Living in Danger

Celestial had this prophecy about how people will move elsewhere for safety if America falls into a civil war again (and before both China and Russia invade this country), I even prayed for actors like Grant Gustin to move to Italy for safety should civil war happen again. But if it does come to pass, then he is a refugee seeking asylum. A very well-known one at that, but the same principle applies. Seeking refuge is no respecter of people, no matter how rich and famous they are if it happens at all.

It would take some time and pressure for Italy to grant citizenship to people who aren’t of Italian descent like Gustin, but that will surely change and occur if you have more Americans seeking asylum in that country if civil war happens again. It would be amusing if Gustin ever becomes an Italian citizen, learning Italian along the way to better blend in with the general populace. But let’s not forget that his own life will be endangered if civil war becomes a thing again in America, because he could risk getting killed there.

America will fall into a civil war again due to strong ideological differences, these could be brewing a lot at this point and time but one that will lead to crisis when it comes to pass.

Babylon System

Among a few American Christians, America is Mystery Babylon. I think the real reason why you don’t see that many Christians admitting this is because they made America into an idol of sorts, like even if they know America is falling away from its Christian values (whatever Christian values it had) they don’t want America to be painted in a bad light by other people. Even though in reality, it committed a lot of atrocities against other countries like Vietnam and Japan before in the mid-20th century.

Calling America Mystery Babylon implies something, America may not be exactly like the Babylon of old. But it does resemble Babylon in the sense of being a powerful hegemon, Babylon was a major hegemon in the ancient Middle East just as America is in the 19th to 21st centuries. America is the whore Babylon because for all its Christian values, it’s powerless to stop Mormonism, Satanism and general occultism from entering its shores. They grew and persisted where they shouldn’t.

Also, as a cultural hegemon (though on a much larger scale than the actual Babylon did), America has Hollywood which exports some of the more scandalous and salacious programmes and films. These are Bridgerton, Eyes Wide Shut, A Clockwork Orange, many porn films and the like. Israel may have its faults, but it doesn’t come close to what America produces. Israel could adapt MTV to its tastes, but MTV is first and foremost an American export and creation. Israel today is Israel reborn, both literally and figuratively.

Parts of Iraq belonged to Babylon and genetically, there could be Iraqis who are direct descendants of both Sumerians and Babylonians but have been Arabicised over time. America could fall into the same fate, should it become a Russian colony in the future after the war. America might still exist, though not in the form we recognise it as should it continue to exist in the future. If the first becomes the last and the last becomes the first, watch out if Nigeria and Brazil become world powers in their own right as America dwindles.

Nigeria could become a world power much sooner under a new president, which means it’s on its way to becoming a first world country and a new world power in God’s due time. Same with Brazil, Russia, China and India which are coincidentally known as the BRIC countries, if God uses both Russia and China to punish America then becoming rich countries is his way of preparing them for the future. China’s home to a growing Christian population, so that’s something to watch out for.

Italy could become something of a world power, though not necessarily in a good way as it will house the Antichrist. But the idea that the mid-21st century would be home to multiple world powers is something God will allow to pass, it could be for something good like with Russia, Nigeria and China but it could be something for the worse like with Italy. Watch out if Italy experiences a leapfrog in LGBT rights once the Antichrist comes to power there.

But in all honesty, it’s nice to see multiple world powers again as it did before in the 16th to 19th centuries. Maybe not in the form we knew it before from prior texts and literature, but it would be amusing if some of those world powers are former colonies like Nigeria and India. This could happen in WWIII and during the Second Civil War, when America declines in power.

There’s no holding back here, all the African countries will become first world in a short period of time with Nigeria becoming an actual world power soon enough. Same with China, India, Brazil and Russia, same goes for Italy as well even if it’s not in a good way but still.

What happens to America and Europe?

