It’s wild that the U.K. doesn’t teach the Odyssey, I thought their whole thing was stealing other peoples’ culture and pretending they owned it now.
american culture
Submitted 1 week ago by nave@lemmy.ca to [deleted]
https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/1a83e3eb-f9bf-4306-ab84-a037f91f5660.webp
Comments
djsoren19@yiffit.net 1 week ago
Lemming421@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Shakespeare invented literature, so clearly there’s no value in teaching anything from before him…
DmMacniel@feddit.org 1 week ago
You haven’t experienced Shakespear unless you read it in the original klingon.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 1 week ago
Fair point.
ScrollerBall@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Well Greece wasn’t ever a British colony, so they didn’t have as many opportunities to steal artifacts and culture as they did with, say, Egypt.
slartibartfast@lemm.ee 1 week ago
I’m sure they had ample opportunity to steal Greek artefacts from when Greeks invaded Egypt and India.
Shiggles@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Also see: the Ionian Islands from 1815 to 1862
stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
I’ve heard of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, does that count?
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
That translation has fallen out of favor with contemporary scholars but you get the gist.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 1 week ago
Is it even taught in the US? 🤔
I didn’t read it for school. I just liked reading and had this gnarly book featuring all the greatest hits of Greek mythology growing up.
skooma_king@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Definitely was in the rural, redneck school I went to.
austinfloyd@ttrpg.network 1 week ago
Went to a mediocre high school in the US, and I had an English/writing course where the only materials were the Aeneid, Illiad, Odyssey, and Mythology by Edith Hamilton.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
My 10th grade English class studied a small section of it, like one self contained story.
GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I read both The Illiad and a shortened version of The Odyssey in school.
arudesalad@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Just looked it up, the Odyssey can be taught in the UK but it is rarely chosen because Shakespeare is easier to teach and students who pick Shakespeare get better grades on average.
ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
We don’t like to brag about it but we fought the Brits in the War of 1812, one of the things we took from England was Greek literature. In turn, we Americans lost the definition of jams vs jelly and the superior spelling of “colour”.
metaldream@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
Odd that it’s a choice between them. We learned Shakespeare and Homer where I am in the US.
casmael@lemm.ee 1 week ago
……………I did the odyssey at various points man I think the guy in the tweet is just Polyphemus or smthn like ‘I don’t know who this nobody guy is, ain’t never heard of no odyssey before bro’
funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Not in secondary school but I did the Illiad, the Anaed, the Odyssey and Ovids Metamorphoses in 6th form college.
wingsfortheirsmiles@feddit.uk 1 week ago
I did study it at school but had to take Classical Civilisation for one of my GCSE options. Our default in English Literature was a Shakespeare work as previously mentioned (Merchant of Venice for me). I also recall studying An Inspector Calls?
Enkers@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
When the only Homer they know is Homer Simpson.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
Fun fact: the voice actor for Homer Simpson also voiced Homer (the Greek one) in the Disney Hercules animated series.
Lenny@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Fox should sue those lazy Greeks for stealing the name.
sdcSpade@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Even The Simpsons covered the Odyssey at some point though.
mhague@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The world doesn’t revolve around America, but you’ll see idiots in Bumbfuck, Romania talking about Soros and wokeism. It’s got to be exhausting.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 1 week ago
Soros is a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and moved to America afterwards btw
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Even more of a Nazi dog whistle than when the American right does it?
mhague@lemmy.world 1 week ago
“The Jews are trying to replace us.” ?
Orban / the party in charge were saying Soros was using his money and power to flood Romania with immigrants.
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Still exhausting!
OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 1 week ago
I find that people get more ticked off about the woke in non American countries even if it really doesn’t involve them (it should) but even then they increase their hostility because of it
modifier@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
As an American, I am going to dine on this single example as if it disproves the idea that we are insular and provincial hicks for the next decade.
CheesyFox@lemmy.sdf.org 1 week ago
nah, it just proves that brits are as stupid as you are, which is, tbh, is not a surprise /s
ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk 1 week ago
We had Brexit. We can’t say nothing.
FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The /s is unnecessary, I can assure you we are stupid and nobody should be surprised.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Certainly stashing it away in the ammo belt.
bulwark@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The problem is, I have this big bag of stones in my glass house, and I want to throw them at the UK for being dumb, but if I do, I also have to admit the US education system is trash.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
I’ll throw that stone for you
The British education system is almost as bad as the American education system. The biggest difference between our cultures is that a lot of Americans are willing to point out how incredibly racist our country is
MutilationWave@lemmy.world 1 week ago
And a lot of far right Americans have taken over local school boards to ban books that talk about gay people existing or the fact that sex is something that happens, among other nefarious purposes. And a religious organization in Texas writes pretty much all the textbooks used across the country. It can’t be this bad in the UK can it?
Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 week ago
So much broken glass, was it worth it? Now I have to go get the broom.
i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
I mean, I have no qualms with recognizing the US education system is garbage… It gives me more fire to try to improve it.
BakerBagel@midwest.social 1 week ago
I can do both. I’m ot gonna let some backwater pit like the UK insult my home, especially since the UK is essentially completely dependent on the US at this point.
thebigslime@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Both can be true. We can be trash in different ways!
_chris@lemmy.world 1 week ago
To be fair, the only people left on Xitter are idiots
Krudler@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The world is awash in morons and they aren’t localized to that venue, although by way of it’s very structure, it’s a venue that strongly attracts people incapable of holding two thoughts at the same time.
As G Carlin would have said, think how stupid the average person is and realize 50% are stupider than that. This is the world we live in - where the trivial thoughts emerging from society’s dreck take have equal stage and prominence to expertise and wisdom
DragonsInARoom@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The Illiad and the Odyssey are classics and hardly American culture. They are western culture as a whole. No idea what the drama is about but some dude not knowing what the Odyssey is, is the same as not knowing any other classic. (There are too many to count, but not knowing the most popular ones are is like not knowing the titanic sank.) (Spoilers)
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 1 week ago
That’s the joke.
Taleya@aussie.zone 1 week ago
$10 says the dipshit in question did a frantic google, saw ‘ulysses’ and went james joyce.
Hupf@feddit.org 1 week ago
WilloftheWest@feddit.uk 1 week ago
Liam’s a tool. The UK absolutely does teach the Odyssey, and has done so at least as far back as my youth.
BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee 1 week ago
most of the time someone says something wasnt taught in school its because that person straight up didnt pay attention in class
JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 week ago
I suspect there is significant overlap between the kids who were complaining in math class that what they were learning was useless along with the adults who claim math class didn’t teach them “how to do taxes”. (As if you do anything other than fill out a form, anyways.)
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Wait we were supposed to pay attention in school now it makes sense
DakRalter@thelemmy.club 1 week ago
Mine didn’t. We did Buddy, The Crucible, Animal Farm and Shakespeare from what I remember. First I heard of the Odyssey was when I was 19 and DW did a retelling of it on Arthur. When I saw a copy of the story in the shop I worked at, I got it so I could read the actual story.
WilloftheWest@feddit.uk 1 week ago
Were you not aware of it at any point? I don’t necessarily mean as part of the GCSE curriculum. I’ve been aware of the Odyssey and the Iliad from the “Ancient Greeks” part of our primary school curriculum back in year 4. Of course we weren’t analysing texts, but I’d expect any ten year old to be capable of rattling off some major plot points like blinding Polyphemus, or sailors plugging their ears with wax against the sirens and tying Odysseus to the mast.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I have to admit that I have not read the Illias or the Odyssey in school, either. We were made read books in school intendet to make children shy away from books, so they won’t touch any of them after school ever again.
Luckily I had read loads of good books by that time, so I knew that only a few are as horrible as the ones they made us read in school.
