73: The Broski Empire Begins
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Direct from the Broski Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California, this is the Broski Report with your host, Brittany Broski. Lo, citizens of Broski Nation! Lo, please sit, sit! Thank you for coming! Today we celebrate democracy! Was the Roman Republic a democracy? Is a republic a democracy? Is that a stupid question? Is a republic...

Yes. Yes. Is a republic a democracy? There is a difference between a republic and a democracy, though it's easily overlooked. You know what? Really quick. Let's just sort of go through it. Okay. Just read through this for like 45 seconds. Realize that I don't care and I have other stuff to get to. Okay. Today is not the day we find out what the difference is between a republic and a democracy, but maybe tomorrow. Always look to tomorrow, team. This dress is about to piss me off.

Okay, Broski Nation, welcome, first of all, and let me sort of just address the elephant in the room. It's Gladiator Week. It's Gladiator Week. Happy Gladiator Week to all who celebrate! And also Wicked Week, I guess. What are they calling it? Glickid? Yes. Okay.

So much to get through today. This one's going to be a brainy one. So if you're feeling smart today, or if you're not feeling smart today, lock in regardless, because we're going to get through some things today, okay? Today is about learning. It's about observing. It's about having a curious and open, kind spirit. So let's get into that.

Before I jump into that, however, we're going to do a quick book club because I just finished the book series that I've been reading for literally the last four or five months. And I feel empty. I feel empty. They killed off one of my favorite characters and I feel like I lost a family member. Like it's that sadness that settles somewhere deep in the pit of your stomach. Like I cannot kick it. I wake up every morning and I'm like, fuck, I miss him. And it's just a character in a book. So...

I want to talk about that really quick. Yeah, I finished Red Rising, that whole series. It is truly, it's amazing, honestly, the way that things line up because that whole book series is like I've spoken about 800 times before.

based around the Romans' idea of what a proper society is. And of course, it's adapted to this future dystopian sort of scenario, post-American empire, post, you know, the raping and pillaging of Earth and our move to Mars after we have completely desolated this planet. All that to say...

It really heavily plays on this idea of what is, I mean, the classic eternal question, right? What is the best way to govern ourselves? And we still don't know. You know what I mean? Like, we have tried many different forms and failed at many different forms. I don't know if there is an ideal format because who said that shit that was like,

The greatest argument against democracy is a conversation with the average voter. Okay, that sort of shit is like very heavily at play here. Basically, you see this classic story of rebellion against the oppressive party. And in Red Rising, you go from this...

I don't even know what you would call it technically, but there is a sovereign and then there are her ruling bodies around her. And then the rest of society is stratified. Is that the word I'm looking for? Stratified. Like there's, there are levels to it. And it is a ranking of important. It is a very classist and racist ranking because that's how it was designed.

We see, I mean, Red Rising, of course, is the indication that it is a rebellion novel. It's about revolution and overthrowing your masters.

Throughout the course of it, you see it take a few turns, though. There are different factions within the different, you know, members of society where this one might have a king, okay, because of their cultural whatever. And then this one has this sort of

a rebellion leader who's reluctant and doesn't want to become a leader. But of course, he's the obvious choice for who must become leader. Then there are the people who want power, who can never have it. Okay. So you see it go from an empire to a sort of, I mean, I don't even know what they would call it, a sovereign, like you have a ruling sovereign. Then you see a republic be set up. And democracy is always this like,

term in this book series where people are like, well, you don't, surely you don't mean democracy. And it's laughed at. And then, you know, they build the Republic, but the tea is the Republic fails because of course it does. You know what I mean? So all that to say, this started me down this really intense cognitive, not spiral, but this sort of deep plunge into the

Those sort of books, right? Because I love Game of Thrones. I love House of Dragon. I love all that sort of shit because there's dragons in it. But these sort of books where it's just politics, like it's truly just politics and war. And of course, Red Rising is shrouded in this intergalactic, you know, futuristic space, whatever. Like there's a Star Wars element to it.

But it's really started me down this path of this type of story. And with Red Rising, it seems more like a we can do it sort of thing versus some of the stories that I was referencing, like in my brain of, you know, this sounds very familiar, are the more ironic, satirical tales of like a George Orwell. So literally immediately after finishing the sixth book of Red Rising, which is called Lightbringer,

I picked up Animal Farm because it was just on my mind. I don't know why. I was like, I feel like these same topics, like it is almost the exact story. And I don't like good on my high school English teacher because I was able to make the parallel. And that night I picked up Animal Farm. I mean, it's a quick book. I have it right here. It's like 130, 40 pages. I read half of it and then I finished it the next day. It is literally amazing.