There has been a lot of prophecies regarding America in WWIII, the ones that I remember involve it being nuked by Russia and China as well as being invaded by these two. I personally feel much of it concerns the contiguous United States of America, since I feel for Hawaii its fate would turn out differently. If God were to allow America to get nuked by Russia and China, Hawaii might be shielded from this. But I also think it would come under Chinese occupation alongside the Mariana islands, but I also think it’s just as likely for them to secede from America and form their own nation-state.

If America were to get nuked real badly by Russia, Hawaii and Puerto Rico would be safe but secede out of necessity. Russia would become a world power by allying itself with various Middle Eastern countries, which is already happening to some extent when it has a quadrilateral relationship with Syria, Turkey and Iran. They will conspire together to bomb America, which dashes Puerto Rico’s chances of becoming the 52nd state of America. China will also nuke America and take Hawaii and Guam by force, only to have them secede from America. Then Japan and others will follow.

Mexico will finally claim New Mexico, California and Texas since these three used to be part of the former before. Because Russia has gotten so aggressive with claiming Ukraine, it will get belligerent when it claims Poland and the Czech Republic from Europe. Europe will get into a fight with Russia should it claim the three, though Russia may unleash a biological weapon of mass destruction to defeat Europeans. Europe will not be as devastated as America will be, if because the Antichrist will rise to power in Italy and turn it into a global hegemon. If Emmanuel Macron is bad for Europe, the actual Antichrist would be worse.

He will make LGBT more mainstream and popularity in Italy, watch out if Italy becomes the richest country in the world if it does happen after WWIII. America became a big world power in the 20th century, Italy would take the world by surprise by becoming the biggest global hegemon this decade. Perhaps more shockingly, occult practices become more commonplace in the mainline churches to the horror of devout Catholics and Protestants alike. They will ally themselves with Evangelicals and Eastern Orthodox to protest against these, once the Antichrist comes to power in Italy.

This would even take place in WWIII, should Europe need a country to beat up Russia. Italy would even establish bases by converting US bases into European ones, should it and the entire European Union arrive to protect countries from both China and Russia. This is where Italy starts becoming a superpower, especially as America burns.These will come to pass and it will come to pass sooner than expected beginning this decade.

An American Thor

Someone on Bookriot said that when the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did Thor comics, they not only appropriated Scandinavian culture (Swedish in here) but also injected cultural values that wasn’t there in Norse mythology. While it’s possible for a Jew like Neil Gaiman to do a very faithful adaptation of Norse mythology, the elephant in the room’s that Norse mythology’s not as deeply ingrained among Jews as it does among Swedes, Danes, Icelanders and Norwegians.

This means Marvel’s Thor is actually a rather Jewish Thor, a Thor that’s closer to the Torah than he does to any of the surviving Norse sagas. To put it this way, Marvel’s Inferno is a lad named Dante Pertuz. The association’s there in the sense of being hot as hell as he manipulates fire, nonetheless some Italians (especially those at Guardiani Italiani) have created their own Dante-inspired superhero. He’s called Dante but has nothing to do with fire, his association with the Supreme Poet’s lost on those who aren’t that familiar with Italian culture.

The fact that this character hails all the way from Tuscany (same place where the real Dante is born in) says a lot about how deeply ingrained the Divine Comedy is in Italy that it’s required reading in many Italian schools. Now that’s an authenticity that’s almost impossible for non-Italians to recreate, something Marvel’s Inferno lacks in some regards. If there’s ever a version of Thor that’s closer to Norse mythology, it would be Peter Madsen’s Valhalla.

Denmark isn’t that entirely identical to Sweden, it has a milder climate all over and smaller than Sweden but they’re both descended from the Norse so linguistic and cultural similarities will show up from time to time. This makes Madsen’s Valhalla much closer to actual Scandinavian lore and sensibilities, a closeness Marvel Comics will not and never get. Sort of makes me think if there ever was a superhero comic made by a Greek, it would be Greek in a way Wonder Woman isn’t.

