Medusa to stand before the courts. (Warning: Nude Female Statue Image)

[Rath Darkblade]

What kind of thing do you mean, DPX? I know there's lots and lots of alternate-history stuff, but some of it is clearly impossible (e.g. Aztecs with nukes, or Anglo-Saxons with tanks). I'm not interested in that kind of wish-fulfillment.

As for stuff you're not interested in... well, that's a preference thing and doesn't mean the genre isn't prolific in its own way.

Prolific, perhaps -- but in some cases, extremely silly. I've seen so-called "alt-history" that involves the Aztec Emperor Montezuma stopping the Spanish Conquistadors by giving his Aztec warriors nukes and missile launchers. I've seen "alt-history" that gives the Anglo-Saxons tanks, or gives the Sioux/Lakota Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs). Please; alt-history should be something that's plausible, that could have happened. Aztecs with nukes and Lakota with APCs is silly.

If Lee's Lost Order wasn't found? A small thing like that - that might have changed history. Or the fog at the Battle of Long Island - that little detail saved Washington's army in 1776 from defeat and utter ruin. Washington's army was besieged and surrounded, yet thanks to the heavy fog, he was able to smuggle himself and his 9,000 soldiers out across the East River and to safety. What if it wasn't such a foggy night? Washington and his men would have been captured and probably imprisoned or even executed. A little bit of ingenuity, plus a bit of luck from the weather, saved the American Revolution. If not for the fog, America might not even have been born.

It's stories like these that make history fascinating for me, not Aztecs with nukes.
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As for the statue ... hmm. It's fascinating in its own way (and yes, some very good and interesting links there, Tawm). I'm a little bit shocked, but also amused and unsurprised, by the angry person. Obviously she's never seen nude statues before.

I'm also bored by this "debate" about whether men should be part of the #MeToo "conversation". Of course men should. Yes, some men are murderers and rapists and violent arseholes. But most of them are not.

As for the "argument" that the statue is somehow insulting (because - shock, horror - it was created by a *GASP!* a MAN!!!), and on that basis to exclude half of humanity because they happen to have a Y-chromosome, is no less an "insult".

Let's stop all this nonsense now, please. I thought the ideals of #MeToo movement were equal treatment of both sexes, regardless of what chromosomes you have. If we want to achieve this -- if we want women to be truly equal with men -- then please, ladies, please treat us men as equal with you.

Yes, there will always be shouty and/or violent individuals, many of them men. But not all men are shouty and/or violent, and portraying all men as such doesn't do the #MeToo movement any favours.

I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but some things need to be said. Thanks for reading.

[DeadPoolX]

Prolific, perhaps -- but in some cases, extremely silly. I've seen so-called "alt-history" that involves the Aztec Emperor Montezuma stopping the Spanish Conquistadors by giving his Aztec warriors nukes and missile launchers. I've seen "alt-history" that gives the Anglo-Saxons tanks, or gives the Sioux/Lakota Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs). Please; alt-history should be something that's plausible, that could have happened. Aztecs with nukes and Lakota with APCs is silly.

Silly, yes, but sometimes entertaining nonetheless. Of course... I've played games where there are dinosaurs who are literal Nazis, so maybe my tolerance for ridiculousness is higher than yours.

If Lee's Lost Order wasn't found? A small thing like that - that might have changed history. Or the fog at the Battle of Long Island - that little detail saved Washington's army in 1776 from defeat and utter ruin. Washington's army was besieged and surrounded, yet thanks to the heavy fog, he was able to smuggle himself and his 9,000 soldiers out across the East River and to safety. What if it wasn't such a foggy night? Washington and his men would have been captured and probably imprisoned or even executed. A little bit of ingenuity, plus a bit of luck from the weather, saved the American Revolution. If not for the fog, America might not even have been born.

You're speaking to someone who not only knows a ton about American and European history, but also military history in general. You don't have to tell me how important seemingly minor things could be in the course of history.