It's the same. Not to say that it's the same story entirely, but it's this idea of... Because if we... Let's have a little English lesson, okay? Animal Farm...

as if we remember, is George Orwell's satirical, ironic fairy tale about... It's an allegory to the Russian Revolution, where the revolt threw over Tsar Nicholas II, and in its place, we see the rise of Stalin. This is around the time of Hitler. This is around the time of, you know, America in the 30s and 40s. So...

Keeping that in mind of like, here is a real life example of a revolution that kind of failed because if freedom and liberty was the goal, my God, how did you miss the mark so much? But that's how it happens, right? Is when there is a vacuum of power, someone will fill it. Okay, so reread Animal Farm. The brief synopsis, let me give it to you really quick. If you've never read this book, if you never had to read it in school, if you never are going to read it, let me just sort of give you the rundown.

Like I said, it's an allegory to a real revolution, but this is all animals. So here we are on Manor Farm. That's the name of this farm. A Mr. Jones, the farmer who owns this farm, is sort of supposed to be the Tsar Nicholas II, right? He's this evil overlord who underfeeds the animals, lives in luxury, drinks himself into oblivion. Just a neglectful and careless leader, ruler, okay?

The animals get the idea to stage a rebellion, okay?

It is led by, of course, the pigs because pigs are always described as being hyper intelligent. There is one old pig who is an idealist. He's a philosopher pig and he gathers all the animals in the barn and he says, sit down and you see all the animals care for each other. And, you know, the, the ducks find refuge in the horse's knees and it keeps them warm and all the, you know, all the animals are in harmony. Well, um,

Old Major, the name of this old pig, gathers everyone. He's up on this sort of platform and he says, I've had a dream.

I've had a dream where Mr. Jones no longer exists and we have this farm to ourselves and it is animal farm and we no longer have masters. They don't whip us anymore. You know, they don't control our food. There is plenty of food in there, but we don't have access to it, you know, because we're not smart and all these things where, you know,

He's acknowledging that there is a system at play where otherwise these animals have been kind of like, yeah, I'm a little hungry, but I guess life's okay. You know, and here's Old Major being like, wake up, sheeple. Old Major soon passes away. So now this beautiful idea of a utopian free society is left in the hands of two younger pigs named Snowball and Napoleon. Okay, this is important.

Old Major represents Karl Marx, right? We're talking about communism. We're talking about this sort of idea of everyone's equal. Everyone's equal. Okay, and we know that humans, quote unquote, animals, cannot really enforce that because they don't really believe it. Again, all of this is a fairy tale. This is, and I'll get to why it's called a fairy tale in a second. Let me get through the synopsis.

And so this beautiful idea is left in the incapable and incompetent hands of Napoleon and Snowball. They start devising rules, okay, for this new animal farm. They stage a revolt, a rebellion, and it's successful, okay? So Mr. Jones comes out. He's trying to do whatever. They attack him. They all attack him. They chase him out of the farm.

It's a success, okay? They have Old Major's skull. They put it at the base of a flagpole. They take down the Manor Farm flag, and they put up the Animal Farm flag. They say from here on out, all animals are free and equal. They come up with seven commandments for Animal Farm, okay, which I will read to you right now.

The seven commandments. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed. No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall kill any other animal. All animals are equal. Those are the seven commandments, okay? Take a second and guess if by the end of this book they end up breaking all of the seven commandments. Yes, they do, okay? Literally almost every single one.

It is such a beautiful, short, simple work that

describes this descent of these idealistic values of, sure, of course everyone is equal, but the major theme and the conclusion that you come to at the end of this book, which the pigs even write on the fucking wall, is all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Okay? That is the point of this book. By the end of it, you see

some of their, almost all of their autonomy be stripped. The government, quote unquote, is lying, okay? They say that grain production is up 300%. The farm has never been more successful. Everyone is full and hungry. And yes, you know, we're going to increase work hours, but it'll be for the greater good of the people.

are good of all the animals. Meanwhile, slowly, the pigs move out of the barn into a private little room in the barn. Then they move into the farmhouse because Mr. Jones no longer lives there. Then the pigs start sleeping in their beds. Well, because, you know, we're your leaders. We care about you. We're so smart. And, you know, of course, you're toiling with your body. We're toiling with our minds. So you don't have to. And,

You know, I require a little bit of extra comfort. Surely you understand. They move into the house. Okay, then they get into the whiskey. Well, you know, it's been quite a stressful day from all of this really. We're doing this so you don't have to. That's this repetitive sort of mantra, okay? They're in the farmhouse.

They're drinking alcohol. They start wearing clothes. They start interfacing with the neighboring farms. Okay. And those are allegory or references to Hitler and to who the fuck was the American president at the time? Who was the American president during Stalin? Truman.

So he's supposed to be interfacing with Hitler and Truman, these neighboring farms. And slowly but surely, you see the animals start to realize this. And it's never to the point where the animals are smart enough to be like, we are in an equal, if not worse position than when Mr. Jones ran the farm.