Wonder Woman might be DC’s best known Greek heroine, but she represents a stereotype in the sense of Greeks being stuck in antiquity skipping over the Greece that came under Ottoman occupation and influence (it’s evident in the cuisine). It seems the biggest risks of a character as made by somebody who doesn’t share their ethnicity is that not only do they risk falling into stereotypes, but also share their authors’ cultural values rather than their own.

This isn’t just the problem with Thor but also with Wonder Woman when one considers this, neither of them are written by people sharing the cultures behind their respective mythologies. Well, as far as I know, it’s one thing to throw in nods to mythology but it’s another to be written by somebody of a different culture. To be frank, I don’t know much about Jewish cultures but having some knowledge of the Bible I even think with Thor’s rivalry with Loki seems more like Cain and Abel.

It should be noted that in Norse mythology Loki’s not related to Thor and Odin at all, and Thor’s brother is Balder as far as I know about it. Laufey is Loki’s mother, not his father. I have a cousin who pointed out that there’s this Marvel comics character who became a Valkyrie should’ve rode on Sleipinir (one of Loki’s children alongside Hel and Fenris), an eight-legged horse. Based on what I know about Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore, Marvel’s grasp on them can be shaky.

Shaky in that Freyja’s the warrior goddess, not Sif and it seemed some of Freyja’s traits were grafted onto her. In Norse mythology, there’s no such thing as an Asgardian only Aesir and Vanir two separate sets of gods. Let’s not forget that Thor had to crossdress to get his hammer back, something his Marvel counterpart never seemed to do. Likewise, Marvel’s Loki never seemed to shapeshift (I could be wrong about this) whereas his myth counterpart did and he became a mare.

Seems like Marvel’s Thor might be the most Judaised and Americanised take to that, perhaps one more radical than God of War’s Thor though I’ve yet to play that game. More radical than Age of Mythology, a game my relatives played and where I thought all Nordic people had red hair. As what somebody else said, Marvel’s Thor seemed to play into non-Scandinavian stereotypes about Scandinavian people.

Not that they can’t be blond at all, but stereotypes reinforce them. Sort of like how portrayals of Italian men as alluring and swarthy reinforces stereotypes, something many real life Italian men will not entirely live up to. Thus, it’s safe to say that Marvel’s Thor is the most Americanised take. He may live up to the blond Scandinavian stereotype, but he’s divorced from his ties to Scandinavian mythology and folklore.

I suspect this is how various ethnic groups feel whenever a facet of their cultures gets stereotyped and appropriated by outsiders, the outsiders have a stereotype of them but the stereotypes aren’t who they really are and how they do things. Marvel’s Thor may seem Scandinavian but also nearly this far apart from his roots in Norse cultures, which just proves this essay’s point.

Only an Italian would do it

When it comes to coming up with international superheroes or rather any non-American superhero, unless if these superheroes are made by people of the same nationality they risk adhering to stereotypes as well as mistakes regarding their cultures. When it comes to Helena Bertinelli, it’s been pointed out before by others like Ragnell that she comes off as a stereotype of what Italian (and Italian American) women are like. The inevitable mafia connections, the attitude and the like do mark her as an other in the All-American world of Gotham.

Additionally, while Dante Pertuz himself’s not Italian he’s pretty much an American impression of an Italian cultural artefact (that is the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri). Dante Alighieri has appeared as a cartoon character before, though I think whenever Italians portray him at all it’s rather different from the American takes. Not necessarily more faithful but more authentic because he’s such a central figure in Italian culture that it’s required reading to study the Divine Comedy in school.

Then comes Amara Aquilla, a Brazilian citizen who’s part of a neo-Roman colony would be the worst offender because she appeared in brownface (that’s appearing as an indigenous Brazilian). This was undone in later stories, but this is one of the many times X-Men has floundered in presenting characters of colour. I might even contrast her with Vesuvius from Guardiani Italiani, the latter being a project about Italian superheroes by Italians.

