I don’t know, though, there are some issues with that chart. First, on the x-axis, the colored bands are in the wrong places…the Renaissance did not last until 1700, and the Dark Ages did not last until 1400 if the term is to have any meaning. There was a lot of advancement during the Middle Ages.
Which brings to the second, the y-axis is kind of complete unitless nonsense apparently based on Renaissance propaganda. Maybe worse, since Rome doesn’t even have a decline in it. And since x and y are basically the whole chart I…wouldn’t really hold it up as anything other than its own misleading myth, which kind of goes against celebrating things like science to me.
Step 5: PROFIT!
Also, the Dark Ages were a Western European thing only. The Eastern Roman Empire and the Rashidun/Umayyad/Abbasid/Fatimid Caliphates just carried on as if nothing had happened in Rome.
Some might argue that they missed out, but not me.
This might convince someone somewhere:
Dude is 85. If any of his beliefs are remotely true he is in for something of a shock within the next decade or so.
Ye gods I despise these grifters.
My exact same thought the moment I saw that photo! The expression on his face practically defines greed and lasciviousness. I wouldn’t trust that man as far as I could spit a rat.
Yeah, but it’s less about about accuracy than memeing religion is bad.
Even during the “dark ages”, places like the middle east, India, and China were all progressing in sciences. (To say nothing of the “New World”)
And really, the dark ages had more to do with disease, and destabilizing civilizations.
Source? That seems fantastically low. The Church as in the Catholic Church?
Well, see, I would say the Eastern Roman Empire had a really rough couple centuries there too, with trade collapsing and the whole foederati system turning against them and so on. But that’s what I mean by the dark ages being a lot shorter than people give them credit for. If the term means anything they must have been over by the time of the Umayyads and Abbasids. Even if you do stick to the west, I can’t imagine what measure would make the 200s so much more impressive than the 1200s.
We do of course I guess have to completely ignore other places like China, which never did anything for science and technology, I’m sure.
Also a weird flex to me, since it’s not like people weren’t religious in ancient and enlightenment times. Philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates, and Hypatia weren’t exactly embraced by their peers either. 
Hey, it’s very Western European centric, not concerned with the advancement of knowledge in China, India, the various African nations, and so on.
And if you are going to take umbrage at a chart made by a site named “I fucking love science”, I shudder to think at the umbrage you will throw at more serious sites.
I guess more fair would be “Christianity bad”, but you’re right religion was ubiquitous throughout all cultures. Christianity wasn’t really much different in how it was used.
And just like that I started looking into how to start my own religion and register as a pastor in the state of Texas.
Well, would you take umbrage at a site called “I fucking love science” posting about how fire is caused by phlogiston or diseases by imbalance of the four humors? Because to me this is the historical equivalent. Serious or not, it’s disappointing to see a complete myth passed off as fact by people who pretend to love real knowledge.
And honestly I might have had enough of the “it’s a joke, lighten up” defence by now.
Not really, because it is well known for humor. And because I see the fnords. Not all, but a bunch of 'em.
At this point, pretty much any shitty thing promoting ignorance is defended with “IT’S A JOKE!”… But that kind of shit is how lies and conspiracy theories are floated.
[ETA] In this case, it’s promoting the historical BS lie that only European actions matter in creating the modern world. It’s a toxic eurocentric idea that needs to die in a fire, because it’s ahistorical. It helps to ensure the continued inequalities between the global north and global south, which is frankly, killing our planet and contributing the almost all of the major problems we face as a planet.
People think that getting history wrong does not matter, because absolutely does matter. It shapes how we think about the present. Allowing the narrative that Europeans single-handedly “saved” the world in the modern era after a benighted dark age that was global (when it was very regional and really not actually a “dark age”) is just as dangerous as the idea that European people (specifically NW Europeans) are somehow superior to the rest of humanity.
I don’t have the superlatives to express the depth of my contempt for these refuckwican grifters.
Back on topic… yep.
