Ellsworth

This post will be more than a soundbite and less than a full meal. I could spend 100 pages to try and properly address the topic/concepts expressed below -- to stitch everything together more tightly. 1, 2, 3 and 4: King Arthur, the Mariner, the Romantic Era and Syphilis (not in that order, but rather in an order that makes sense to me).

Stories of King Arthur were written between 1100 AD and 1200 AD. Literature (MEDIA) is a prime social manipulator / sculptor. Those published works, also told as oral stories, served many purposes, but prime was to set culture on a path. To shape and hone the norms and folkways. To help instill a chivalrous concept. To temper the sword arm, and to temper the behavior of men. The stories were published at the start of a population boom, and the stories surely helped set a more cooperative mood than existed before.

Syphilis was introduced to Europe at the tail end of the 1400's, carried on Spanish ships as extra cargo from the 'New' world. At least that seems to be the current agreed upon science, with some possibility of much earlier and smaller outbreaks in Greece, perhaps milder and self-limiting/extinguishing (maybe a related virus). Syphilis spread around Europe at first using the normal course: war. It moved from Spain to France and out from there. Sex workers and housemaids seemed to be two of the common vectors (I'll let you do the math on that). It mostly infected the poor, they say, but I question that line due to the inclusion of housemaids, and poor Napoleon. A disease with no cure, a disease unrestrained. Eventually, once identified and studied*, the disease became a moral issue in the minds of medicine and authority.

Syphilis in Britain in the 1700s, after three hundred years of spread the virus had grown to become one of the primary causes of death. Between one in five to one in eight ended up infected with the disease And this leads to my idea: that the Renaissance era created the Romantic era to deploy the only possible cure for an STD at the time: fidelity. Just as the Legend of King Arthur was meant to temper men's steel swords, the Romantic Era was meant to temper men's... other sword. But to be fair, it was a gender inclusive expression, for the problem lies on both sides of the gender expression (if you ask my for proof, I will merely cite Catullus 70).

Romantic era literature, designed for widespread social effect. Perhaps by mere coincidence, or perhaps by intent with the will of the wealthy nobility, the Church and/or the Crown behind it. But if one considers it as a literary tactic used twice within about one thousand years, that the Romantic era was a mirroring of the Arthurian purpose, then it seems less of a coincidence. In both cases, the media as implemented helped to solve problems. This is after all, just my newly developed working theory about eras, disease and societal wide manipulation.

And now, about that Albatross. About that Rime of the Ancient Mariner. About what many consider to be the first modern poem. It was published in 1798, right when the Romantic era was starting. One could say, "It was the ship that launched the Romantic era."

When I wrote the blog post about my Spyderco, one phrase in the poem stood out, 'hoar frost.' I did some digging into the phenomenon that happens on ships -- water freezing in odd ways. And then it occurred to me to research symptoms of syphilis because... sailors and ports go hand in hand. Sure enough, both searches lead to white patches. That old Loon of a Captain, and his story of great influence. There may be quite a few double entendres contained within its versus that crash like the thunder of waves. Layers of parables, from obvious to cloaked. Depending upon the audience, depending upon the reader, the poem may have carried a multitude of different meanings / insights / messages.

I thought about all of this casually, occasionally, for months and months. I'd revisit it, reread it, and do some more research. I started to view the Romantic Era in context with the Arthurian era. Both lasted approximately 100 years. Both had a great impact on social behavior, or at least tried to help model character. Both likely need the support of Church and Crown, or they would have been actively suppressed.

The Romantic Era, literature as a preventative cure before the invention of Penicillin. Media, used to heal before sickness spread.

• And now I consider all the above in context of this modern world and the... Internet upon which I publish.
• And now I consider all the above in context of this modern world and the... Advent of Artificial Intelligence, and it's potential ability to influence.
• And now I consider all the above in context of this modern world and the... Era of increasing outbreaks and viruses in which we currently live.
• And now I consider all the above in context of this modern world and the... Era post peak IQ for homo sapien sapiens 1.0 (humans).
• And now I consider all the above in context of this modern world and the... Era of post peak fertility in developed nations.
• And now I consider all the above in context of this modern world and the... Era of genetically modified humans (GMO humans 2.0).

SESE <- Someone Else's Social Experiment

https://community.loghomebuilders.or...yderco-Mariner <- My first look at the Mariner Poem was English Literature class in college. The second was when I bought that knife. The third was more recently. It can take a human decades to reach new understanding.

https://community.loghomebuilders.or...l=1#post180526 <- Some thoughts on the Arthurian Legends, the Matters of Britain. First introduced to me as a child, read aloud by my Norwegian Grandmother. I started to look again at the stories a few years back.

https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/cont...iner-text-1834 <- Full text of the poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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*Before the Renaissance, there was a little distraction called the Bubonic Plague is worth mentioning. Around a 50-60% population death toll. A decent distraction from the minor inconvenience of Syphilis (which is also called the great imitator, since it can present as a few different diseases -- delaying an understanding of how serious it is as outbreaks go). 1350 to 1667 was the era of the bubonic death. That delayed any response to syphilis. But by the 1700s they (the population, the Church and the State) realized they had a problem on their hands.
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This was a quick post. Bringing together thoughts and topics that I've considered off and on for a few years. I know I'm all right. But what I write might be full or partially right. And remember, this is only a soundbite. It would take a lot of research and writing to do the theory justice. I usually spend some time editing and improving a post once it is made. I don't plan to do that with this post. It shall remain as rough as society.

If you enjoyed my father's emails, perhaps you'll enjoy this post.