies. Whatever little details fell out of their court games, their hard power wasn’t going to survive contact with the brutal grinding power of the giant industrial meritocracy behind a big moat.
- jowea 2y agoHalf of Europe is still monarchies, I don't think it was inevitable that they would lose all their thrones.
- bee_rider 2y agoDecorative monarchs, sort of like American celebrities and influencers but without the acting chops.
- stefantalpalaru 2y ago[dead]
- surfingdino 2y agoThey ceded their powers to their family office managers who rule by proxy, both tending to the inherited wealth and investing it so that they can live without having to do any work.
- 082349872349872 2y agoThere may be a slight gap between being emperors (motto: AEIOU "the whole world is under austria") and having a family office.
- bee_rider 2y agoTo be fair, rich or upper middle class European is probably actually a better gig than old-timey king from when they were in charge, hah. No countries want to kill them as a major political objective anymore, the creature comforts produced by modern industrialized societies are incredible if you can afford them, and even the nobility in a feudal system has bunch of stupid rules they have to follow, which we’ve just thrown out in liberal democracies.
- 082349872349872 2y ago> stupid rules they have to follow A belief in that speech in the Iliad which justifies getting the best portion of everything at home because of one's willingness to stand in the van overseas being one example of a custom/rule which proved exceptionally stupid in the years leading up to 11 Nov 1918.
- jowea 2y agoThat made me realize something, those "stupid rules", specifically the ones about what is an appropriate marriage, are the reason the probably most well known Habsburg was in a modern convertible car on his last day.
- atoav 2y agoOne of my favourite bits of trivia about Austrian law is that it is still defacto forbidden for a member of the Habsburg family to run for the Presidency. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_Law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_Law The Austrian president has mostly a representative/safeguarding function and currently held by a chain-smoking former Professor who was a member of the green party.
- eadmund 2y agoThe snarky article inspired me to purchase the book!
- paleotrope 2y agoI recently fell down a wikipedia rabbit hole and found the interesting story of Archduke Wilhelm of Austria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Wilhelm_of_Austria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Wilhelm_of_Austria It was interesting to read about the diverse opinions of the different parts of the Hapsburg.
- ASalazarMX 2y agoWhile I don't approve the principles of royalty and nobility, the Habsburg family has a special place in my heart because Mexico executed our second emperor, Maximilian I, in the 19th century. Seems like he was a good guy, but he failed to realize how fragile his conservative support was, which he lost when he resonated with liberal ideals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico
- PhasmaFelis 2y ago"Unemployed landowner" is a pretty funny job status.
- jjeaff 2y agoWe have a lot of those today. We just call them Landlords.
- jazzyjackson 2y agoBoo. Every landlord I ever had was retired, working full time to earn enough to buy second properties, or were a management company, so the landlord there is actually a CEO of a property management firm. If there's somebody renting property without doing any work they're probably better characterized as a slumlord.
- PhasmaFelis 2y agoThere's a lot more slumlords than you may realize. Plenty of scummy property management firms, too. I suspect they far outnumber your nice guy landlords. Kind of depressing that the grandparent comment got people angry enough to flag it into oblivion. Leave it to HN to stand up for the big guy, I guess.
- science4sail 2y agoI sure hope that this modern-day Habsburg isn't promoting royal incest, otherwise you end up with fine specimens like this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain
- lrkrsBlurkn 2y ago[dead]
- morkalork 2y agoWas wondering if the article was about this guy, and it is! https://x.com/hop_scotch_/status/1664017656926687234?lang=en https://x.com/hop_scotch_/status/1664017656926687234?lang=en
- sickofparadox 2y agoA true patron of the modern arts. He seems quite pleasant based on every interaction I've seen on twitter.
- moomin 2y agoI’m reminded of the thesis of “Parasite”: that niceness is a privilege those on the breadline cannot afford.
- sickofparadox 2y agoI think that the people in the breadline would have better things to do than be rude on twitter. Or maybe not, it is a fun way to pass the time for some.
- morkalork 2y agoIf you're in the breadline, hobbies and other idle time activities cost money in comparison to twitter that is "free". Don't be surprised the rhetoric is toxic like 4chan and its hordes of basement dwelling NEETs.
- prewett 2y agoBoy, the guy can't win. If he's rude, he's an entitled rich jerk. If he's kind, he's got "privilege". It's pretty tiring to have everything be about oppressing the poor, it's kind like taking a conversation hostage. Well, now that we've brought up the breadline, the conversation can't not talk about that important issue.
- michaelmrose 2y ago
- hello_computer 2y ago[flagged]
- colechristensen 2y agoThis really isn't the kind of tone appreciated around here.
- hello_computer 2y agoIf you close your eyes and really reflect on it for a moment, I think you will realize that that tone is quite welcome here. The flag was not for the tone, but for the direction it came from, and I wear it proudly. It is HN's loss, not mine. This Hapsburg fellow seems quite likable, but he has the wrong politics, so she had to break out the toxoplasmosis claws as though her career depended on it (it does)! meeoww hissss
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoNo, the flag is for the tone. Disagree with substance all you want. Don't write like a troll. Don't attack people personally. There are lots of other places you can do that; don't do it here.
