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Indigenous Peoples’ Day quiz:
Who did the MOST to ethnically cleanse the US of its native peoples?
Christopher Columbus? Andrew Jackson?
Nope.
Try JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
America’s first tycoon made his fortune on the drunken misery of Native Americans.
A #LiquorThread.🥃🧵 1/
Who did the MOST to ethnically cleanse the US of its native peoples?
Christopher Columbus? Andrew Jackson?
Nope.
Try JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
America’s first tycoon made his fortune on the drunken misery of Native Americans.
A #LiquorThread.🥃🧵 1/
Today, “Waldorf” and “Astoria” are synonymous with luxury, as the Waldorf (Germany)-born John Jacob Astor was America’s first multimillionaire. He was the Jeff Bezos of the 1830s (both accounted for around 1% of total US GDP). 2/
Astor is conventionally portrayed as THE embodiment of the rags-to-riches American capitalist spirit. With pennies when he stepped off the boat, Astor pulled himself up by his bootstraps to built a fur-trading mega-empire.
The reality is much darker. 3/
history.com/this-day-in-hi…
The reality is much darker. 3/
history.com/this-day-in-hi…
🥃🧵 Happy Oktoberfest!
Hey! Do you like Germany? 🇩🇪
Do you like beer? 🍺
Do you like German beer?
🇩🇪🍺
Yeah? Well then, THANK A SOCIALIST! Because without socialist temperance, German drinking culture would’ve been vastly different.
A short #LiquorThread 🥃🧵 1/
Hey! Do you like Germany? 🇩🇪
Do you like beer? 🍺
Do you like German beer?
🇩🇪🍺
Yeah? Well then, THANK A SOCIALIST! Because without socialist temperance, German drinking culture would’ve been vastly different.
A short #LiquorThread 🥃🧵 1/
First, check out this map of Europe’s dominant drinking cultures: wine (red), beer (brown) & spirits (blue). Makes sense: in southerly regions where grapes grow, you get wine. Otherwise: beer. The further northeast & colder the more liquor-y it gets. 2/
bigthink.com/strange-maps/4…
bigthink.com/strange-maps/4…
Even today, there’s a widespread “geographic determinism” myth of drinking cultures. Montesquieu even wrote about it in his “Spirit of Laws” (1748).
(But it’s based on the FALSE premise that liquor is a stimulant, rather than a depressant. Oops.)
SCIENCE! 3/
(But it’s based on the FALSE premise that liquor is a stimulant, rather than a depressant. Oops.)
SCIENCE! 3/
🥃 🧵 This is #Botswana, where all human life began. Today it is a stable, well-functioning democracy w/ the highest standard of living and lowest corruption in Africa.
And the country likely wouldn’t exist without alcohol prohibition.
A #LiquorThread. 🥃 🧵 1/
And the country likely wouldn’t exist without alcohol prohibition.
A #LiquorThread. 🥃 🧵 1/
For decades since its independence in 1966, Botswana was an island of black sovereignty & stability between apartheid South Africa and white-supremacist Rhodesia. Some say it was the inspiration for #Wakanda in the movie #BlackPanther. 2/
thestranger.com/slog/2018/03/1…
thestranger.com/slog/2018/03/1…
But to understand the political origins of this real Kalahari country, we need to examine the colonial history of what was then known as Bechuanaland...
and how booze was the lifeblood of European colonization. 3/
and how booze was the lifeblood of European colonization. 3/
