I have an important announcement: I'm not half Turkish

[WanderingSoul]

I just found out last week that my family is actually Catholic and not Christian.

We obviously take this shit very seriously.

 

[Roosh]

Master Roosh: Did you parents meet in the United States or the old countries?

They met in Flordia when they were in their early 20s. English was the common language.

I have some questions..

1. Are you happy about this? If yes why?

2. Does this make you feel different about Turks?

3. When exactly was your mom going to tell you this? You're 34.

4. Does this have any impact on your religious views? Do you feel like you're part of something bigger?

1. Not happy or sad. I don't identify with my parents birth countries so it doesn't change anything.
2. Not at the moment.
3. She has been telling me for years, but her wording was confusing, and I was ignorant on what Armenia actually was. For a time period I thought it was a religion.
4. No change.

 

[Hencredible Casanova]

Roosh's Armenian origins could help explain his geographic mobility. Armenians are a very mobile people. Could be genetic. The country has barely 3 million people but the diaspora is many, many times larger and can be found almost throughout the world.

They have an interesting history. Either Armenia or Ethiopia was the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion (some time after 300 AD in both places).

Many accomplished people as well. One of the two founders of reddit is Armenian-American. You can easily tell if someone is Armenian by their surname, which always ends in "-ian."

 

[Quintus Curtius]

That's cool to discover things about your heritage, man. Congrats. I've known a couple Armenian guys over the years and both of them could speak both Turkish and Armenian. I guess they have to know both languages.
Turkey really is an ethnically diverse place. I've read somewhere that a big percentage of the population in Anatolia is actually Kurdish. And in the days of the Ottoman Empire before the end of World War I, there was a very big population of Armenian Christians, and even Greeks, believe it or not. A lot of ethnic cleansing and terrible stuff happened as the Ottomans collapsed. A huge volume of Armenians and Arabs emigrated to North and South America in the 1920s and 1930s.
And the hilarious thing is that when these immigrants came to South America, everyone called them "Turcos" even if they were Arabs or Armenians....

Present day Turkey has one of the most violent histories on the planet. Before it was the Ottoman Empire it was the Byzantine Empire, which started off as the remains of the Roman Empire but slowly was dominated by the Greeks who took over the Empire and made Greek the official language.

The Byzantine Empire had an incredibly violent existence; plagued by wars from aggressive neighbors as well as civil wars from the constant assassinations of its Emporers due to the heavy infighting between its major political factions, the Reds and Blues. Google the Nika Riots for a hell of a story.

Reading about the history of Constantinople (present day Istanbul) is gruesome as it is fascinating, from it's start as Greek city that morphed into the seat of a great Christian Empire that was slowly destroyed and turned into a Islamic one, which eventually died and gave way to the present day atheist reforms of Ataturk.

Turkey is also notable for being home to a once 90%+ white Empire that was invaded by Arabs, multiple times, who slaughtered the men and raped the women, which is why Turkish citizens are extremely ethnically diverse and range from snow white to dark brown, with most being in-between.

Sam:

That Nika Riots story with Belasaurius has always been one of my favorites. A textbook example of how iron-fisted ruthlessness is necessary when your throne is threatened. Justinian hesitated, but Theodora (an ex-courtesan, no less!) was tough as hell and made him stand his ground. Her quote: "This purple is best fit as a burial shroud".
Fast forward to today: If Bashar Asad had learned this lesson, he would not be dealing with a civil war now. If he had acted ruthlessly when the rebellion started, instead of hesitating, he would have had a better chance of keeping his throne.

I plan on doing some articles about Justinian the Great and Theodora on RoK, but I'm not sure on what direction I want to take it just yet.

Justinian the Great was perhaps one of the most evil men of history, you can read the Secret History over at no ma'am:

http://no-maam.blogspot.com/2003/01/secret-history-by-pocopius-of-caesarea.html

There is a reason he chose a whore for his Queen.

___________

One possible suggestion on how to turn the Nika Revolt incident into a post: use it as a case study on the concept that "ruthlessness is sometimes necessary". Maybe you could use it to make the point that sometimes we have to pull out the sword and start swinging if we want to survive. Theodora and Justinian put down the revolt in a blood-drenched massacre, but it was arguably necessary to keep the throne. He then went on to accomplish much as emperor. Any leader knows that at times the fist needs to come out, and I think this incident is a good way to make the point. When you are faced with insurrection, subversion, or revolt, the most drastic action is required. History is filled with similar examples.
As for Procopius's "Secret History", let's just say that it was written by a courtier who had fallen out of favor with the usual palace intrigue. Certainly Theodora was no lady (!!), but we need to take Procopius with a grain of salt.