NIB@lemmy.world 1 week ago
There are basic versions of these stories with big drawings, mostly made for kids. Basically manga. When i was a kid(in Greece), 35 years ago, i had this
www.stratikis.gr/wp-content/…/iliada-nea.jpg
This is Iliad and it was cooler than Odyssey. Badass dudes with almost divine powers fighting other dudes, while Gods are taking sides and fucking things up. Basically shonen.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I first read the classic translation by Schwab when I was ten or eleven.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
It does feel a lot like that, doesn’t it? Why else would the Bronte sisters be on the curriculum if not to snuff out any interest in literature?
Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 week ago
It could be worse. We read Brecht and Kafka. Several works of them. I’ve never encountered worse waste of paper and ink than those idiots. And the rest was not much better.
arken@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Only boring kids would find Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre boring. Both books would be excellent choices in any curriculum. If you wanna talk boring early 19th century authors, Jane Austen is the name you’re looking for.
teije9@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
the illias and the odyssey are ancient greek literature, I don’t think they’re that fun to read.
But, you still should be taught about their existence in history.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 week ago
They were more fun to read than the sh-t the forced down our throats in school. At least Homer knew how to write a story.
someguy3@lemmy.world 1 week ago
You haven’t experienced The Odyssey until you’ve read it in it’s original Klingon.
qevlarr@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The Odyssey was like the Bible before the Bible.
FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Only in that it was widely published but there are others too like the Epic of Gilgamesh.
AccountMaker@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
The Illiad was like the ancient Greek Bible because it was used to provide behavioural guidelines and views common to all Greeks. It was a text central to any Greek’s education. How does a leader act? Read the Illiad. How are battles waged? Read the Illiad. What is the relation between humans and gods? Read the Illiad.
Alexander the Great was known to carry a copy of the Illiad with him at all times, and many philosophers routinely used excerpts from it to illustrate their points. And people would reference it like we reference things from the Bible in the west (Judas, turn water into wine, cross to bear, turn the other cheek etc)
NIB@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Iliad was not a religious text(or even a text for many centuries). It was just a story of a dude trying to get back home.
Tin@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I know you know this and likely just mistyped, but for clarity, the Iliad is about the war itself. The Odyssey is about the dude trying to get back home.
They weren’t religious texts per se, but they were certainly cultural touchstones which contain important lessons about the human condition, death, love, and what’s truly important in life. They would fill a role similar to histories in the Old Testament, probably, like the book of Ruth.
R3D4CT3D@midwest.social 1 week ago
is this why the miniseries is trending on some torrent sites?? haha!
FreshLight@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Wait… some people don’t know the Odyssey?
nifty@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I am tired of western Cinema jerking off to same old stories, which tbh aren’t the pinnacle of literature or storytelling. There are so many cultural epics which are deserving of the big screen, but unfortunately this western culture bias keeps the general audience from being exposed to any of it.
It wouldn’t matter, but the issue is then you have utter fucking illiterates and philistines who believe that only western writers, thinkers or philosophers came up with anything good. New flash, dudes, many, many of the western writers took their influence from non-western sources.
WraithGear@lemmy.world 1 week ago
What! He never saw Wishbone’s the oddesey?
SparrowHawk@feddit.it 1 week ago
"the world doesn’t revolve around your country"country Said the user from UK.
Silly anglophone countries, the world actually revolves around the chad mediterranean
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 week ago
I prefer to watch it in its original Japanese.
SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
Just play “Age of Mythology”. Duh.
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
The American version has more Laser-shark-launching gun-swords though fewer exposed boobs.
niktemadur@lemmy.world 1 week ago
instead we studied useful things
Have you ever seen any British television quiz game shows? The amount of world geography and history most contestants seem to know is abismal, makes me scratch my head and seriously wonder what many of these people are doing there, in a game show about knowledge. What are they even doing there, in the delusion that they have a shot.
“What is the capital of Denmark?”
“Erm… pass.”This person’s comment is just another drop in the bucket in the sorry state of things.
Master@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Its not even that great of a mini van. You can get better for cheaper!