And then it's this realization of we're too far gone because it is total control. It's a republic to totalitarianism. That's the line. And that's where the book ends is you see all the farm animals, all the ones that are left, because throughout this time period of, you know, however it is, 20, 25, 30 years, some of the animals who live really long, who live to the very end of the book, who weren't worked to death or starved to death,

can't even remember the times of Mr. Jones. But it's this idea that the ruling class keeps drilling into their heads, well, you don't want to go back to Mr. Jones. Surely you don't want to go back to Mr. Jones's rule, do you? And the answer is always no, no, no. And the animals don't even remember the time of Mr. Jones. On the side of the barn where the seven commandments were inscribed,

You see slowly because the animals are not literate. Okay, they tried to teach the animals how to read. It didn't really stick. They can maybe get a few letters. Some, like the donkeys or some horses, can read a little bit, but not really in a reading comprehensive manner. Throughout this time period, the pigs have been adding on to the seven commandments. And so when faced with that, you know, I don't really remember it saying that,

animals shall not drink in excess. Well, yes, in excess, of course, everything in balance, things like that. When some of the animals remember, animals shall not drink, right? So we're rewriting history. We're censoring things. We now have propaganda being spread around by some of the squealer pigs. We have a rewriting of the collective memory. Is there anything more terrifying?

When you choose to earn your degree online from Southern New Hampshire University, you're saying yes to new opportunities and to new adventures. You're saying yes to something big, something you've always wanted to do. If earning your degree is one of your goals this new year, SNHU can help you get there. With low online tuition, no set class times, and multiple term starts per year, you can set the pace that works for you and save money along the way. Visit snhu.edu today to get started.

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And so by the end of the book, of course, all these animals that are left peer through the farmhouse window where it's warm inside. Napoleon has gathered all of the neighboring farmers and maybe his solicitor, maybe his business manager. They're all sitting at the table in vests and top hats and drinking whiskey all around the table. And you cannot distinguish who is pig and who is human. Okay, right. That's the sort of like...

And then the book ends. Crazy. So relevant to this day, I think. And truly, like this book stands the test of time. You don't need me to tell you that. I'm not a fucking English teacher. There is a reason why this is taught in schools. There is a reason why Orwellian literature is still so important today. And I want to read part of the introduction to this because there's like a foreword

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This introduction is by C.M. Woodhouse, the Times Literary Supplement. This was written in London in 1954. Okay, so this story is categorized as a fairy tale. And when you think of fairy tale, you think of what? Cinderella, Brothers Grimm, Little Red Riding Hood, things like that. And what is the point of a fairy tale?

What is the purpose? Let me read this passage that he has in here because I literally underlined it, annotated it, highlighted it. It's so – I was like, period, bitch.

The point about fairy stories is that they are written not merely without a moral, but without a morality. They take place in a world beyond good and evil, where people or animals suffer or prosper for reasons unconnected with ethical merit, for being ugly or beautiful, respectively, for instance, or for even more unsatisfactory reasons. I love that because that's true. You know, that's how we base society around, you know, if things are beautiful or ugly, well, then they must be good.

My, this is, I have so many thoughts in my head right now. Beauty does not equal good, okay? Something can be tragically beautiful. Something can be horrifically beautiful. So let's move on. A little girl sets out to do a good deed for her grandmother and gets gobbled up by a wolf. A young rogue escapes the gallows and gets someone else hanged instead by his talent on the fiddle.

Dozens of young princes die horrible deaths trying to get through the thorn hedge that surrounds the Sleeping Beauty, just because they had the bad luck to be born before her hundred-year curse expired. And yet one young prince, no better or worse, no handsomer or uglier than the rest, gets through merely because he has the good luck to arrive just as the hundred years are up. And so on and so forth.

even when the Grimm's stepmothers are called wicked. For all this is related by the fairy storytellers without approval or disapproval, without a glimmer of subjective feeling, as though their pins were dipped in surgical spirit to sterilize the microbes of emotion.

Are you fucking serious? Let's reread that sentence. For all this is related by the fairy storytellers without approval or disapproval, without a glimmer of subjective feeling, as though their pens were dipped in surgical spirit to sterilize the microbes of emotion.

They never seek to criticize or moralize, to protest or plead or persuade. And if they have an emotional impact on the reader, as the greatest of them do, that is not intrinsic to the stories. They would indeed only weaken that impact in direct proportion as soon as they set out to achieve it. They move by not seeking to move, almost, it seems, by seeking not to move. So this is in this story specifically, right? We'll use Animal Farm as a reference.