 

[luggage]

My cousin is actually married to a Lebanese-Armenian. Now she's hot.


I wonder how Armenian women not living in America are like?

 

[Sombro]

Geographically, Armenia is very small but historically often extended into what is now Turkey, so cultural overlap is understandable.

A buddy of mine's father is of the Armenian diaspora (born in Tel Aviv I think). Smart guy -- Ivy League and all that.

More on the Armenian Genocide:

http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Genocide

The remarkable thing about the following events is the virtually complete cooperation of the Armenians. For a number of reasons they did not know what was planned for them and went along with "their" government's plan to "relocate them for their own good." First, the Armenians were asked to turn in hunting weapons for the war effort. Communities were often given quotas and would have to buy additional weapons from Turks to meet their quota. Later, the government would claim these weapons were proof that Armenians were about to rebel. The able bodied men were then "drafted" to help in the wartime effort. These men were either immediately killed or were worked to death. Now the villages and towns, with only women, children, and elderly left were systematically emptied. The remaining residents would be told to gather for a temporary relocation and to only bring what they could carry. The Armenians again obediently followed instructions and were "escorted" by Turkish Gendarmes in death marches.

 

[Volk]

You are : American. I am : Colombian. My family came from all over the world, yet it doesn't matter. I've always find it interesting how many people from the US call themselves up to the 32th. I swear I met this girl in LA once who told me she's 1/16th Italian and 1/16th Native american or some bs like that.

 

[Samseau]

As for Procopius's "Secret History", let's just say that it was written by a courtier who had fallen out of favor with the usual palace intrigue. Certainly Theodora was no lady (!!), but we need to take Procopius with a grain of salt.

But in actuality his version of the events match the historical record. Towards the end of Justinian's rule and after he died the Empire went into a decline and was nearly wiped out. Because of Justinian's mismanagement all of the land he captured was lost and the Latin side of Byzantium was phased out. Decades of assassinations of various emperors followed Justinian because he did a poor job with leaving a successor. It was because of Justinian's rule that Greek became the official language.

If anything the Nika riots are a story of how a tyrant kept his power.

 

[JayJuanGee]

You are : American. I am : Colombian. My family came from all over the world, yet it doesn't matter. I've always find it interesting how many people from the US call themselves up to the 32th. I swear I met this girl in LA once who told me she's 1/16th Italian and 1/16th Native american or some bs like that.

Volk: You are correct that talking about ancestory is a very common practice for Americans and Americans tend to be very interested in describing their ancestory - even though in the end, it may be difficult to understand the exact meaning or whether there is any value in knowing the minutiae. especially when delving into the 1/16ths and the 1/32nds. It may be an American's way of wanting to appear more worldly?

Like you, some people may find this talk to be meaningless gibberish - like I find with discussions of sports. Usually, I do not really have an interest in engaging in deep conversations about spectator sports; however, frequently, I get caught in situations with people who like to get into great discussions about the details of spectator sports... and sometimes, i just try to go with the flow.. until a convenient time to bail ship or to bounce, as they say.

 

[Quintus Curtius]

As for Procopius's "Secret History", let's just say that it was written by a courtier who had fallen out of favor with the usual palace intrigue. Certainly Theodora was no lady (!!), but we need to take Procopius with a grain of salt.

But in actuality his version of the events match the historical record. Towards the end of Justinian's rule and after he died the Empire went into a decline and was nearly wiped out. Because of Justinian's mismanagement all of the land he captured was lost and the Latin side of Byzantium was phased out. Decades of assassinations of various emperors followed Justinian because he did a poor job with leaving a successor. It was because of Justinian's rule that Greek became the official language.

If anything the Nika riots are a story of how a tyrant kept his power.

Yeah, I agree. He sure kept his power all right. But I think there was some real good that came out of his rule, though. The Code of Justinian (the Digest of Roman Law) was a real achievement in collating, preserving, and transmitting Roman law for the ages. I believe he also was the emperor who commissioned Hagia Sophia, what still is an architectural masterpiece. And I think he should also get some credit for temporarily re-conquering parts of the Western Empire that had been lost to the Vandals and Goths.
His treatment of his general Belisaurius was disgraceful. This guy was loyal to him and did great things, and got nothing but suspicion and abuse.

