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Cake day: August 30th, 2023

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  • Besides the other reasons mentioned here, i think there is a strong factor in the social and intellectual sphere. Christianity was a cohesive standardized institution with a written holy book (or set of texts, before the council where they canonized which books would go to the bible), and later became a part of enforced state policy. That mixture of standardization and officialdom allowed it to essentially accumulate ‘capital’ to such a degree it could (after absorbing lots of ideas and practices) overwhelm the local polytheistic societies and religions.

    Local polytheistic religions were extremely varied, and each village tribe or city had its own gods, beliefs, etc. The mess of beliefs meant that the religions spread organically, not in an institution with quasi industrial ways (standardized beliefs, practices, texts, even rows of clergy trained in the same ways on churches and monasteries). They could be challenged and be overwhelmed by the bigger faith, in intellectual ways (evangelization) or by demographic superiority. Or just by immigration to other regions (which many people did, like the barbarians in late Rome or Imperial legions and soldiers since always), where multiple contradictory faiths coexisted, until a cohesive unified alternative popularized.

    All that is inverted in India. Hinduism was (is) varied, but way less than paganism from ireland to iran, and it is a formalized institution with written holy texts supported by the state (or by castes, specially the Brahmins), very constant and stable over many generations. That inertia even allowed it to not become muslim majority (except in a few regions).

    Other countries in Asia actually have Buddhism as the main religion or state religion (or main historical religion). Even if buddhism absorbs lots of pagan deities, ideas and praxis, the core institution is solid and formalized, and dominant. Japanese Shinto is very different from pre buddhist times. China had buddhism, and confucianism and taoism as also very standardized formalized state institutions (aka not a different religion per village). So asian polytheism is very reduced compared to european one.







  • Teils13@lemmy.eco.brtoAsklemmy@lemmy.mlFavorite horror movie?
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    3 months ago

    The Witch (2015)

    Since you asked the favorite, i will have to describe it, trying to avoid the spoilers.

    It is a masterpiece on many aspects at the same time. It is a historical movie, focusing on an isolated devout settler family living on the frontiers in the beginnings of US history. It is a dramatic and heavy movie with believable people, showing their realistic hardships in everyday living, how they really live and think the world through their strict religion, and how they react realistically to the supernatural events that unfold. It is a Horror movie that gradually builds the mystery, tense and fear thorough the relatively long stretch of time it takes (months i guess), and the actual terror moments felt deserved (i.e. not a cheap scary gag).

    For all that, it is considered one of the more ‘artful’ horror films out there, and i’m sure it will (or already is?) considered one of the Greats in the genre with Dracula 1932 and The Exorcist 1973. It however leans on being slow and heavy, not good if you seek a lighthearted film.




  • (Most) North Americans are the epitome of wasteful consumerism, even more than their economic kin in other global north countries (but sadly not by that much). They succumb like flies to company deals and propaganda that incentivizes throwing away functional stuff and replacing it with new shiny thing XYZ in ever decreasing intervals. Vance Packard’s 1960s book still being to the point. If environmental preservation is a concern to you or other reader, don’t incentivize an unnecessary tech and use your smartphone (that is a necessity) until it breaks beyond repair or usability (and buy an actually strong protection to increase the interval). I still use an iPhone 6S, and it works perfectly well for smartphone tasks (there is even functioning bank apps. security updates still appear once in a while, and bank apps are protected by the banks anyways. if you feel unsafe using banks in an old smartphone, create a 2nd bank as a ‘‘street bank’’ for daily tasks keeping only a low amount of money, and keep the money in a primary bank to be used via internet).

    Imagine if we could just flash a functional android ROM on it, that hardware still is great and could last decades (replacing pieces once in a while). Anyway, the mainstream tech industry is definitely an enemy of sustainability, don’t ‘buy’ the green-washing.