I was like bucking at the idea of these cruelties and this unfairness being inflicted on these animals where they escaped one horror just to enter right into another one. And here I am. Orwell's not telling me to feel a certain way about it. He's not saying, oh, isn't this awful? Oh, isn't this whatever? There are little things, yes, that are kind of...

narrative commentaries to move the story along. You know, and some of the animals remembered it being different, but they trusted Napoleon's judgment because he was the smart pig after all. Shit like that, where it's almost this collective consciousness speaking and he's just the vessel. That shit is good storytelling, okay? The reader bucks at the passive cruelty and complacency. That's what I wrote there. It's so fucking true! It's so good!

The fairy story that succeeds is in fact not a work of fiction at all, or at least no more so than say the opening chapters of Genesis. It is a transcription of a view of life into terms of highly simplified symbols. Amazing. Highly simplified symbols. Animals on a farm. Animal farm. Oh, and by the end of the book, by the way, they go back to being called manor farm because of course they do. Because a revolution failed. The revolution failed. Okay.

So this has started me down this path of like, I'm rereading all the classics. Started Animal Farm. I'm in the middle of 1984 right now, which is another like, holy fuck. And it's not even, some of this literature can lend itself to being kind of conspiracy theorist. I think especially the way that the modern idiotic populace interprets some of these books is like, it was a prophecy, right?

No, it was it was kind of a warning that things could turn down that road. I don't think it's supposed to invoke fear. I think it's supposed to be a mirror. It's supposed to hold up a mirror, you know, to where we're headed and and the sort of rhetoric that we allow and the control that we allow without knowing. And it's too late by the time we realize it. You know what I mean?

1984, I'm in the middle of. Next, I'm going to redo Brave New World. We had to do Brave New World in English class in high school my senior year, and I had to write a paper on it. And I cannot remember it for the life of me. The only thing I remember is, of course, it's kind of like a controlled state where it's similar to 1984, where everyone's watching you. You're always being observed. And there's this scene where they like,

unleash some rats on him or something. They start nibbling at him. That's the only thing I remember. So in high school, I was like, so I'm going to reread that. That book is by Aldous Huxley. Okay. He is an interesting character. Brave New World was Aldous Huxley's version of a dystopia of this is, I think in my head, the worst thing that could happen. Like this is my version of a dystopian society.

Brave New World, obviously, studied in school. It's a warning, a commentary, a whatever. On the flip side, he wrote a book that is his version of a utopia, of a utopian society. And that's called Island. And I haven't read this, okay? I recently only learned that it exists. And I was like, how interesting is that? Because usually, you know, authors are like,

This is what I think to fucking when the world ends. But rarely have I ever heard of an author being like, and this is what my view of a perfect society is. So how interesting is that? And also how deeply flawed it's going to be because utopia, I mean, this is a pessimistic worldview, but utopia cannot exist, does not exist, will not exist.

We're too flawed of a species, I think. And any attempts at sort of having this religious utopia, like a cult or like a Jonestown, where they sell you this idea of this is the pinnacle of existence. You know, we'll live in harmony, we'll do all this. Not true, not real. Because...

I mean, say what you will, but I don't know if man is inherently evil, but we definitely have evil tendencies that will always win out when given autonomy. I don't know. I don't know why. And I want to believe that's not true, but history says, yes, it is. Anyway. Yeah. So I'm going to read Island. I really, if y'all have read it, let me know. Cause I don't even know kind of what it's about. I know it's about an island and people under island.

and they live there and they are perfect. So I don't know. I'm gonna get into that, but I'm in the middle of 1984 right now and look, okay, I'll have a review for you on that in a few weeks, maybe in a week or two. Okay, in the vein of books, I got this book, which I'm so excited about this book. And it's so fucking dumb. Like this is so nerdy, okay? But I was at Barnes and Noble, as I am,

And I came across this and I said, oh, oh, oh.

This is called Etymologicon. The Etymologicon, a circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language. This shit makes my penis hard. Sometimes I see books like this and my penis starts, it gets kind of rigid because I love words and I love how they connect to each other and I love the origins of words and I love the European or not even European, the international sharing of words

roots of words. Because we know that the Romance languages unite each other, you know, Spanish, Italian, French all sort of have the same root Latin words or bases. And then we know that because of empire and expansion and all that, a lot of Spanish words stem from Arabic words. Ojalá is an example. There are things like that that just if you study history close enough, which I don't, but I should,

It all becomes so evident and clear as to why we use certain words, as to why certain phrases exist. A few episodes back when one of y'all suggested to me, which thank you, by the way, the History of the English Language podcast. This is so boring. I'll give a five.

The History of the English Language podcast where it was about bread and about how the existence and significance of bread in the human diet and in human history has informed a lot of words we use, like breadwinner, like –

breaking bread with someone, all those sort of things where we just sort of use them and we all know what it means, but why do we say that? It's very, I really, really enjoyed that. So this is just more of that. And just for shits and gigs, I wanted to turn to a random page and just read it because why not team? Let's go through the table of contents and pick one. A Game of Chicken.

