Thursday, April 11, 2024

Tartarians


Here's one for all you cat-lovers out there. I took this photo on my recent walk through Southall. This cat was sunbathing atop some rubbish bins and old furniture, and raised its head with obvious annoyance when I stopped and lifted my camera. It wouldn't even quite look at me; it was looking past me, as if to say, "I'm aware you're there, but you do not merit my full attention."

I've been listening to my Q-Anon podcast again -- the one that picks apart many conspiracy theories, both specifically Q-Anon related and not. In the most recent episode they're talking about something called the Tartarian Empire. Apparently this is a belief being promoted online that all our big cities and many of our most famous buildings -- the White House, the pyramids, you name it -- were built by people first based in Central Asia called the Tartars or Tartarians. Supposedly their civilization became incredibly advanced and spread all over the globe, but then 200 years ago it was destroyed in a massive "mud flood" that killed the Tartarians and buried their cities. Then we came along and excavated the cities and buildings and claimed them as our own. This is supposedly why sometimes in big cities you see older buildings with basement windows at or below street level -- they're left over from the Tartarians and were never fully dug out.

Now, this whole thing sounds so wacky that it makes me wonder whether some of these online conspirators are just trying to wind people up. I can't imagine anyone actually believes this. You'd think a massive cataclysm that happened a mere 200 years ago would be foremost in our historical record; we can't stop talking about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln and many other events of that time period.

But no! Because the mud flood has been deliberately written out of our history by the Global Powers that Be, who are trying to DECEIVE YOU! They're keeping this information from you, because it was the first "great reset" in which the population was wiped out -- or so the theory goes. And of course part of modern conspiracism is that we're about to have another "great reset," driven by Covid vaccines and who knows what else.

Anyway, apparently there are all sorts of videos about Tartarians on YouTube but I can't bring myself to actually watch them. Life is too short. I'll rely on the Q-Anon Anonymous guys to fill me in. It does make me realize, though, that -- assuming people really DO believe in the Tartarian Empire -- people will believe anything. It's astonishing. (For the record, there are or were Central Asian people known commonly in the West as Tatars, though this term is somewhat vague, as are the boundaries of their historic lands. They did not, however, build the White House.)


I found these cherry (I think?) blossoms on my walk home yesterday, after they were apparently blown off one of several nearby trees.  There's no shortage of spectacular blooming trees out there at the moment. Do you suppose the Tartarians planted them?

I have been on a campaign this week to make a dent in our overdue materials. As of Monday, we still had about 30 kids with books due at the beginning of January or before. That's an astonishing amount of very late material. So I sent them all a Come-to-Jesus (not really; we are a purely humanist school) e-mail saying they had to get this stuff back this week or I'd start writing parents and requesting disciplinary action from administrators. BOOM!

Now, of course, I'll have to follow through on Monday with the ones who don't make it happen. I'm starting to get a bit nervous because it's mid-April and we only have nine or so weeks of school left, and I've got 13 pages of extremely overdue materials to collect. I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.


Olga on our walk yesterday morning. Now you're getting a dog AND a cat in this post.

If I had to guess, I'd say cats are Tartarian pets; that's why they're so detached from modern humans. I think I'll make a YouTube video about this. I could make millions!

33 comments:

  1. Cats are creatures that take a very long time to learn their behavior, with dogs it is easier.

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  2. I’d never heard these Tartarians stories. I just briefly read a bit. It’s frightening to think that people actually believe this crap. Then again, there’s Brexit. No wonder the Orange Menace has so much support. Nice to see Olga and those stunning tulips -- and the snooty cat who thinks he’s all that while lying on rubbish bins and old furniture.

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  3. My neighbour believes in all the conspiracy stuff, Covid was the rich and powerful cleansing the poor, you name it she believes, mad as a hatter, I think. She thinks the queen abdicated years ago, parliament has no power, the police is a private company and the courts are all corrupt. Life here can be so interesting.

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  4. I am pleased to know someone who makes an effort to know thy enemy. Logical thinking seems absent.
    Oh dear, Mr Reed is getting cross about me not returning books again. I better comply.
    The tulip photo is lovely.

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  5. That looks!

    Every religion seems to have a flood story, some based on fact..or rather every one having a seed of fact, as they have found in the Mediterranean fairly recently

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  6. If you dress up like a Tatar/Tartar warrior - holding your obligatory sword, you will be sure to receive an avalanche of overdue books. These recalcitrant youngsters need to be taught a lesson.

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  7. My most favourite podcaster - and it took some time to like him because of his never ending swearwords and accent - is the blindboy podcast and he has a long interview with Naomi Klein about conspiracy theories and how they develop etc. The interview is at times hilarious and then again dead serious, and I highly recommend it.
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conspiracy-theories-with-naomi-klein/id1300577518?i=1000632494684

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  8. Great ginger cat photo. Some thrive on conspiracy. They continue to search for something, what that is, I have no clue. It all seems wacky to me. Olga pausing in front of the tulips makes a lovely Spring photo.