 

[Volk]

You are : American. I am : Colombian. My family came from all over the world, yet it doesn't matter. I've always find it interesting how many people from the US call themselves up to the 32th. I swear I met this girl in LA once who told me she's 1/16th Italian and 1/16th Native american or some bs like that.

Volk: You are correct that talking about ancestory is a very common practice for Americans and Americans tend to be very interested in describing their ancestory - even though in the end, it may be difficult to understand the exact meaning or whether there is any value in knowing the minutiae. especially when delving into the 1/16ths and the 1/32nds. It may be an American's way of wanting to appear more worldly?

Like you, some people may find this talk to be meaningless gibberish - like I find with discussions of sports. Usually, I do not really have an interest in engaging in deep conversations about spectator sports; however, frequently, I get caught in situations with people who like to get into great discussions about the details of spectator sports... and sometimes, i just try to go with the flow.. until a convenient time to bail ship or to bounce, as they say.

I like to talk about the same thing, to be honest. It's an interesting topic when just meeting people. It's pretty good when people share the history they know about their family as well, like Roosh did. Some others (Girls especially, Narcissism ) are just wearing the 1/128th or whatever as a badge and it gets stupid. I think a lot of those people, in trying to seem different, end up being the same shit.

 

[JayJuanGee]

I like to talk about the same thing, to be honest. It's an interesting topic when just meeting people. It's pretty good when people share the history they know about their family as well, like Roosh did. Some others (Girls especially, Narcissism ) are just wearing the 1/128th or whatever as a badge and it gets stupid. I think a lot of those people, in trying to seem different, end up being the same shit.

@Volk : These can be kinds of ways to make small talk and to (within reason) make up anything that you want during some of these conversations - even though some of it may have some truth to it - like similarly, talking about astrology. People can go all over the place with astrology, for example!!

Nod your head, and say, "yeah, yeah, yeah.... and that reminds me of a story..." and then just say anything that you want that kind of relates to the topic of ancestory or something else that was said. Maybe it can be a little bit like stream of consciousness, and then a question may be whether you can follow the conversation and does it remain interesting. Ultimately, when chicks get into these kinds of discussions, I feel that I need to have some ideas about how to respond or to relate, and blowing them off may not be the best way to play out the conversation.

Sometimes making something up regarding ancestory may be better (or more interesting and entertaining) than reality; however, we can have a story about ourselves to relate to the girl's story by saying: "I am 1/2 A and 1/4 B and 1/8 C and 1/16 of D and E, but I used to think that i was 1/2 B, but instead it ended up later that I found out that I was 1/2 A. Who would have thunk it?"

It's all good, and these kinds of discussions may play more with some audiences than with others.

 

[kerouac]

I think we can all sense what's coming next.

[attachment=14131]

 

[Ensam]

I think we can all sense what's coming next.

Does anybody have a Zankou Chicken datasheet?

 

[Tenerife]

Your russian skills will be useful in Armenia.

 

[Greek kamaki]

I had long suspected roosh had no turkish ancestry because he lacks some certain mental turkish features. Iranian I did not doubt because he sticks to fairness and is grateful. (ancient Perses punished ungratefulness).Also absolutism (no women's posts).The cunning quality to sell could be Armenian (they were always great tradors).Also to mix in foreign environments etc.

 

[Hencredible Casanova]

certain mental turkish features

GK is hilarious.

 

[Donnington93]

There's other Caucasian (in the Caucaus mountain sense) minorities in Iran too. Azerbijanis are a big one. My best friend from college is Persian. Very cool guy and I learnt a lot about the culture. Being Jewish and knowing some Hebrew, I can pick up a bit of Arabic. Farsi is definitely beyond my depth, but the language is also not related at all.

 

[Samseau]

certain mental turkish features.

I have turkish friends - SO TRUE. Damn Turkish people can be fucking nuts.

 

[Therapsid]

There's other Caucasian (in the Caucaus mountain sense) minorities in Iran too. Azerbijanis are a big one. My best friend from college is Persian. Very cool guy and I learnt a lot about the culture. Being Jewish and knowing some Hebrew, I can pick up a bit of Arabic. Farsi is definitely beyond my depth, but the language is also not related at all.

I was confident some ugly bigotry would creep up in this thread. I was right.