Gambling in medieval France was a simple business. All you needed were some friends, a pot, and a chicken. In fact, you didn't need friends. You could do this with your enemies. But the pot and the chicken were essential. First, each person puts an equal amount of money in the pot. Nobody should on any account make a joke about a poultry sum.

Okay, I hate when an author tries to be funny.

That's how the French played a game of chicken. The French, though, being French, called it a game of "poule," which is French for chicken. And the chap who had won all the money had therefore won the "jeu de poule." The term got transferred to other things. At card games, the pot of money in the middle of the table came to be known as the "pool." English gamblers picked the term up and brought it back with them in the 17th century. They changed the spelling to P-O-O-L, but they still had a pool of money in the middle of the table.

It should be noted that this pool of money has absolutely nothing to do with the body of water. Swimming pools, rock pools, and liver pools are utterly different things. Back to gambling. When billiards became a popular sport, people started to gamble on it, and this variation was known as pool, hence shooting pool. No idea!

Then finally, that poor French chicken broke free from the world of gambling and soared majestically out into the clear air beyond. On the basis that gamblers pooled their money, people started to pool their resources and even pool their cars in a carpool. Then they pooled their typist in a typing pool. Le chicken was free. Stupid author.

And then he grew bigger than any of us because since the phrase was invented in 1941, we have all become part of the gene pool, which etymologically means that we are all little bits of chicken. Stupid, I don't appreciate the commentary, but an interesting point, okay? Gene pool, there you go. The game of chicken.

Yet another game of humans being fucking awful to everything and everyone around them. Here's something in the same vein of Gladiator. If you want to hear me talk about Gladiator, that was last week, okay? This week, it's more Roman, okay? This week, I am Roman. Last week, I was at Gladiator with my sword. This week, I am a Roman, okay? My testicles and my balls are hanging out the bottom of my toga. I'm not fighting in the fighting pits.

I am preaching on a marble stone staircase. Okay with my with my guys I wore this to go see the screening of gladiator I've never felt cooler like genuinely we need to bring back togas and draped cloth There is something about the way that this like oh my god Of course painted if I was a painter and way back when I would have painted that look at the way that that moves The red bull kicked in I just realized

Me like, "Look at the way the light hits this Amazon Roman packaging. I really understand painters. I could have painted." Hey, the Red Bull just kicked in.

Hey babe, no you can't. You just had a watermelon Red Bull about 45 minutes ago. This episode is sponsored by SeatGeek. Guys, 2025 is coming in hot and so many people are going on tour, I'm literally marking the tour dates in my calendar like they're important meetings I have to attend. Sam Fender, I'm looking at you, brother. We need to start prepping now. That's why I need to tell you about my special hookup from today's sponsor, SeatGeek.

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Okay, here's something that I wanna talk about. In the vein of teaching, in the vein of I'm just really on Roman Empire right now, on the concept, not even Roman Empire, the concept of empire and how it is quite honestly the pinnacle of human hubris, hubris, right? Ego, pride, isn't that? Hubris definition.

Excessive pride or self-confidence? Hubris. Hubris. Why'd you say it so sexual? Hubris. Okay. Yeah, I'm in this sort of thing of... And I don't know what that's called, if there is a term for that mindset of like... Maybe it's just pessimism. Maybe it's stoicism. I don't fucking know. Of just like...

I know that this shit's doomed to fail. There's actually a character on Animal Farm named Benjamin, and he's like this old ass donkey who doesn't really speak up for all of it. He's a very passive, pessimistic, just realist. And he sees everything happening. And he is one of the only ones that could truly read. And he sees them changing the shit and he sees everything, whatever. And he still works. He never overworks. And, you know, he never really underworks. He just does what is expected of him and he fucking goes home.

That character was so intriguing to me because it's like, are you...

so comfortable just being, just letting this happen. You are smart enough to know that it is happening, but to just not say anything. And is it this inevitable thing of like, if you say something or they, and there's another revolution and you overthrow the fucking pigs and this happens, are you the new leader? Because look, we know that the animals can't rule themselves. They're not smart. They can't read. And that is a direct fault of who was in charge, that you did not create a literate populace. Anyway, let me move on.

In this vein of Empire, since I took art history in college, maybe even high school. Yeah, I think we took AP European art history in high school. And we came across this series of paintings, which has intrigued me ever since, called The Course of Empire. It's by Thomas Cole. Thomas Cole is an English-born American painter. So he had a unique perspective on this new idea of...

an American empire. And this is in the 1830s, mind you. Keep that in mind. And...

What I like about this is this is a series of five, I want to say quadrant. It's not a quadrant. That means four. A series of five paintings that details the rise and fall of an empire. Okay? And it's not a specific empire. Of course, some of the paintings lend itself to that looks inherently Roman. But is that just the only idea that we think of with empire? Because there are so many different empires that have existed. Right?

