A buddy once told/accused me of liking the Kurds because my ancestors also "fell upon civilization" in repeated raids over the years.
True. The Irish were a scourge upon the west coast Britons. ( Welsh ) Sparking long term hatred that led to invasion, genocide, religious war, more genocide, real terrorism. But the Irish did preserve a wealth of literature through the dark ages. Plus Whiskey. Remember the movie Dune? Whiskey literally means water of life. See also "How The Irish Saved Civilization" for a slanted view.
On the other side of my genetic heritage I've got Vikings. And not the easy to live with lowlands types. The Norse Fjord living, spring raiding, American colonizing, trading types that raided England, Ireland, & Europe further East than you'd think. Also founders of elected representative republican government and rule of law, not men. ( that last part varied with time. The Norwegian religious wars were tangled with a Royal decree that everyone become Christians, or be murdered rather inventively. ) I think there's a tv series.
What I learned about "my people" is that they weren't the good guys to others, fairly often through time. They were the biggest bad guys to themselves, often enough. And they got invaded and oppressed, at one time or another. There's a lot to be proud of, bad to admit to, and a reputation to live down.
Just like my native country, The U.S.A.
The long view on all shows dismissal as uncultured scum, saviors from eternal darkness, thankless advances in civilization, & unstoppable warriors in their times.
The Kurds need a little work to hit those extremes, but they seem to be reaching for it.
Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 - 04:23 am:
How many fingers on that palm?
There's a couple of editorials on the art over in the Former President thread. Not bad reads. Just last night a buddy wanted these.portraits removed/denied position. For his own reasons not worth discussing. I disagree. These are personal choices. My cynical take is that they belong in history just as the ones for Bush or Harding.
I think future generations will gaze upon the array of portraits and when they get to Barry and Michelle's will wonder what the heck? The sudden style & quality change will be striking. There is already plenty of editorial comment on the political art, personalities involved, & decay of civilization, all fairly or not, wrapped around these Jr. High school graphics arts class level posters.
I'm sure equal bile was wasted on other portraits as the styles changed in art over the last 2 centuries. No doubt with political commentary on how so and so's portrait shows his or her contempt for societal norms. ... blah blah bile.
Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 - 11:31 am:
Perfect.
As was mentioned when the tax bill was still in process - it's only a MINIMUM required tax. Chuck-you and Nanny-Pelosi and their kind should certainly feel free to donate all the "crumbs" they can, in order to feed the machine.
Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 - 11:52 am:
Yeah those Obama portraits are kinda half-assed. I think they should have shopped around for artists more. They could afford an actual good artist you know?
or just have a high school kid do it.
Both of those paintings look like bad photoshops to me. Like they painted the background and then pasted in the face.