Vespair@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Meanwhile on tiktok British people are apparently mad at Americans for not knowing or caring about Robbie Williams
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 1 week ago
…may we see the tweets?
yournamehere@lemm.ee 1 week ago
may nigel farage further dumb down the island people.
Fontasia@feddit.nl 1 week ago
How are you supposed to enjoy the music of Civilisation 7 without knowing The Odyssey?
On a similar note, you’d think the guy on the right would counter with Beowulf
LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
Most cultured Brit
Reminds me of this: www.tiktok.com/@emanrtm/…/7348507560032439585?lan…
L0rdMathias@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
The Odyssey is an American epic? Wtf, I love America now!
PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
I’m in Canada.
I wasn’t taught anything about the Odyssey or Iliad
But I at least know that there ancient and Greek.
InspiringOne@lemm.ee 8 hours ago
America is supposed to be like far cry 5 without the violence and like need for speed payback. And like new dawn without the violence in the spring. But also like playing cabela’s big game hunter, certain areas were kind of empty house and road wise. Meaning we raced hatchback cars/suvs on dirt roads, just flipping them wasn’t wanted so there was heavy metal in the bottoms or trunks and roll cages. If you get to Detroit then it’s like need for speed underground 2 and or midnight club mixed with max payne and four brothers.
Otherwise it was just amusement parks, coney islands and zoos or sea world and beaches, with fast food restaurants not called Mc Donald’s but it came to exist and places like Detroit came to exist. Detroit wasn’t that bad it was gangster as fuck though, fur coats, gold diamond jewelry, guns, cocaine, Escalades, of course there was pot, it’s like pot was legal back in the early 2000s and 90s then outlawed in 2007 then decriminalized in 2008 in Michigan, maybe because of dispensaries.
Head shops probably sold weed and other substances back then. Cocaine was and pharmaceuticals were widely used, Detroit or Detroit area was were pharmaceuticals were manufactured. It’s like medical marijuana was to get dispensaries back in Michigan and then they were specifically banned in the medical marijuana bill that was voted on, but pot was decriminalized so we didn’t get the legalization thing. This all just went on with local drug enforcement through the Westland police department. Because they were disease killed by them like wow cable.
It was like a more realistic version of Houston Texas rap music. All those guys did was buy gold and that’s why they had big chains. It was just like the show American Pawn. Detroit was just scary to think about like SUVs pulling up on the side of you with Al 47s and jackin or kidnapping you, like being robbed or killed at any time. This is why communication didn’t always go on at all. There were certain businesses people went to and tv existed or they went through tv commercials or the radio or road billboards, flyers, and people supported them or had a reason of going there instead of starting a business or making their own.
Detroit was entirely a western tavern or town where you would carry a pistol or two. And most of Detroit watched television during Kwame, Kwame was still here before he was mayor. I just go with the flow we all kind of got separated by diseases 20 years ago as self employed or sole proprietor Detroit.
Just cocaine dealers stayed in the winter or no one went many places so cocaine was more noticed or shoot outs over it back in 2003. It’s why it’s good to always give someone a free ounce or kilo to start selling and or using, or a front, fronting is repeat business but becomes like credit card debt without interest and you get used like slaves or as sellers or promoters/workers. But everyone needed some type of base salary to spend like ten or twelve grand a year or 25, people sitting or standing scare other incidents from taking place same with law enforcement. Yes everyone knew and cocaine was like legal or illegal and certain trials or chases went on. Men didn’t really go near each other or near dictators or they were doing business. If it’s not friendship one guys probably a porn producer or pimp. There’s definitely a big after market economy in Detroit, especially with automobiles.
Diamonds were but weren’t valuable, they were a more risky investment but yes they’re desirable and bought as earrings and things or even as bullion. This is why we didn’t constantly synthesize them. Custom jewelry work was just as much as custom anything work and resale value can fluctuate if you can even find a buyer, I didn’t buy chains back or I might melt them down. But molds got saved, no ones supposed to grow broke and some inflation did go on, so only drug dealers and sole proprietors kind of had money in places like Houston. Most sole proprietors were also drug dealers/sellers or buyers.