Ottoman Empire, the, uh, other empire, you know what I mean? Where there are, there are so many different types, but there's a through line through all of them where, uh,

The one gets the many. Okay? There is an excessive amount of luxury for the top ruling class, for their conquests of empire, and how many different populace, how many different civilizations and societies can they enslave and bring them into the empire? And like I talked about last episode, at the same time that you have this incredible, almost barbarity, and just...

uncivil cruelty, bend the knee to the empire or die. At the same time you have that, you have incredible innovation happening with the aqueducts and with the Coliseum and with all of these buildings. And when you have this many people toiling towards the same goal of expansion of empire, sure, like advancements are bound to happen, but is it at the cost of this? And is that worth it versus if we never would have, you know, so anyway.

These paintings, let me pull them up. Like I said, they detail empire. So we start here with, this is called the savage state. Kind of, um...

Kind of insensitive if we're speaking in 2024 terms. This is almost like cavemen, but I don't know if it's, you know, Thomas Cole, a white guy painted this. I don't know if by savage they just meant native. I don't know if they actually do mean cavemen. But from here we can see that there was semblance of cavemen.

a society. There are tents that they live in. They have communal rites, like dancing around a fire, singing around a fire. Here in the foreground, we see hunters, gatherers. They have weapons. They have tools. So there is a settlement here that is somewhat advanced. I don't know if savage is the right, if that's, you know,

a sensitive term. And then in the background, of course, we have more hunters with their bows and arrows. They're hunting game. Okay. Now a through line through all these paintings, if you're listening on audio, I'm going to describe it as best I can. A through line through all of these paintings is this mountain in the background. It's this sort of cliff overlooking a bay, a sea with this little tiny rock on top. You will see this in all five quadrants, all five paintings. Um,

And it serves as a good like checkmark reminder of nature was there before you and it will be there after you. And it will consume what you've left behind. Okay, that's a through line for me. Let's move on. This is the Arcadian or pastoral state. So here we see, again, here's the mountain with the little rock resting on top. Do I have dial-up internet? What's so fucking difficult to load about this painting?

So here we see a temple, okay? They have created a structure out of stone that's been shaped, that's been constructed, put together, and inside you can see it's kind of massive how tiny the people are compared to it. They are doing more, you know, whatever this may be, a ceremony, a celebration. And the land, other than that, is somewhat, somewhat bare. They only take what they need, you know what I mean?

We have clothes. We have a musical instrument. Okay. We have down here, we have the introduction of art. So here we have a little boy drawing a little stick figure again with the instrument. And then over here in the bottom left, an old man doing what we can assume to be maybe geometry, maybe arithmetic. Okay. He's got a stick. He's drawn in the sand. One of those, what looks like

Do you remember those things that was like, bet you can't do this without lifting your pencil and going over one of the lines where it's that house and you have to draw an X in it? Do you remember what I'm talking about? Anyway, that's what it looks like he's doing. So this is the pastoral state, okay? Peaceful, growth, innovation. Next, which we can assume is probably over decades, maybe even hundreds of years, is the consummation of empire.

Consummation meaning the pinnacle, the peak, the absolute utmost description of what empire should be. And I say should in quotes. I mean, it's stunning, right? This is what we think of when we think of the height of the Roman Empire. Marble buildings, the Greco-Roman pantheons and the arches and the inscriptions of the gods, the gods and goddesses.

Everything gilded, gold-plated. We have water features. We have exotic plants and animals that have been brought in. Here in the middle, oh, and all this to say, this is in a bay as well. So it's a point of trade. It's a point of commerce and growth and newness.

rich luxury. Here on this bridge, this main focal bridge, we see what we can assume maybe is the emperor or a high-ranking military official, someone of great importance to this empire. A celebration is being led throughout the city. So they're on this main bridge and

He is on elephant back. He's being led through by an elephant. Now, did it look like elephants were native to this area in the pastoral state? No. So we can only assume that they have been captured and brought back to the empire from a distant faraway land. There's garland everywhere, there's flowers, there's soldiers on horseback leading him through the city, everyone's cheering for him. All of these people up on the balcony, there are trumpets and horns playing.

These lighthouses are leading people into the bay, guiding them into the bay. This is a celebration of conquest. Okay? A beautiful scene. Now this, compared to the next scene, of course, the next scene, destruction of empire. The inevitable, the impending destruction.

