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Culture Critic Profile picture
Culture Critic
@Culture_Crit
A new, independent culture publication — read / support us here 👇
231 subscribers
Feb 19 • 18 tweets • 8 min read
Every aspect of life is being stripped of color.

Many have noticed this trend — but why exactly is it happening?

Something deeper is going on… (thread) 🧵 Image Look at car colors since 1990.

Paint suppliers are seeing huge shifts toward black, gray, silver and white color preferences. 80% of new cars are now grayscale... Image
Feb 15 • 18 tweets • 6 min read
Today in 399 BC, Socrates was sentenced to death for "corrupting the youth" of Athens.

What did he say that was so dangerous?

He taught them to think for themselves — via 3 simple steps... (thread) 🧵 Image These were the charges against him:

1. Impiety (not worshiping the traditional gods)
2. Corrupting the youth of Athens

Why, exactly? Let's focus on the second... Image
Feb 13 • 18 tweets • 8 min read
This mosaic is the biggest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The earliest "Jesus is God" declaration from 230 AD — and it's just the start of what we've found.

Mega thread of archaeology that supports the New Testament... 🧵 Image When this was found beneath an Israeli prison, it changed the entire narrative of early Christianity. The Megiddo Mosaic is inscribed with the following:

"God Jesus Christ". Image
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Feb 10 • 19 tweets • 6 min read
There are 7 stages of spiritual growth according to Saint Augustine.

You can use his roadmap to ascend from a purely material existence to the highest state of the mind.

Most people get stuck at step 3... (thread) 🧵 Image In 388 AD, Saint Augustine proposed that the soul's journey to God unfolds in 7 distinct steps.

His 7 stages also correspond to the 7 days of creation... Image
Feb 7 • 19 tweets • 9 min read
A startling number of new archaeological finds support the Bible story.

Here's a thread of discoveries that rewrote history.

Starting with something astonishing found in this small cave... 🧵 Image Here's a (very) approximate timeline of significant figures of the Bible and events since.

This thread focuses on David and onward. Before ~1500 BC, when the Jewish patriarchs lived (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), is much harder to establish. Image
Feb 5 • 19 tweets • 6 min read
2,000 years ago, the world's most powerful man spent his nights alone writing his journal.

He never meant to publish it, but it's now history's ultimate guide to living a virtuous life.

There are 7 essential rules... (thread) 🧵 Image Marcus Aurelius faced a tough time in power: ravaging plagues and endless barbarian wars.

But his most lasting battle, it turned out, was the one against his own mind. Image
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Jan 29 • 15 tweets • 7 min read
America built some of the world's greatest architecture — then demolished it.

A thread of the most beautiful buildings that were razed, and why... 🧵

1. Cincinnati Library: destroyed for a parking garage Image America's most beautiful library (built 1874) was demolished in the '50s for a parking garage.

Its cast-iron book alcoves were pulled down to move the library to a more "efficient" space — and the old site repurposed. Image
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Jan 28 • 17 tweets • 7 min read
Napoleon, a voracious reader, brought 125 books with him when he invaded Egypt.

But there are 7 books he couldn't live without — that every man must read.

Napoleon's ultimate reading list... (bookmark this) 🧵 Image Napoleon had an impressive traveling library with him during his conquests, arranged into 6 categories:

Politics and Morality, Sciences and Art, Geography and Travels, History, Poetry, and Novels. Image
Jan 23 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
What are some battles that changed the course of history?

Western culture faced obliteration several times — and survived by a near miracle.

The 5 most critical battles, starting in 490 BC... 🧵 Image If the Greeks had lost to the Persians in 490 BC, there's no telling what the world would look like now.

Vastly outnumbered by invading forces of Darius I, the Athenians struck first at the enemy camps... Image
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Jan 21 • 25 tweets • 10 min read
Is this the image of Jesus?

There's a lot of talk about the Shroud of Turin lately, so let's break down the evidence.

A new X-ray study suggests it's 2,000 years old — but that's just the beginning.

Buckle up... (thread) 🧵 Image The Shroud of Turin is claimed to be the real burial cloth of Jesus, imprinted with a miraculous image.

It is the most studied artifact in HISTORY — what we now know about it is frankly astonishing… Image
Jan 17 • 22 tweets • 9 min read
100 years ago, a German historian noticed something:

All cultures have a set life cycle — you can predict when (and how) they'll end.