Guardiani Italiani is one such project that portrays Italian superheroes hailing from various Italian provinces such as Sudtirol (Wilder Mann), Piedmont (Croce Bianca) and Milan (Milanoman), it’s even made by an Italian which means the characters would inevitably and better reflect Italian culture and sensibilities in a way it wouldn’t be done by non-Italians. There are nonwhite characters such as Capitan Lucca and Vesuvius, though I could be wrong about the former.

Compared to Amara, Vesuvius is a far better character in that he’s a legitimate person of colour rather than a white person posing as one. Both of them have volcanism based characters, but only the latter’s actually nonwhite. As for Dante, he’s a superhero who comes from Tuscany which makes sense as Dante Alighieri came from Florence (also in Tuscany and its capital). Surely he may not be clad in red nor create fires, but he’s a good example of what would happen if an Italian bases a superhero after a literary giant.

It’s quite different from how a non-Italian would approach things, but that’s because Italians pretty much grew up with Dante Alighieri especially if they study his works in school and since he’s called the father of the Italian language it makes sense that Italians would take pride in him. Guardiani Italiani is not without its faults, especially if the women are either scantily clad or have their buttocks emphasised but it’s all the more precious and interesting because it’s a project about Italian superheroes as made by Italians.

It does differ from the way Americans write superheroes, some of which seems more Gothic. Okay American superheroes can be spooky and Gothic, but if a British superhero (especially if written by a Briton) differs from their American made counterparts so would an Italian superhero if conceived and written by an Italian. When it comes to creating such characters, they risk falling into stereotypes and careless mistakes if written by somebody who doesn’t share their culture and nationality that undermines their authenticity.

Take Tora Olafsdotter for instance, she comes from Norway but the way her culture is handled is a little off at times. Her family’s referred to as the Olafsdotter family, but then again many Scandinavian patronymics tend to end in a sson/sen and if the old fashioned patronymic were still in use (it’s still the case in Iceland) if she has a brother he should be given the surname of Olafsson. Actually in Norway and Denmark, it tends to end in sen (son/sson tends to be Swedish and Icelandic).

(Not to mention that in Norwegian, it would be spelt as datter.)

That’s one of the ways her portrayal as a Norwegian citizen is off, while the drive to make a Norwegian superhero is well-intentioned and understandable but if she’s written by a non-Norwegian there’s the risk of falling into careless mistakes about her culture and stereotypes. Likewise the portrayal of Helena Wayne’s time in Italy is prone to careless mistakes, so it’s off whenever it’s written by an American who hardly did the research about Italy or never went to Italy.

While Guardiani Italiani does have its faults, its biggest virtue is presenting authentically Italian superheroes which should set the tone when it comes to constructing non-American superheroes.

Those moneylending doctors

The Medici is one of the more prominent Florentine families around that were really big in their Renaissance and early modern heyday, if because they influenced banking and culture a lot. They even used the talents of other people to build up something interesting and worthwhile, whether if it’s the artistic talents of Michelangelo or the scientific genius of Galileo Galilei. They started out as a rather humble family in Mugello, which’s another place in Central Italy. Then one of them moved to Florence where he started a business there, dubious as it was before.

That’s due to the influence of the Catholic Church at the time, when moneylending was considered a big sin back then even if some people did it anyways to support their families (as with many Jews and Dante Alighieri’s own father). But the Medici came to justify and dignify usury, using it to finance and support the Catholic Church. This helped when some of their kind became popes themselves, so they got the last laugh in here. Not to mention, some of them got ennobled and these branches of this family still survive to this day.

(As for Dante, the succession of the family line was entrusted to the aristocratic Serego one of whom added his mother’s maiden surname to his and thus begat Serego-Alighieri.)

