David Rafferty
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davidrafferty.bsky.social
David Rafferty
@davidrafferty.bsky.social
4.1K followers 4.3K following 7.1K posts
Roman historian in South Australia. Current project: “How Republics Die: Rome’s democratic breakdown in the 1st century BCE”. Husband and father. I’m the one who set cats and dogs against each other.
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davidrafferty.bsky.social
I just realised that Yeats wrote this poem about the players and coaches of the Geelong Football Club, the pale unsatisfied ones:
The Magi Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye, In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones, And all their helms of silver hovering side by side, And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more, Being by Calvary's turbulence unsatisfied, The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor. [20 September 1913] 1914
February 14, 2026 at 10:53 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
This is unfortunate nominative determinism: the Latin word gratiosi means “influential men”: political wheelers and dealers, the sort of people who inhabit the smoke-filled backrooms.

An irrelevant detail from this long article on the Maya: www.theguardian.com/news/2026/fe...
cause. One of the people he appointed to his government is Liwy Grazioso, another prominent archaeologist with Italian roots, who now serves as minister of culture and sports. Grazioso is an expert in Maya history, and has published papers on the tombs of Rio Azul and the metropolis of Tikal, and overseen research on Kaminaljuyu, the ancient Maya city that rests under the capital. As a politician, she aims to build a country where the past and present can coexist, and where the country's original inhabitants are a fully recognised part of the national story. "It's
February 13, 2026 at 1:05 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
The two pillars of Bluesky.
Two coloured clusters, one labelled “Paleontology Researchers & Educators” and the other labelled “Queer Taylor Swift Fans”.
February 9, 2026 at 6:02 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
South Park caption: “NOW HERE TO SING "LOVING YOU" IS THE ONE AND ONLY JOHN STAMOS' BROTHER!”
February 2, 2026 at 7:10 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
Whoever put this site (and event) together may have been well paid for it. But you can’t recover dignity you give away like that.
An enforced increase of wages (disregarding all other difficulties, including the fact that it would only be by force, too, that such an increase, being an anomaly, could be maintained) would therefore be nothing but better payment for the slave, and would not win either for the worker or for labor their human status and dignity. (From Marx, Estranged Labour, 1844).
February 2, 2026 at 6:27 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
Randomly perusing @dsquareddigest.bsky.social’s blog and found this post (open.substack.com/pub/backofmi...).

The last substantive paragraph is basically Belonick’s book. And, generally, the Roman political-culture scholarship.

global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Which might account for the longevity of the Westminster system. It is incredibly fragile, but it's obviously fragile, and in this way achieves a sort of paradoxical antifragility. In a "good chap" system, when a bad chap shows up, all the good chaps know that they have to band together and oppose or get rid of them, because they know that there are no systemic constraints on badchappery. In a system that's meant to be full of checks and balances, it is much easier for a kind of bystander effect to develop, where everyone waits for the system to protect itself without understanding that the system is just them. And, of course, what happens when good chaps do nothing? The triumph of bad chaps, that's what.
January 28, 2026 at 10:08 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
The last paragraph of 1940 Orwell’s review of Mein Kampf is on exactly this theme:
Also he has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all "progressive" thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security and avoidance of pain. In such a view of life there is no room, for instance, for patriotism and the military virtues. The Socialist who finds his children playing with soldiers is usually upset, but he is never able to think of a substitute for the tin soldiers; tin pacifists somehow won't do. Hitler, because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don't only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades. However they may be as economic theories, Fascism and Nazism are psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life. The same is probably true of Stalin's militarised version of Socialism. All three of the great dictators have enhanced their power by imposing intolerable burdens on their peoples. Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people "I offer you a good time," Hitler has said to them "I offer you struggle, danger and death," and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet. Perhaps later on they will get sick of it and change their minds, as at the end of the last war. After a few years of slaughter and starvation "Greatest happiness of the greatest number" is a good slogan, but at this moment "Better an end with horror than a horror without end" is a winner. Now that we are fighting against the man who coined it, we ought not to underrate its emotional appeal.
January 28, 2026 at 6:48 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
Just to clarify: yes, that’s Celsius and, yes, that’s 4.40am.
A BOM app screenshot showing the temperature is 35.8 degrees at 4.40 in Adelaide.
January 26, 2026 at 6:12 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
That's a big miss, Jackson. Are you for real?
January 24, 2026 at 1:41 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 1:14 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
no new pictures. where your head at?
January 18, 2026 at 11:31 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
January 16, 2026 at 6:43 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
No new pictures, where are you mentally?
Some extremely loud Hawaiian shirts hanging on a rack.
January 13, 2026 at 12:07 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
I know two serious treatments of legitimacy: Weber and Beetham. DAG seems to respond more to Beetham (see image), and that seems the better approach.