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  9. I suspect that cat is not merely tolerating you, but trying to imagine how it will tear you to shreds if you come too close and try to attack it.

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  10. I can't with the Q's and their lunacy or stupidity, so I will just say your description of the cat's reaction to you is spot on!
    That's cats.

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  11. I listened to a 4 year old child telling me that people live on the dark side of the moon and it is a big secret but Donald Trump found out and now the secret keepers are trying to keep him out of power because they are afraid he let all us mere mortals in on it. Amusing to hear it from a child. Far less amusing to realize he has probably heard this from the adults in his life. Crazy talk. Completely off the rails.

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  12. That cat could be Maurice in both looks and attitude.
    Who comes up with this conspiracy shit? It's not even well thought-out. Basement windows? Really?

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  13. The conspiracy theories sound like the active imagination of a five year old. Amazing that people believe this stuff. But then half the nation of any country is below average intelligence!

    Lovely Olga and tulips and snooty cat as a contrast.

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  14. Well, I hadn't heard about that conspiracy before now. Now I just want to forget it. The only tartar I know of is plaque on teeth or sauce for fish.
    Hope you get your books back, Steve.

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  15. I imagine when P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute," he would be so astonished by all the conspiracists in our modern world that he would have said, "every second" instead.

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  16. That kitty is giving you the obligatory side eye! 👀
    I just shake my head at the rest! 🤦

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  17. In line with your tale of conspiracy theorists and keeping in mind that we live in a semi-rural area where a lot of us have wells that require power/electricity to bring water into our homes, you will understand the following story: on the day of the eclipse, when my husband was standing in line at the grocery store he noticed the couple behind him had an entire cart filled with stacks of bottled water. He asked if they were buying all the water for sport teams and they said, "Oh, no. We expect to lose all electrical power due to the eclipse so we're making sure we have water."

    In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "D'oh!"

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  18. Conspiracy? How can people believe such made up stuff? 200 years? If they said 1000 years? But no 200. You could give them examples again and again but they wouldn't get it.

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  19. I had never heard of the Tartarian stories. Just one more totally crazy belief. It's mind boggling.
    Those tulips are gorgeous and of course a glimpse of Olga is always welcome. The cat's expression is perfect. Good luck with your book collections.
    You probably noticed that Arizona made front page news once again. It will be interesting watching this latest development play out.

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  20. Olga with the tulips - a balm for a crazy world.

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  21. I think you're on to something with making millions from that cats being Tartarian pets theory, but then again, my mind is so boggled by what people so sincerely and passionately believe that all I can do is shake my head and repeat your mantra. Life's too short.

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  22. Q-Anon is the result of the decline in education and the loss of any semblance of critical thinking skills in a large portion of the US population. None of this garbage ever comes to pass, and when it doesn't, these fools just move on to the next one.

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  23. I never realized people could be this dumb. Some number of years ago, there was a conspiracy theory that people would be rounded up and "stored" in vacant Walmart buildings. It never came to pass (duh), but there was never a retraction, they just moved on to the next idiot thought.
    Our current Speaker of the House believes God talked to him and told him he would be the next Moses. It's just crazy.

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  24. You mean the pyramids were built by Tartarians? And here I thought they were built by aliens as part of the whole Stargate system! 😂 Seriously, where do they come up with this stuff?? I've never heard of the Tartarians before.

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  25. That photo with Olga and the tulips is beautiful. I have never heard of the Tartarians. I am continuously amazed at the stupid things people believe, including anything out of the mouth of "Thing #45"

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  26. Tulips, cherry blossom, a ginger cat and Olga. That almost makes up for my brain exploding reading the other stuff!

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  27. Gosh that is insane! Would it be simpler if one believed in conspiracy theories? Oh, and those pictures of flowers -- the tulips, the cherry blossoms -- are glorious.

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  28. If the population was wiped out in the first reset, how did we all get here? Assuming they meant the entire population.
    The blossoms and flowers are glorious. And so is Olga.

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  29. Youtube awaits your feline Tartarian video! (I love that orange cat -- reminds me of Gypsy, aka Best Cat Ever.) They own you. We cat people accept that.

    That sounds like a sci-fi movie! It is scary that people believe stuff like that, though. It's easy to laugh about it but in a way, terribly sad. (The White House? Really? Seems like they should go back a bit further in history -- say Stonehenge???)

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  30. My daughter and I were talking about conspiracy theories last night. It seems if people don't understand something, or don't know something, they just make shit up to fill those gaps of knowledge. And sadly, facts don't change people's minds.
    Olga and the tulips are beautiful.

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  31. I'm appalled and frightened by what some people believe. No thinking skills or fact checking whatsoever.

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