The
Stiff Leader
The semaphoric
web comic, by Mike
Stanfill
New comics every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.
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The invention of the flag was trickier
than you'd think. |
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No
Cake For You!
"Flags were invented to help the dumb guys know who to kill." -Mike
Stanfill
I'm sorry, boys and girls, but with circumstances in the world being what they
are I'm afraid that it's History Time.
The following is a list of startlingly familiar occurances which incited the
French Revolution:
• Louis XV fought numerous wars bringing France upon the verge of bankruptcy,
while the support provided by Louis XVI to the colonists during the American
Revolution further exacerbated the precarious financial condition of the government.
The national debt amounted to almost 2 billion livres. The social burdens caused
by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the monarchy's military failures
and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans.
• An inefficient and antiquated financial system unable to manage the national
debt, both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable system
of taxation.
• The continued conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially
the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, despite the financial
burden on the populace.
• High unemployment and high bread prices, causing more money to be spent
on food and less in other areas of the economy.
• Widespread famine and malnutrition, which increased the likelihood of
disease and death, and intentional starvation in the most destitute segments
of the population during the months immediately before the Revolution. The famine
extended even to other parts of Europe, and was not helped by a poor transportation
infrastructure for bulk foods. (Some researchers have also attributed the widespread
famine to an El Niño effect, or colder climate of the little ice age combined
with France's failure to adopt the potato as a staple crop)
As George Santayana is famous for saying, "Those who do not learn from history
are doomed to repeat it."
Now go look up "doomed"
=mike=
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Raging Pencils is a massive conceit courtesy
of:
Mike
Stanfill, Private Hand
Illustration • Animation • Web Design
www.privatehand.com
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