And again, in the background, we see the same mountain. It's shifting views through all this. You know, we're doing a sort of like semicircle around this mountain, but it's the same view regardless of the water and this little tiny boulder on top of this mountain. We see this beautiful, pristine image, this view that we had in the last painting completely just destroyed. This is what we're assuming is maybe an enemy invader. But I think it's more interesting to think that, uh,

The soldiers and the leaders of this empire turned on themselves, sort of cannibalized themselves and started eating away at their own flesh, so to speak, like the flesh of the empire. Because, again, hubris, we get too pride, we get too prideful, we get too confident in ourselves.

our existence, I think, is godly. You know, we start to believe that we are gods. Look at all this we've created. Look at what I can accomplish with a snap of my finger. All these people that work for me, all of this power and control that I have, it becomes insatiable because when you have everything, you don't want for anything. And so you turn to, you know, perverted ideas of, of

I think that's a more interesting take on this. But of course, I think more realistically, this is an enemy invader that came in with a powerful force of an army and just raped and pillaged. I mean, truly, that's what this is, even with the storm in the background. So these beautiful structures that we saw in the last painting,

Gone. Broken. The bridge that the military officer or the emperor was on last time has fallen. And now in its place, we see this temporary makeshift wooden bridge that is full of people and soldiers and horses and civilians falling off the bridge into the water. The waves are choppy. It's stormy. This main gladiator statue is

that represents conquest and victory, the head has fallen off. The shield chipped and shattered. In the background, the lighthouse has been broken. Some of the pillars of these buildings are knocked sideways. Here we have a soldier gripping on to a woman as she tries to flee, pulling her back in. There's blood on the stone. There's dead...

sons, there's weeping mourning mothers. This goes all the way into the background. The ships are on fire. The ships are sinking. These look like enemy ships and some of them are belonging to the empire. All of this is happening. We don't know why, but we knew it was going to because all good things must come to an end. And I say good in quotes. So this is, I think, it's a terrifying image truly because

The way that he painted some of these people's expressions is like, oh, fuck. And also, I love a painting like this with so much detail. I mean, I'm zooming into different areas and just look there. More is to be revealed each time. He plays with depth really well. I do enjoy Thomas Cole a lot. Dead soldiers everywhere. OK, let's move on.

And now we move on to the final painting in this series. It is called The Desolation of Empire. Here we see a scene that we are familiar with. Okay, the same rock on top of the mountain in the background. A similar natural setting of the moon in the background where the sun was in the background in the first painting we saw.

This is nature consuming what's left of this empire. Ruins. We see one large pillar, maybe some arches of a bridge that we know used to stand, some pillars of an old temple. Everything else has been eaten by vegetation.

by water, by moss and ivy. And as it crumbles, I think it's so amazing. It's amazing that this is the constant reminder that we are not bigger than nature. We are not bigger than the forces that be. We are not gods. We can play God, but this is where we are destined to land. It will not last.

I want to read you a passage. Thomas Cole detailed each of these quadrants. They're not fucking quadrants. He detailed each of these paintings. And I don't think he needed to, but he did. And the final one for this fifth one, I want to read because I really liked it.

The fifth picture is the scene of desolation. The sun has just set, the moon ascends the twilight sky over the ocean, near the place where the sun rose in the first picture. Daylight fades away, and the shades of evening steal over the shattered and ivy-grown ruins of that once proud city. A lonely column stands near the foreground, on whose capital, which is illuminated by the last rays of the departed sun, a heron has built her nest.

The Doric temple and the triumphal bridge may still be recognized amongst the ruins, but though man and his works have perished, the steep promontory with its insulated rock still rears against the sky, unmoved, unchanged. Violence and time have crumbled the works of man, and art is again resolving into elemental nature.

The gorgeous pageant has passed. The roar of battle has ceased. The multitude has sunk in the dust. The empire is extinct. Amazing. This gloomy picture suggests how all empires could be after their fall. It is a harsh possible future in which humanity has been destroyed by its own hand. The arches of the shattered bridge and the columns of the temple are still visible. A single column looms in the foreground, now a nesting place for birds.

I just love it. It's overgrown. This is where we're headed. This is where you're destined to go. You take and take and take and take, and then you will never win in the end. Nature will win in the end. And that is true across the board. Human nature will win. The nasty, evil side of human nature will win. That's a pessimistic view, but I think that's what's being reflected here. Nature in its physical sense will win. It will always overgrow everything we've built.

it will take it back. You know, it's lending it to you. But remember that you are not the master. Nature is the master. I just love this series. And I know that there's some commentary here that I don't really feel qualified to go into detail with, but I'll read it off the Wikipedia. As it pertains to American history, this cycle reflects Cole's pessimism and is often seen as a commentary on Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party.

However, some Democrats had a different theory of the course of empire. They saw not a spiral or cycle, but a continuing upward trajectory. Levi Woodbury, a Democrat and a justice of the United States Supreme Court, for instance, responded to Cole by saying that there would be no destruction in the United States. Well, well, how wrong you are, my good man.