I'm also bored by this "debate" about whether men should be part of the #MeToo "conversation". Of course men should. Yes, some men are murderers and rapists and violent arseholes. But most of them are not.

As for the "argument" that the statue is somehow insulting (because - shock, horror - it was created by a *GASP!* a MAN!!!), and on that basis to exclude half of humanity because they happen to have a Y-chromosome, is no less an "insult".

Let's stop all this nonsense now, please. I thought the ideals of #MeToo movement were equal treatment of both sexes, regardless of what chromosomes you have. If we want to achieve this -- if we want women to be truly equal with men -- then please, ladies, please treat us men as equal with you.

Yes, there will always be shouty and/or violent individuals, many of them men. But not all men are shouty and/or violent, and portraying all men as such doesn't do the #MeToo movement any favours.

You've made the mistake of thinking that any socio-political movement is meant to be inclusive. It's not, or rather, it's not meant to be that today. Nowadays it's meant to benefit specific groups. This is why we have so many extremely vocal factions all screaming at the same time and exemplifying fascist ideals under the guise of "liberalism." Several years ago, I'd have said that was absurd, but today the general consensus is: "Agree with me or I'll stomp you down" coming straight from universities all over the United States.

Equality isn't a goal anymore. I don't know if people are simply tired of attempting to achieve it or they lack the will to spend years working towards it or they're just too damned stupid and selfish to understand. Regardless, nearly every movement today, no matter how it started out and whatever its original and well-meaning intentions were, it's been transformed into something aggressive, exclusionary, and resembling the very things they claim to fight.

[Rath Darkblade]

Prolific, perhaps -- but in some cases, extremely silly. I've seen so-called "alt-history" that involves the Aztec Emperor Montezuma stopping the Spanish Conquistadors by giving his Aztec warriors nukes and missile launchers. I've seen "alt-history" that gives the Anglo-Saxons tanks, or gives the Sioux/Lakota Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs). Please; alt-history should be something that's plausible, that could have happened. Aztecs with nukes and Lakota with APCs is silly.

Silly, yes, but sometimes entertaining nonetheless. Of course... I've played games where there are dinosaurs who are literal Nazis, so maybe my tolerance for ridiculousness is higher than yours.

I don't mind silliness. Nazi dinosaurs sound like fun. The only reason I object to silly things like this is when people call it "alt-history" and pretend that it could have happened. Obviously the Aztecs never had and never could have nukes, etc., so pretending that they had them is pointless.

There are scenarios that involve the Aztecs where things might have gone differently. For instance, they could've captured Hernán Cortés during La Noche Triste and sacrificed him. (They certainly captured and sacrificed lots of other Spaniards). The loss of their leader would have demoralised the Spanish, even with their horses and steel and firearms. A leaderless Spanish force of maybe one-to-two-hundred, surrounded by tens of thousands of angry natives, could hardly have defeated the Aztecs then.

... today the general consensus is: "Agree with me or I'll stomp you down" coming straight from universities all over the United States ...

Regardless, nearly every movement today, no matter how it started out and whatever its original and well-meaning intentions were, it's been transformed into something aggressive, exclusionary, and resembling the very things they claim to fight.

That's ... unbelievably depressing. How can the divisions in society be healed? I know the wounds are deep, but being aggressive and exclusionary won't help. Saying "Agree with me or I'll stomp you down" definitely won't help, especially if the universities are saying it.

Life's obviously much more complicated than this black-and-white viewpoint. I won't agree with anyone who has a mindset like that. "Agree or die"? Isn't that how fascism got started (literally)? I'm not using the word "fascism" to be petty, or to invoke Godwin's law, or something. I know the word "fascism" stems from the fasces, the bundle of wooden rods and an axe bound together by leather thongs. I also know what it represented: if you didn't agree with whatever the ruling classes said, the rods could be fashioned into a whip and you could be whipped. In extreme cases, they'd use the axes to execute you.

Agree or die? What kind of choice is that?