While the Medicis were still banking in the Renaissance, some of them became rulers of the Florentine city-state and even had one child’s marriage arranged to marry a noblewoman. That child is Lorenzo de Medici, who wrote poems dedicated to Lucrezia Donati but ended up marrying Clarice Orsini (whom he developed affections for). Within almost a century later, their own kin would be ennobled and turn Florence into a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire.

That’s how powerful the Medici have become, they didn’t just accumulate wealth and power through banking they even got to influence the Catholic Church to justify usury as well as having family members marry into royalty, become nobles themselves and rule the Catholic Church twice. Some of their rivals have come close, but as far as I know the Medici got real big in their lifetimes. This may be long past their heyday in the early modern period but they did influence Italy for the better.

Disney comics in Italy

Disney comics have existed in America since the mid-20th century though they did decline in popularity once the 1990s emerged, so far with the newspaper comics being the holdout for Disney comics in those years. Nonetheless they remain popular in most European countries, that’s excluding the British Isles and Russia where they never seem to get a lasting readership there. One of the biggest producers of Disney comics is Italy, where there’s a continued tradition of and industry for those kinds of stories.

They can take place in Duckburg/Paperopoli or Mouseton/Topolonia, several of the characters do have their names localised there. Mickey Mouse is Topolino, Donald Duck is Paolino Paperino or just Paperino (papero being one of the Italian words for duck), Fethry Duck is Paperoga, Daisy Duck is Paperina and Goofy is Pippo. Of course, this isn’t unique to Italy as several Disney characters do get known by other names elsewhere too. Goofy is Dingo, as in dingue or crazy; Fethry is Popop if you go by the French names.

While Italy isn’t the only country where Disney comics are made and sold, this also happens in the Netherlands and Brazil (anywhere and wherever Disney comics are popular) but Italy’s where stories like L’Inferno di Topolino (parody of the Divine Comedy) and Paperinik come from. The latter’s where Donald Duck’s portrayed as a superhero even, not to mention this is where WITCH (my sister’s favourite) comes from. The latter’s about teenaged girls with magical powers, as far as I remember and know of.

But my personal favourites involve Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, so that’s where my loyalties lie even though WITCH got published here in the Philippines as well. Disney comics were also sold in the Philippines, well at some point as they’re not that commonly distributed there anymore. Okay, their popularity has taken a bit of a dip in Italy as well but the Italian market is strong enough to sustain prolonged interest in those magazines and stories.

In fact, that’s where a good number of modern Disney comics come from and get translated into several different languages. This again proves my point that Disney comics are popular in many, if not most, European countries. The countries they’re most popular in, as far as I know about, are Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Poland, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. Only a handful of these countries produce a lot of Disney comics themselves, one of them being Italy.

Let’s not also forget that’s where the current crop of Disney cartoonists, such as Marco Rota and Giorgio Cavazzano, come from though the Netherlands can claim Daan Jippes as one of their own. But again it’s mostly in continental Europe where Disney comics have continued being popular there.

Love and semi-arranged marriages before

Given both the nature of clandestine marriages in Renaissance Italy and that mutual consent was necessary for marriage back then that there could’ve been ample room for love and semi-arranged marriages in Italy before. Giuliano de Medici and Fioretta Gorini had a clandestine marriage, perhaps in fact they married each other for love as it would be known today in India. Truly in Renaissance and medieval Italy, as in contemporary India marriages were more commonly arranged but so did the degree of consent the would-be spouses were given.

A bride or groom would even consent to marrying somebody else of their choice, as it would be for many semi-arranged marriages in contemporary India. However, since a good number of clandestine marriages in Italy were done in secret to outwit parents then the number of love marriages in Renaissance Italy would’ve been higher than one realises. It’s not necessarily much higher than one believes but high enough to be recorded in documents enough to be a notable phenomenon. As it is today, there were people who married love but because arranged marriage was the norm that it becomes all the more interesting and surprising.