Anyway, I fucking love these paintings. And from the moment we studied them until now, I mean, I think one day when I have my big at-home library where, you know, Court of Thorns and Roses, Hunger Games, Twilight, all of those will be displayed in my library. I would like some, what's the word I'm looking for?

Like remakings, reprints. Reprint? I would like all five of these hung in my office, like in a little upside down pyramid. I want it so bad. I love these paintings. I love the detail. I love what it represents. I love the through line. And I love that it is a cycle if you arrange them like that.

where the desolation of empire almost circles right back into the pastoral, where you're, once again, nature is king. And then you go in this circle. I mean, that's all humanity is. We just go in this circle of like, I'm God. Fuck, I'm not God. But I could be God. I am God. You know, it's like we play with this idea of us having power. We never have power. Okay, team. Let's get the fuck into music.

Here are my songs of the week. I am, let me just preface this by saying I'm in the throes of obsession. What's new? And this is an obsession that has been here before. We're not stranger to it. But it's Sam Fender. Sam Fender. He's going on tour. Shut up. He's going on tour in America. You know how long it's been since he's been on tour in America?

And did he pick the most random ass cities to go to? Yeah. Why are you going to Tempe, Arizona and not to Austin, Texas and Los Angeles? What the fuck, bitch? Anyway, Sam Fender, he released a new song called People Watching. I'm addicted to it. This literally isn't like

I know that sometimes labels will pay people to talk about music. This is not that, okay? This is from the gut and soul of my being. I love Sam Fender and his new song is really good. And so I've been in this Sam Fender kick again. And you know all things, if you find a through line through things, there will always be, if you look for it, it is there. Through this idea of like empire and, you know, failed whatever and hubris and pride and

We try to have nature bend to our will. That will never happen. Sam Fender has a song called Play God, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Play God and Long Way Off. Those are two Sam Fender songs. Please go listen to them. And like I encourage you with Hosier's music, go read the lyrics. Even with Ethel Kane's music, go read the fucking lyrics.

because not only is it a fucking tune, okay, it's a fucking tune and I'm dancing and I'm laughing and I'm having a good time, the lyrics are making me absolutely piss on myself. They're so good. Like they're so... I really can't describe it because I think sometimes we just overlook the craft of songwriting because it's...

churning out a hit. It's churning out a catchy hook that will get you played on the radio. And there is less of a spotlight on how impactful some of the lyrics are in the revolutionary sense that, you know, music moves people. And you don't have to have brainy lyrics to really move someone. But these two songs, dude,

I really do think Sam Fender is like a modern philosopher and he's just buried. And I say that and it sounds funny because he's just like a shithead white guy from Northern England. But I love that dichotomy of like he admits he's like, yeah, I'm just a fucking lad. He's just a lad from Shields. Okay. But fuck North England. Love you guys. But seriously, what's going on up there?

And he's just, I genuinely think he's a genius. The way that he structures the words, I feel the same about Hosier. The way that he structures the words, I would read that as poetry. Not even, it's a fucking added bonus that he can sing and play the guitar crazy. Like, it's such good music and the lyrics are so, it's part of this like,

How do you make a protest song that isn't a protest song? Because protest songs are corny and cringe. And you don't want to make a song that's like, I'm going to sing about how COVID was sad. No one wants to fucking hear that. So how do you take the emotions that you're feeling that are incredibly topical and incredibly relevant and everyone's feeling that way of like we live in a dystopia where –

There is so much injustice at the hands of people that we put in power and we feel hopeless and powerless. And he captures that, I think, in a lot of these songs. And I just love him. And I think that he is so wildly intelligent and he masks it behind this like, I'm just a lad. That was a bad northern accent. Sorry about that. Newcastle. Sorry. If you're from Newcastle, sorry.

Okay. I love Tim Fender. That's all. I'm going to like literally go to probably five or six shows. I will be a groupie when he comes to the US and I don't want to meet him. I keep that man away from me. I'm just going to be like in the crowd at every single show, probably crying, topless high. Okay. Love you guys. Sorry for this brainy episode. Actually, no, I'm not sorry because I wanted to talk about this and I think it's topical. And I think that reading is

A power that we don't exercise because even a book like this, even a book like Animal Farm, this is banned in certain places of the world, of the country. This book is banned in some states. You cannot buy it.

That is a terrifying idea to me. So as much as, you know, I love to make y'all laugh on this podcast, I've been thinking about this shit a lot and I've enjoyed reading it and I think that it is necessary. And I just want you guys to join me on that, you know, on that idea of staying educated and taking advantage of the access that we have. The access that we have. Okay? Loving you guys. Loving Sam Fender.

Everyone invest in a toga. Okay, everyone free ball. I'm going to the gladiator premiere. Wish me luck. Please wish me luck. Please wish me luck. And I'm bringing my dad. We're going to have a great time. Okay, love you guys. I'll see you next week. Bye.

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