Jacob Shell

Geographer. Prof at Temple University. Author of 2 books. Elephants. Maps. Archaeofuturist Transportation.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

Burma, 19th century.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@FischerKing64 Yeah there are too many idiots on this site and whats worse is theyre all arrogant

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@ThatchEffendi Eh im not going to argue with low follow account anons who think Star Ship Troopers in infallible holy writ. Bye guys

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@ThatchEffendi The director is confused. I think that's an issue!

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@blanx500 That painting shows the 1830 Revolution, not the French Revolution

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

People should read Flaubert's Sentimental Education, very interesting dramatic exploration of the motivations of 19th century Paris's educated, professionally ambitious youth in getting swept up in these street-theater revolutions--storming into gov't buildings, churches and museums to impress a woman, or from boredom, or even for career-networking. The only principled idealist is shot by his comrades for not adjusting to ideological currents as these change.

[Mériame @Msemen2020]

This is France’s most famous painting.

It shows a violent revolution with barricades, armed civilians, and dead bodies.

Acting shocked that France has street unrest is peak historical illiteracy.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@omni_american Overrated as metric. Property was damaged, insurance paid for it and raised their premiums, which we all pay for, but if you had stock in those insurance companies it's not so bad. The American economy is designed to absorb this kind of thing

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

I interpreted CHAZ as fundamentally fake. The state allowed people to die there because the victims were the kinds of people the state (in the general sense of "State" but also specifically Washington/Seattle govt, i.e. "blue governance") considers disposable. If a member of the professional managerial class had been murdered there the whole thing would have been shut down within minutes. At any rate...CHAZ didnt burn down a top-5 architectural landmark in Seattle, let alone Seattle City Hall.

[Heraklit @HerakleitosEph]

@JacobAShell But wasn't CHAZ a thing much worse than anything that happened in France? three weeks outside of US jurisdiction is a major challenge to the system. That should at least make things even (US=temporal&spatial anarchy, FRA=destruction of a city hall)

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@LudditeHacker I need to think about whether your thesis (difference is fire control quality) is correct tho. In France, arsons of historical buildings, esp old churches, have been going on for years, probably politically motivated.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

Weak comparison, because in 2020 the arsonists didn't go after a top-5 architectural asset of any city, let alone a city hall. Below is Portland City Hall, very much not destroyed by the 2020 unrest

[Mary Harrington @moveincircles]

Riots are bad, obviously. But France has not "fallen", any more than America "fell" during the Summer of Floyd: https://t.co/q1KIaNUMFr

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@GreeneMan6 Anything that scales, the smart ultimately become subordinated to the stupid. Bitter pill, but I rarely see exceptions

[NORTH 02 @NORTH_o2]

Recreation of an armored Comanche horse from 1700.
Raw hide scales with sand glue on provided protection against arrows and melee weapons.
It eventually fell out of favor when guns became widely available.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@LudditeHacker Nashville...I dont think I knew of this story

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@TitherM ive never said anything about a place having "fallen." if you want to argue with someone who said that, go find one, there are plenty to pick from.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@LechatRick okay. i edited my post

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

How do you explain European countries that also have these things despite not having France's revolutionary protest tradition? Seems to me what's shared in common is development, industry, GDP growth, things like that.

[james_roe @james_roe]

France has all of these things because they have a long history of protesting just like this.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@moveincircles @TitherM The "insurance will cover it" theory the protesters had wasnt totally crazy. Of course the US can absorb buildings + small businesses being destroyed. Some people got wealthy off this, it was a type of property shuffle. So far whats happening in France looks like bigger deal

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

As far as I know, the '68 uprising in France did not burn down major architectural landmarks. Only thing I've ever heard about even somewhat like this is they smashed a lot of classical plaster architectural models in the École des Beaux-Arts (such as items in photo).

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

In 2026 neither left nor right likes to hear this, violates mythologies for both sides

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

Not a very popular post! Okay. But I'm right.

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

@drocto Lol. I took this photo! It's very real

[Jacob Shell @JacobAShell]

An old Sears building in the 21st century suburbs