The problem Weber saw: who is the audience for legitimacy claims? Who needs to accept them for the regime to continue? /2
consent (Beetham 1991: ch. 1). Political authority is legitimate, we can say, to the extent that: 1 it is acquired and exercised according to established rules (legality); 2 the rules are justifiable according to socially accepted beliefs about (i) the rightful source of authority, and (ii) the proper ends and standards of government (normative justifiability); 3 positions of authority are confirmed by express consent or affirmation of appropriate subordinates, and by recognition from other legitimate authorities (legitimation). The three levels are not alternatives, since all contribute to legitimacy; together they provide the subordinate with moral grounds for compliance or cooperation with authority. The fact that all are required is shown by the different negative words used to express the different ways in which power
January 12, 2026 at 12:37 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
I have pictorial proof that our book is on the De Gruyter stand at #SCS2026. So if you are masochist or rich enough to pay for an open-access book, go buy it. In any case, I encourage you to stare in awe.

(Thanks to Fenella Palanca for the photo).
January 10, 2026 at 7:36 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
The solution:
January 10, 2026 at 10:29 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
Now *that’s* a ratio.
Screenshot of a BlueSky post. It links to an article with the headline “AI will free households from chores, says OpenAI chief economist”. The post has 205 replies, 227 RTs (of which 224 are quotes) and 30 likes.
January 8, 2026 at 2:22 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
The BBC are reporting that US officials are briefing state media that Trump ordered the strikes.
January 3, 2026 at 9:18 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
DFAT’s language on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for comparison.

Key language:
“Australia unequivocally supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“hold Russia to account for its illegal and immoral invasion.”

www.dfat.gov.au/crisis-hub/r...
Russia's invasion of Ukraine Overview On 24 February 2022, Russia began its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Australia unequivocally supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. As a true and reliable partner, we continue to play our part in upholding international law and the rules-based order. Australia is working closely with our partners to support Ukraine and hold Russia to account for its illegal and immoral invasion. Australia's objective, along with our partners, is to empower Ukraine to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Australia monitors developments to inform travel advice.
January 3, 2026 at 8:17 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
The BOM understating things a tad.
6-30 mm Rain Shower or two.
December 31, 2025 at 2:24 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
Well, I’m reading Jane Austen. No one has jobs. That’s the point.

“Trying to sort out my feelings about Frederick Wentworth” isn’t a job.
You are now forced to have the same job as the main character in the last book you read. What is the job?
December 30, 2025 at 12:12 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
I’m pretty boring, so I’ll start at the top.
Radiohead - OK Computer
December 28, 2025 at 4:13 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
#Ashes
Frinkiac meme: NOT A CATCH! MARNUS WILL BE BOASTING FOR HOURS!
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 AM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
Moleman-in-the-phone booth meme (Good Moleman to you). New text: I NEED THE CRINGIEST IDEA YOU HAVE. NO, THAT'S T00 CRINGE.
December 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
davidrafferty.bsky.social
This has now become a meme.
November 17, 2025 at 8:17 AM