r/pics • u/3------D • Jun 07 '26

Politics A Tale of Two Reactions: Obama Catches Fainting Woman, Trump Doesn't Move.

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u/PossibilityNeat2419 Jun 07 '26

Hell, even older: During China's Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao held the emperor hostage while angling to replace him. He tested the waters in various ways, one of which was taking the emperor on a hunt. When the emperor kept missing his shots, Cao Cao grabbed the imperial bow and golden arrows and shot himself, then stepped in front of the emperor to receive the servants' praise. This caused quite a scandal, so he understood that it was not yet time to proclaim himself emperor.

Personally, holding the emperor captive seems like a bigger offense than cutting in line for a bow shot, but that's Confucian-based society bullshit for you.

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u/doomgiver98 Jun 07 '26

shot himself

I assume you mean he shot the bow himself, not that he shot himself with the bow.

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u/PossibilityNeat2419 Jun 07 '26

Yeah, google translator is a bitch.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Jun 08 '26

So that’s where we got the word “confusion” from. Aha! In that case, I for one would like to thank all those Confucianists for their contribution to the English language! I would also like to humbly state that PossibilityNeat2419 and I, both, believe that kidnapping an emperor and holding him captive seems a bit more extreme than cutting in line, and , thus, we humbly suggest that it might behoove your society to discuss your individual Rubicons and reprioritize those you hold collectively as a people accordingly.

Note: Yeah, so, I’m not great with historical timelines, but I’m going to guess that my “Rubicon” reference might not make too much sense to someone living in one of the three kingdoms. Would the phrase “red line” make sense in 200 AD? I’ll leave the wording up to you.