Scott Ma
@scma.bsky.social
Doctorand in History at the University of Zurich🇨🇭. Working on the history of agricultural science in modern Japan & the legacy of Confucian thought. Polyglot and hapless cosmopolitan. Tweets are public reason and not private. Site: https://scott-ma.com
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You have to admit Tokugawa Japan was like the peak of statecraft and y’all in denial, the country has only went downhill since 1868 change my view
December 10, 2025 at 5:45 AM
You have to admit Tokugawa Japan was like the peak of statecraft and y’all in denial, the country has only went downhill since 1868 change my view
You know isn’t it totally nuts that the Tokugawa period was 260 years of total peace? Like no foreign invasion, no domestic war, a few minor revolts, but zip, nada, nil. As soon as they open the country, it’s literally a war a decade. The foreigners truly were the barbarians
December 10, 2025 at 5:44 AM
You know isn’t it totally nuts that the Tokugawa period was 260 years of total peace? Like no foreign invasion, no domestic war, a few minor revolts, but zip, nada, nil. As soon as they open the country, it’s literally a war a decade. The foreigners truly were the barbarians
No, I’m not trying to trash everyone else as terrible writers although honestly? Some of you need remedial grammar school. I’m just annoyed that my mind is not flexible enough to countenance poetry
December 10, 2025 at 5:39 AM
No, I’m not trying to trash everyone else as terrible writers although honestly? Some of you need remedial grammar school. I’m just annoyed that my mind is not flexible enough to countenance poetry
I hate revising other peoples work because they’re all less coherent than me because I’m a total neurotic when it comes to syntax, phrasing etc. it needs to be as pure as a fucking French croissant I swear to Mohammed
December 10, 2025 at 5:38 AM
I hate revising other peoples work because they’re all less coherent than me because I’m a total neurotic when it comes to syntax, phrasing etc. it needs to be as pure as a fucking French croissant I swear to Mohammed
I can’t believe I ever thought of becoming a novelist as a child, I was a FOOL
December 10, 2025 at 5:38 AM
I can’t believe I ever thought of becoming a novelist as a child, I was a FOOL
I swear to god I am too much of a literary perfectionist to ever be a copywriter or god forbid a novelist
December 10, 2025 at 5:37 AM
I swear to god I am too much of a literary perfectionist to ever be a copywriter or god forbid a novelist
You know German isn’t that bad you just need to stay focused to track what the subjects and objects and genitives are, but often my mind is just not there
December 9, 2025 at 9:07 PM
You know German isn’t that bad you just need to stay focused to track what the subjects and objects and genitives are, but often my mind is just not there
Spent all day reading German I think this might be all the German I need to read for a good while bless
December 9, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Spent all day reading German I think this might be all the German I need to read for a good while bless
I think we’ve all been blinded by how successful American universities are and concluded that that’s the model we should all aim for, but frankly I don’t think the model is the entire reason why America is academically strong
December 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
I think we’ve all been blinded by how successful American universities are and concluded that that’s the model we should all aim for, but frankly I don’t think the model is the entire reason why America is academically strong
Like people in their 20s/30s should be in the prime of their lives for their productivity but not giving anyone stability or even an independent research project until their mid thirties is absurd
December 9, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Like people in their 20s/30s should be in the prime of their lives for their productivity but not giving anyone stability or even an independent research project until their mid thirties is absurd
The quality of dissertations has also gone through the roof, if you page through some of the work written by famous scholars of the 19th century they were a hundred pages long and were frankly unreadable. I don’t see the argument that humanities phds have gotten easier at all
December 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The quality of dissertations has also gone through the roof, if you page through some of the work written by famous scholars of the 19th century they were a hundred pages long and were frankly unreadable. I don’t see the argument that humanities phds have gotten easier at all
I mean think of Germanic lands today, where you have the worst of North American degree inflation coupled with the fact that in Germany the PhD was never intended to be a terminal degree
December 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I mean think of Germanic lands today, where you have the worst of North American degree inflation coupled with the fact that in Germany the PhD was never intended to be a terminal degree
Gustav Schmoller getting tenure at 26 would only happen today in the rarest of cases, and that’s even in Germany, the land of privatdozent hell
December 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Gustav Schmoller getting tenure at 26 would only happen today in the rarest of cases, and that’s even in Germany, the land of privatdozent hell
Back in the day you had these blokes going straight from gymnasium to the PhD and like guys? We should bring that back sort of. We’ve totally stuffed the bachelor’s and now the master’s in just for degree inflation, it’s absurd
December 9, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Back in the day you had these blokes going straight from gymnasium to the PhD and like guys? We should bring that back sort of. We’ve totally stuffed the bachelor’s and now the master’s in just for degree inflation, it’s absurd
世界の皆がアメリカの政治は気になって動いてくれているのは希望の兆候として捉えていいかなあと信じたい。他の国々には絶望感しかないところあるある
December 9, 2025 at 4:14 AM
世界の皆がアメリカの政治は気になって動いてくれているのは希望の兆候として捉えていいかなあと信じたい。他の国々には絶望感しかないところあるある
何焦っていると言われてもさ、年食ったら焦ってもしょうがないから、焦るのは今時じゃん
December 9, 2025 at 4:11 AM
何焦っていると言われてもさ、年食ったら焦ってもしょうがないから、焦るのは今時じゃん
皆、日常的にリラックスするに何し遊ばれます？ツイッター見る以外
December 9, 2025 at 4:09 AM
皆、日常的にリラックスするに何し遊ばれます？ツイッター見る以外
新戸部君のドイツ語の博論、読むのをずっと後回しにしていたけど、やろうか…
December 9, 2025 at 4:07 AM
新戸部君のドイツ語の博論、読むのをずっと後回しにしていたけど、やろうか…
なんか最近働いてばかりいるけど、成果もまあまああるからいいけど、別にいいんだけどね？
December 9, 2025 at 4:02 AM
なんか最近働いてばかりいるけど、成果もまあまああるからいいけど、別にいいんだけどね？
Ok but how do you translate Verfassung
December 8, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Ok but how do you translate Verfassung
So much German to read sigh I guess I’ll eventually get better by virtue of habit, lemme pray to th dead spirit of friedrich wilhelm 2
December 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
So much German to read sigh I guess I’ll eventually get better by virtue of habit, lemme pray to th dead spirit of friedrich wilhelm 2
Reposted by Scott Ma
What a strange coincidence
December 8, 2025 at 4:14 AM
What a strange coincidence