Lessons from #diliriş_ertuğrul:
I have often seen questions like these with either excited Yes's or some excuse for why its boring, lengthy, not well made, etc.
Apart from the usual arguments in its favour such as its non-eurocentric, Muslim history & cultural content 1/n https://twitter.com/youdawood/status/1247750584351879179
There are other lessons that the content of the series offer which can go unappreciated. I'll try to make a non-exhaustive list:
1. Detailed depiction of collectivist, tribal life, which was a lived reality for many in our quite recent past. However due to the modern rupture 2/n
with this past, we are not able to understand many aspects of our culture that we automatically consider backward. E.g. the role of all members of the tribe in the survival of the tribe, where each skill big or small was valuable -from protecting the tribe to making weapons 3/n
Knowledge of weaving carpets & other crafts (usually the responsibility of the womenfolk) which was the monetary backbone of the tribe, knowledge of medicine and healthcare ( both men & women involved),statecraft that could afford key advantage in comparison to other tribes, 4/n
Culinary skills that added to the repute and honour of the tribe as a whole when inviting important guests, knowledge of soil and weather conditions for acquiring better agricultural and grazing opportunities for the whole tribe, the list is endless. Many of these skills 5/n
are completely undervalued today, and expertise in them is considered to be a mere hobby or worse a sign of backwardness (hinting at women-related skills).

2. Nature of the State prior to nation-states,where the State was only responsible for securing the borders & security 6/n
of the lands against absolute lawlessness such as robbery etc. All other matters were decided independently and locally by the tribes themselves, and were not affected by a change of power at the State level. Compare this to the powers that we grant to nation states today in 7/n
deciding even the most private of our affairs such as authority to validate marriage and divorce, education of our children, and so on.

3. How decision-making took place at the tribal level, with all its political maneuverings, vested interests as well as statesmanship. 8/n
The delicate balance btw leadership and trust of the tribesmen, without which the tribal head could not make a single decision. Our historical amnesia makes us forget that democratic politics can and have existed before the advent of modern liberal nation-state democracies. 9/n
4.The existence of religiously/ethnically pluralistic societies that thrived under a common State (be it Turkic Muslim tribes under Christian Byzantine rule or the various Christian denominations under the Muslim Seljuks). Today, such pluralistic societies are only envisaged 10/n
as the gift of liberal democracies, that too with such reservations about the 'ideal citizen'.

I don't want to eulogize the past, but sometimes our modern state of amnesia needs a dose of historic reality,which the creators of Ertuğrul seem to have made an effort to provide n/n
So yes, do watch Ertuğrul, without expecting the production quality of GamesofThrone and some such which often make you numb to uncalled for violence and nudity.
Also, I found this excellent reaction of a non-Muslim watching Ertuğrul. Hilarious! https://medium.com/@gutbloom/ertugrul-resurrection-a-television-odyssey-57558ec7383b
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