Dante Alighieri never married the one he loved at first sight but Giuliano de Medici did with Fioretta Gorini and Dante’s direct descendant Ginevra had a semi-arranged marriage where she did marry Marcantonio Serego for love but where his son was obliged to add the Alighieri part to his own surname. I could be misremembering things but there was room for marriages where the person consented to the people they wanted to marry.

Renaissance in Florence

The Renaissance, which’s essentially and practically a rebirth of the classical mode of thinking and culture, began in Florence after the Middle Ages though some of these things were already there in the Middle Ages such as a growing trade and banking industry and a prominent wool and textile industry where Florence has been considered an innovation hub of sorts. It does help that it did have a lot of prominent trading families not unlike those in Northern Germany, most notably the Medici and the Bardi and both of them would be ennobled later on. Much like their Northern German counterparts, some Tuscan and Florentine trading families operated as rulers of the city-state.

This was especially true for the Medici where they acquired so much power that they not only ruled over the city but also married noblewomen and got ennobled themselves, though the same could said of their predecessors and contemporaries to some extent but then again the Medici were one of those families that defined the Italian Renaissance. They even had artists commission paintings and sculptures of themselves, with some as early as their formative years (especially Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medici). They even attracted enemies such as the Pazzi and the preacher Girolamo Savonarola, the latter ruled Florence for a while and prompted people to get rid of their worldly possessions.

Considering Florence’s prominence, it’s unmistakable that this is where the Italian language not only spread but also got standardised and codified where it would eventually spread to the rest of Italy in the latter centuries to come. This has its roots in the Middle Ages thanks to a handful of writers, but it took the Renaissance and later centuries to popularise it. Again that goes to show you how important Florence was to Italy and Europe that for a time being the florin was the predominant currency. Not to mention, with all those banking families vying for power in the city-state years (Florence wasn’t yet made into a duchy despite the presence of the nobility) makes you think about how powerful they are to Florence.

Pest Control In the Ancient World

When there’s smoke, there’s fire and when there are pests, there are attempts at controlling or culling their populations. Dogs, being one of the earliest domesticated animals especially in Eastern Eurasia would’ve been one of the first animals used for pest control as evidenced in China that at some point dogs were used to hunt rats in ships (the thing cats would do centuries later). I suspect that in Eastern Eurasia, prior to the arrival of cats mongooses (at least in South Asia) and dogs would’ve been the go-for animals used for pest control and even today just as there are dogs who hunt mice and rats at will, there are people who make them do these.

Even recently, there’s a report of people using dogs to hunt rats in New York City which’s close to how dogs were used in ancient times when one considers the absence of cats outside of Africa and Anatolia in the ancient world. Ferrets would’ve also been used for pest control as well, perhaps a little longer in Southern Europe (that’s if we go by surviving documents from Ancient Greece and Italy/Rome) than cats though they never became that popular for some reason. But I also think it’s ambiguous since whatever gale meant could’ve been either a ferret, its smaller relative the least weasel or even a dog used for pest control (but that proves my point about dogs used for rat control).

If the ferret’s domesticated from the Eurasian polecat, its range mostly exists in Europe so if it’s rare in Africa then Africans would’ve used cats instead and Egypt’s the country where the second wave of cat domestication took place (the first wave took place in modern Turkey and Armenia). While cats could’ve been used for pest control in Armenia and possibly deified to some extent, Egypt’s much better understood and preserved so we get a good idea of how their attitudes to cats evolved. Whilst not every African necessarily likes cats and it does depend on the country, ethnicity and individual but if some contemporary African countries are any indication, cats are still used for pest control.

Sometimes in tandem with dogs if a study in Eswatini’s any indication, though it’s possible that using both ferrets and dogs to cull vermin would’ve produced similar results in Southern Europe to say the least. Or mongooses and dogs in ancient India, which again makes sense as there are Indians who do own mongooses for pest control. Whenever pests come about, there will always be animals deployed to cull their populations.