Using the word "philistine" to mean "uncultured person" is pretty racist when you think about it. Philistine was a whole country with, I'm sure, a variety of people. Imagine if in 1000 years "American" was a word meaning "idiot". Well ok...that would make sense. Bad example, but you get the idea.
They pretty much do this now
Using "Philistine" as an insult is so Belgian.
Did you hear about the Belgian who died drinking milk? The cow laid down.
Apparently originally student slang for Townie. www.etymonline.com/word/Philist...
I mean there was a song by green day that clearly defined what an idiot of the American variety is
And now I have Green Day stuck in my head.
remember how Mongoloid is sometimes synonymous to idiot / fool / Down's syndrome? when I was a teen someone explained it was "only" because people with Down's "looked Asian", like that's any better lol
History fun fact In Australia, rhyming slang for American is "Seppo" I know what you are going to say, "that doesn't rhyme" I'll type the explanation slowly... American -> Yank (standard expression) Yank -> Septic Tank (rhyming slang) Septic Tank -> Seppo ('cos we talk lazy)
Imagine that in 1,000 years, "American" becomes synonymous with "stupid.” This would be the result of an ideological operation, a reduction of a people to a single trait, an abstraction that removes all the complexity and nuance. Stereotypes are ideological instruments of simplification, of erasure.
I'm pretty sure there were some nice intelligent German Nazis back in 39-45, but I'm going to keep considering "Nazi" as a generic "authoritarian piece of shit". To avoid the reduction of "American" to "stupid" maybe Americans should do less stupid toxic stuff and more good stuff. Just saying
When you use the term “Nazi,” it becomes a symbolic condensation. You reduce it because the full horror is unspeakable, and yet must be spoken. As for Americans being reduced to “stupid,” this is the Lacanian point de capiton! The signifier “American” is pinned to action, to changing the practice.
It seems to me that the only difference is that you seem personally offended, not a "symbolic condensation" vs "reduction by changing the practice". Maybe instead of playing with words, americans should make better choices
The idea of “better choices” assumes that the conditions for making those choices are not themselves distorted by the symbolic structures that make them. It’s not only about making better choices; it’s about how our “choices” are already imposed on us in a way that limits genuine agency. Fuck Nazis.
Yeah, I'm all for structures and not ascribing choices to some childish notion of pure free will, but that's beside the point here. Structures determined the choices of people in Nazi Germany too.
The people of Nazi germany desired the structure. The obscene enjoyment was not imposed, it was embraced. The horror is not that the structure made them do it, it’s that they found pleasure in obeying. The most dangerous freedom is the freedom to love your chains. Unless you’re Clive Barker.
I think the people of Trump's America desired the structure. They find pleasure in all these hateful politics against so called wokism, trans people, immigrants, liberals in general, science, etc.
As a nation/people/culture, Americans have been implementing and championing ideas and politics in the world that are profoundly unfair, toxic for the environment and, lately, authoritarian and even clownish. So if history treats Americans as a joke in the future... well, it'll be kind of deserved
As an American, I think most Americans are fucking idiots right now.
That movie was prophecy, or just perhaps a documentary.
your non philistine friends won’t see your posts but your philistine friends also won’t see your posts
#Philistia #Philistines
Pretty sure Palestine first named itself after the Philistines.
Well, it was Palestine. And to be frank, it is a fascinating national identity, but properly speaking it only makes sense in Gaza. The West Bank would be another kind of Canaanitish, unless there are migration details I don't understand.
Philistine == Palestine
"in 1000 years", yeah...
"American" is absolutely an appropriate term of abuse for people inclined towards violent, delusional, greedy, erratic, narcissistic behaviors and practices.
[stares in latin america language]
Philistine was a Greek exclave, and yeah the Greeks of the time included quite the variety of uncultured people. Slavers who filtered rich philosophies out the sweat and blood of conquered peoples. And also Athens and Thebes were there, those two were okay.
I already use the word american to mean that.
Did they have "countries" back then?
The philistines with their other phoenician buddies were busy inventing the alphabet that the greeks would eventually yoink and turned sideways, so were arguably far more cultured and literate that the terrorist goat herders in the hills.
We actually have only a single documented description of one Philistine and all we know is that he was big and got killed by some kid with a sling
The sling wasn't what killed him, it was the rock. Kid musta' been Hamas.