- hello_computer 2y agoDon't attack people personally? And you say this when the story itself is a back-hand masquerading as a book review / history lesson (72 points and counting)? Or by "tone" do you mean that I neglected to spread the attack out over 2400+ words, and research her ancestry back to the 18th century for any shred of "privilege" we may sully her with?
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoIf you don't think the original article was appropriate, flag it. But don't stoop to its level.
- itronitron 2y agoI can recommend the book "Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe" for anyone wanting to inoculate themselves against survivorship bias.
- greesil 2y agoWell many of these kingdoms existed until WW1, then not so much.
- gerikson 2y agoI've read the book. Prussia was the last one to go, finally extinguished in the wake of WW2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_Prussia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_Prussia
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- airstrike 2y agoWhile we're at it I recommend The persistence of the Old Regime by Arno Mayer https://www.versobooks.com/products/2155-the-persistence-of-the-old-regime https://www.versobooks.com/products/2155-the-persistence-of-...
- motohagiography 2y agoHighly recommend any of the interviews or podcasts Eduard Habsburg has done. He seems very pleasant and reasonable. the author's tone is typical of what writers must do to get published these days, and it makes me wonder how some people would justify themselves without nobility or goodness as a foil. take away what Habsburg recommends (family, religion, ownership, traditional values that built a dynasty, etc) and what are you left with as far as advice for a good life? middling status eating disorders and yoni sunning from what i can tell. it's good to take advice from people who win, and his family has been in that business for quite some time. it's probably worth a listen.
- watwut 2y ago> traditional values that build a dynasty This hides quote a lot of awful, cruel, selfish and unfair. You don't build monasty by being nice. Dynasties are possible only due to little stuff like massacres and human rights violation, belief that you are more entitled then others. When you remove religion, traditional values that build monasty you get awful lot of great people who help other, who are nice, who work to create better world. And if you remove family you get the same except more lonely. What eating disorders have with any of that is mysterious, since that is a disease of perfectionist girls with bad handling of fear. They are typically girls who try to please people.
- GJim 2y agoThat's some chip you have on your shoulder my friend!
- watwut 2y agoReally? Cause if you read history, dynasty builders are not distinguished by some moral superiority. That is just not how it ever worked. It is power struggle. You build and keep it by playing power well and pripritizing power. It does not mean you cant have other values as well, but this is deciding factor.
- 1-more 2y ago
- jeffreyrogers 2y agoHere is a review by someone who liked the book: https://theworthyhouse.com/2024/08/14/the-habsburg-way-seven-rules-for-turbulent-times-eduard-habsburg/ https://theworthyhouse.com/2024/08/14/the-habsburg-way-seven...
- tptacek 2y agoSo this guy is a character: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/17/the-foundationalist-manifesto-the-politics-of-future-past/ https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/17/the-foundationalist-ma... Thus, the iron core of Foundationalism is that it opposes autonomic liberalism, and plans to destroy it as Foundationalism’s first act. Only when the Enlightenment, political philosophy based on false claims of wholesale human emancipation from all unchosen bonds, is both gone and wholly discredited is a new thing possible, for if not, the serpent will whisper his sweet lies in men’s ears forever, keeping them fixed in the dream become nightmare. It'd be interesting to work out what the differences are between the philosophy described by these "pillars" and according-to-Payne Fascism.
- jdougan 2y agoYou don't see a lot of honest-to-betsy aristocratic reactionaries, but Charles Haywood is definitely one. Makes Yarvin look like a dabbler.
- 082349872349872 2y agoa cursory search on Payne's def'n turns up "a program for national rebirth based on a primarily vitalist philosophy, extreme elitism, mass mobilization, the promotion of violence, and military virtues." The last 4 are certainly in keeping with undoing human emancipation from unchosen bonds, but I'm not sure what "vitalist philosophy" might mean. another cursory search yields "Vitalism, as a philosophical position, is usually tied to the assumption that there is a fundamental difference between the organic and the inorganic, between the physical forces and the “life force”"; anyone know if (a) Payne is referring to that, and (b) if so, what the Foundationalist position may be?
- 2y ago
- rurban 2y agoNit: Their legal family name in Austria really is Habsburg-Lothringen. A double name. "von" was forbidden after WW1, so they replaced the von with a -. A good friend of mine is a real Habsburg-Lothringen. From a poor farmers branch of the family.
- 082349872349872 2y agosee also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_nobility#Abolition_of_nobility_in_1919 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_nobility#Abolition_of...
- surfingdino 2y agoI guess the dreams of the past glory times never die for those families. Best keep them well-removed from the levers of power.
- AmericanChopper 2y agoThe article takes an awfully long time to get to the point, but as far as I can tell it’s “this guy is religious and conservative and that’s bad”.