Category: Meme

Meme Monday #14

2/17/2025

All men think about the Roman Empire is a meme I've
covered before. This comic takes things a bit further and
implies all men have a particular empire they obsess over.
For me, a medievalist, its obviously the Holy Roman Empire,
even if some critics didn't consider it an empire (ahem,
Voltaire).

The comic has a few layers. The guy in the red shirt wants to
be assigned Rome, perhaps because it is one that a lot of
people know about. He is instead assigned the Achaemenids
which is somewhat more obscure (hint: Alexander the Great
beat up one of their members). Interestingly, 'Achaemenids'
applies more to the family than to the empire which implies
he has an interest in the dynasty's later activities in Pontus -
which would put him on the opposite side from the Romans.
The fact the guy who was happy to be assigned the Mongol
Empire says the Mughals aren't bad plays on the fact the
Mughals were partly descended from the Mongolians.

The final line about someone being assigned the Aztecs plays
on there being some empires that are more socially acceptable
to be obsessed with and one dedicated to human sacrifice
probably isn't it. Although their capital city was a feat of
engineering that rivaled anything Europe was doing at the
time...

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

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Meme Monday #13

7/29/2024

Trigger Warning: Border Gore

Over on the Monarchism subreddit user Derpballz posted the
above image with the caption "This is the ideal monarchist
state of affairs. You may not like it, but this is what peak
family, property and tradition preservation looks like."

The Holy Roman Empire may well be the first meme to be
personified as a country. Certainly, Voltaire with his witty
description of it being "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an
empire" had no respect for it. Although, it should be noted he
also described Canada as being "a few acres of snow".

The empire met its end in 1806. This date is weird to think
about as the empire was a quintessential Medieval creation.
It was, after all, still carrying on while the American traitors
were establishing their republic to Canada's south. It ended
only 50 years before the colonies of British North America
got their act together and united.

Unlike its neighbours (and some of its component states) the
HRE was not a centralized state. It was highly decentralized
and only became more so as time went on. As the map makes
clear, it had a lot of microstates within its borders. Of these
only Liechtenstein remains as the sole reminder of the
beautiful mess that once took up most of central Europe.

1356 is a good date to pick to highlight the empire's many
eccentricities. It was at that point too decentralized to expand
its borders and too internally divided to reform. It still held on
to lands from a time of earlier centralized authority and the
office of emperor still held a great deal of prestige in Europe.

There is an argument that the HRE had to exist or no one
would have believed such a thing possible. Indeed, no other
region in the world had such an entity. No one would set out
to create such a circumstance either; it is the result of natural
evolution rather than statutory creation. This map captures
the HRE in all its beautiful ugliness.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #12

9/25/2023

The month of September saw the Roman Empire as a topic of
discussion. Although this is apparently because women had
discovered men actually think about it quite a lot.

Now, there are numerous videos looking at exactly why this is
the case (and several compilation videos) but explanations
have varied. People Magazine suggested Rome has
historically been over-emphasized in Western Societies. The
Washington Post suggested its about the over-emphasis of
the masculinity of Rome. Others have suggested that men
and women are essentially 'built different' mentally and that
Rome hits a sweet spot of all the things men care about.

I'm not sure I completely buy any of these explanations. For
myself, I'm a monarchist and a student of history; Rome
comes up a lot. But if I were into sports, engineering,
linguistics, or economics, Rome would be unavoidable in
those fields as well.

I think the quest to find the equivalent 'Rome Question' for
women is indicative. Some popular suggestions are the Salem
Witch Trials or Princess Diana. Fair enough, I don't think
about either topic all that much. But the question that I think
is probably the closest female equivalent is "How often do
you think about your ex-best friend?" And honestly, until I
saw that question I couldn't remember the last time I
thought about them but to an extent I had never put someone
in that box as an 'ex-best friend'. As a test I actually asked a
female coworker familiar with the meme when they last
thought about their ex-bestfriend and she said it was just the
other day. I asked a male coworker and he paused for a
second and replied, "I think the question is how often do I
think about my current best friend, because its not a lot."

And in a way the questions are the same. One's best friend can
shape your life in ways that are both subtle and profound. In
a similar vein, Roman influence permeates Western society in
ways we aren't always fully aware of.