The early 21st century, he predicted, will spell disaster for big cities...

And a new Caesar shall rise... (thread) 🧵 Image Oswald Spengler saw cultures as distinct, living organisms.

They are destined to a cycle of birth, growth, decay and death... Image
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Jan 15 • 21 tweets • 8 min read
The 12 Apostles risked their lives to spread Christianity across the globe.

All but one were murdered for doing so — brutally.

Here's what happened to them, starting with Judas... (thread) 🧵 Image Preaching the Gospel was a dangerous business in the first century Roman Empire (and beyond).

Christians were widely persecuted, and most Apostles faced brutal martyrdoms for their teachings... Image
Jan 9 • 23 tweets • 9 min read
This is what angels look like according to the Bible.

A thread explaining the 9 types, and why they say when they appear:

"Be not afraid"... 🧵 Image "Angel" (from the Greek "angelos") just means messenger.

We think of God's messengers as winged humanoids, but encounters in the Bible get far more interesting than that... Image
Jan 8 • 9 tweets • 1 min read
X has the best educational content on the Internet.

What are your favorite accounts posting informative, unique and beautiful content?

My top accounts that you MUST follow in 2025... 👇 Image Literature & Philosophy:

Western literature, philosophy: @SirEvanAmato
Literature, philosophy: @oldbooksguy
Linguistics, literature, history: @colingorrie
Classic literature: @CoffeewClassics
Literature, philosophy: @SeanBerube4
Jan 7 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
Like us, Ancient Rome had a birth rate crisis.

In 300 AD, Rome was a city of ~1 million people.

200 years later, hardly enough people lived there to fill the Colosseum.

And their story feels alarmingly familiar... (thread) 🧵 Image Fertility has collapsed so rapidly in modern Italy that 1 million births in 1964 is down to <400k last year.

The state is even giving away homes for €1 to repopulate crumbling villages... Image
Jan 3 • 17 tweets • 7 min read
Today is J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday.

Tolkien penned some of our civilization's greatest works, but you may not know *why* he did — or how.

His stories are so enduringly real because he actually lived them... (thread) 🧵 Image This was Tolkien's resume before authoring any books:

• Linguist (spoke ~15 languages)
• Conlanger (invented 15 more of his own)
• Soldier (fought at the Somme in WW1)
• Professor (Anglo-Saxon studies at Oxford)
• Code-breaker (recruited for WW2) Image
Jan 2 • 19 tweets • 7 min read
Why would a good God create a world full of evil and suffering?

C.S. Lewis wrestled with this question for years until it finally hit him:

There is no "evil" — only a corrupted form of good... (thread) 🧵 Image An atheist until age 32, C.S. Lewis struggled with the idea that a good God could create an unjust world.

Surely there cannot be an intelligent creator behind a world full of so much suffering... Image
Dec 25, 2024 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Christmas Day is NOT pagan, as many people claim.

But December 25 is also not Christ's real birthday — so when is it?

A clue is in the 12 days of Christmas... (thread) 🧵 Image The Gospels don't specify the date of Christ's birthday — so where does December 25 come from?

Some claim that Christians took it from the pagans... Image
Dec 24, 2024 • 16 tweets • 6 min read
Who actually is Santa Claus?

A mythical figure of Pagan or Norse origin — or a real person?

Well, we just discovered his ancient tomb… (thread) 🧵 Image "Santa Claus" was originally a Christian figure.

Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century Greek bishop from Myra (modern-day Turkey) credited with many miracles and acts of generosity... Image
Dec 20, 2024 • 14 tweets • 7 min read
I asked X: "Which book changed your perspective on life more than any other?"

After THOUSANDS of replies, these were the top 50.

The ultimate 2025 reading list… (bookmark this) 🧵 Image Note: Titles within each section are ordered roughly by how frequently they were suggested.

By FAR the most popular suggestion of all was the Holy Bible — so here are the top theological works...
Dec 17, 2024 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
The fall of Rome is widely misunderstood.

It wasn't invasion, disease or famine that truly brought it to its knees.

Rome collapsed because the birth rate did… (thread) 🧵 Image As with many nations today, Rome had a long period of prosperity followed by a decline in birth rates.

The same is true of urban populations throughout history... Image