Re: (TFT) Daily Life...

[raito@raito.com]

Quoting gem6868 <gem6868@verizon.net>:
> RE: Tolkein, I think the difference is that Tolkein is writing "Tuchman
> history" with the modern mind in mind (so to speak) - things make sense
> internally and are explained, b/c that was the background he wanted for his
> world.  Vance and Leiber are writing "Herodotus" history, where legend and
> rumor are included if that makes for a good read or there's nothing more
> conclusive around. 

That's ceratinly two ways to write histories. 

> 90% of the population doesn't know the difference between such hard and soft
> history, so they keep repeating what they learned in 3rd grade (or much much
> worse - saw in movies...especially Oliver Stone films), which was often
> erroneous, is now dated, or was so simplified that it holds no real value. 
> Just the other day I heard someone quote the old saw that the Colonists won
> the American Revolution by hiding behind bushes while stupid redcoats
> marched in straight lines, as though the entire war was Lexington / Concord. 
> The same sort of "everyone knows it" history is repeated about everything
> from the Fall of Rome, the role of the Catholic Church, the Crusades, to
> WWII and Vietnam. 

And knights had to be winched onto their horses because the armour 
weighed too much. Well, it did happen once, after armour was out of 
fashion. But that one's been taken to cover 600 or so years of history. 

As far as mass media goes, one of my friends, a prorefionnal smith 
(whose degree is in history) knows one of the British museum curators. 
My friend saw his name as a technical credit on an awful show about 
history. He asked how it was that the show was so bad. The curator 
replied that the director would ask him questions, and he would answer. 
Then the director would do whatever he was going to do in the first 
place. When my friend asked why he wasn't more upset about that, the 
answer was that the check cashed just fine. 

> Personally, I don't mind that people hold fashionable, erroneous or
> simplistic ideas - we can't all be experts at everything.  But if you know
> you're not an expert or highly trained / experienced in a field, then at
> least defer to those who do while you go look it up yourself.  Even a quick
> trip to Wiki isn't entirely wasted, I've found, if you're in a hurry - you
> just can't take it as gospel. 

I mostly use it to see if my memory is what I remember it to be. Which 
might not be the case with the Healing spell... 

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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