A few years back a solicitor in
Ireland drew a straight line from
space shuttle design back to
Roman chariot standards. Now,
while cute, this line isn't as clear
as the meme would seem to
suggest. Still, it would seem that
in the modern world, at least on a
conceptual level, all roads do still lead to Rome.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #11

2/21/2022

What can be said here except "Long may she reign"? Although
maybe someone should check to make sure Italy is alright...

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #10

11/1/2021

Prince William from two perspectives

People say that a picture is worth a thousand words. What
they don't mention is that none of those words are necessarily
the truth.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #9

3/22/2021

There are some poll results that get funnier the longer you
look at them and consider the scenarios that could play out. A
recent YouGov poll carried out in the UK is one such example.
The idea of republicans actually getting rid of the monarchy
only for the people to then elect Prince William is funny to
me. And then there is the fourth place finish of 'Me' as the
person those surveyed would like chosen. Finally, Nigel
Farage and Jeremy Corbyn make a match made in hell at 2%
of support each.

But seriously, there is some interesting information to be had.
For starters there is no unifying choice among respondents.
Even the Queen, who enjoys widespread support has uneven
support when voting is brought into the picture. There is also
an obvious disconnect between who people want and who
would actually get to vote for. David Attenborough has had
plenty of opportunity to run for public office, takes public
positions on issues, and is obviously popular but has never
stood for election. Which leaves Boris Johnson as the most
credible candidate on this list to be president of a British
republic.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #8

11/30/2020

The Queen and Prince Philip have a solid marriage despite
the pressures their roles place on it. Or maybe its because of
those pressures that their marriage has been going strong
since it began way back in 1947.

"If I am asked what I think about family life after 25 years of
marriage, I can answer with equal simplicity and conviction,
I am for it." The Queen's Silver Wedding speech at the
Guildhall, November 1972.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #7

3/16/2020

Wash your hands, people!

The Corona virus pandemic has led many to alter their
behavior as a means of stopping its spread. Her Majesty is
said to be reviewing up-coming events with an eye to whether
they will need to be cancelled or postponed. There is also a
plan in place for her quarantine should the out-break
worsen. This is prudent as, despite Her Majesty's seeming
immortality, she is in fact 93. And despite the urge to panic it
is important to remember we have been here before. Be
sensible about your plans and be prepared to change them.

It might be helpful to look back to the pandemic known as the
Black Death. We have interesting accounts of the different
reactions to the disease's spread. Of note is that while there
were members of the royalty who fell to the plague there is
only one known reigning monarch who died; Alfonso XI of
Castile. While besieging Gibraltar in 1350 the plague broke
out in his camp. He refused to abandon the siege, fell ill, and
died. This resulted in the Castilians withdrawing.

So I will leave you all with some simple advice; wash your
hands, don't go places if you are sick, and avoid large
gathering for the immediate future (sieges or otherwise).

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #6

10/28/2019

The Bishop needs to consider his next move carefully.

Not much to say about this meme. It kind of speaks for itself.
But since I'm here I think its interesting to note the chess
piece we know as the queen has not always been designated
as such and in some cultures is still referred to by a different
title.

The Persian game shatranj, from which chess slowly
developed had only male figures; shah (king), fers or wazir
(counselor), rukh (rook), pil (elephant), asb (knight), sarbaz
(soldier or pawn). The fers piece most closely resembled the
queen but was much weaker being able only to move one
space diagonally.

As chess spread across Europe from Spain something curious
happened. The term fers was increasingly used in its feminine
form before being replaced by other terms such as femina,
coniunx, or Amazon. But even before the name change some
chess sets depicted the fers as female.

The reason for this shift is not well understood. Everything
from the cult of Mary to the preeminence of certain female
rulers in Western Europe has been suggested. Supporting this
idea is the fact that Eastern Europe and the Arabian world
still use the old term fers (or equivalent).

The expansion of the queen's power on the chess board is
thought to have occurred in Spain during the reign of Queen
Isabella I and may have been inspired by her political power.

As a final humorous aside, for the longest time a pawn could
not be made a queen if the original one was still on the board
(to avoid the scandal of polygamy). Eventually, it was allowed
with the second piece referred to as a 'ferzia' to account for
this.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #5

3/25/2019

"A monarchy conducted with infinite wisdom and infinite
benevolence is the most perfect of all possible governments."
~Ezra Stiles

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

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