Fast Food.
Posted on 10/30/2005 1:05:06 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Slavery was the common state of man long before the Romans came along.
"Rome now equals America, as once it equalled Britain"
Only in somebodies teenage fantasy did Britain ever equal Rome.
Slavery is a horror that has cursed the entire world since prehistoric times. It is present in the world today. Greek Civilization, that we love to admire, was based on slavery. So were Chinese, African, and Aztec; it's not only Western, you know.
Not to mention law, the preservation of the glories of Greek Civilization, and the spread of Christianity throughout the West. Too bad they succumbed to Decadence. Too bad it's such a strong influence in the West today.
It has long been an unwritten but accepted rule of war that the victor can have their way with the loser. This goes back many thousands of years. It is absolutely not a western invention.
One thing for sure: the Romans provided jobs for people like the author of this article. Without Romans, he'd have done something else for living.
"It's sometimes hard for us to believe that the ancient Romans really existed in the quotidian sense. But they were real, visceral, passionate people.
"Certain things are repressed in our own culture, like the open enjoyment of others' pain, the desire to make people submit to your will, the guilt-free use of slaves. This was all quite normal to the Romans."
Carolyn
Actually, the I Claudius series was replicated during the Clinton years...including his tenure as gov. of Arkansas.
I fully realize that..
That's why I said "world wide"..
While your opinion on slavery is most admirable, it wasn't the point..
The point was, you can't blame Rome for slavery..
It was already there, and an accepted practice...
I love the HBO series - what is does best, is portray a completely pre-Christian world, with a completely pre-Christian mindset. It is a scary and mysterious place, and it makes me really glad to have been born in 20th century America.
Reg: Yeah, all right Stan, don't delay with the point. And what have they ever given us in return?
Revolutionary I: The aqueduct?
Reg: What?
Revolutionary I: The aqueduct.
Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah, they did give us that, ah, that's true, yeah.
Revolutionary II: And the sanitation.
Loretta: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like.
Reg: Yeah, all right, I'll grant you the aqueduct and sanitation, the two things the Romans have done.
Matthias: And the roads.
Reg: Oh, yeah, obviously the roads. I mean the roads go without saying, don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads...
Revolutionary III: Irrigation.
Revolutionary I: Medicine.
Revolutionary IV: Education.
Reg: Yeah, yeah, all right, fair enough.
Revolutionary V: And the wine.
All revolutionaries except Reg: Oh, yeah! Right!
Rogers: Yeah! Yeah, that's something we'd really miss Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.
Revolutionary VI: Public bathes.
Loretta: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.
Rogers: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it; they're the only ones who could in a place like this.
All revolutionaries except Reg: Hahaha...all right...
Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Revolutionary I: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace! Shut up!
The greatest conquerer in history was Queen Victoria.
I didn't mean to offend, Dram. When I said, "you know," I wasn't addressing you; I meant to address all those people out there who might--for some dumb reason--think otherwise. I was not aiming the sarcasm at you, who are obviously in the know. I aimed it at those who don't seem to understand this and deserve sarcasm inasmuch as the truth is there for all to find--all who want to find it.
Maybe a s... /s arcasm tag next time.??
= Welfare and the NFL?
Cement.
Wow - fully nailed - and a great tag line to boot!
Fast Food.
I would disagree w/ that. At its height the British Empire was something to admire, and it too produced far more benefits than demerits.
It collapsed for a couple of reasons; back to back world wars and an unsustainable aristocricy. that's just MO.
I love the Rome series. It is unrelievedly, in-your-face Un-PC. It's not all brutal and bestial. The Romans knew how to behave, how to be civilized. It's just that they didn't always do so. Nothing new there. I like how they approach the pagan cults -- it's interesting to see characters taking their pantheism as seriously as I take my Christianity. But the society certainly is debauched even though they make clear that not everybody was taking part in it.
If there is one thing that makes me think that we are the new Rome it is the decline of morals amid the overwhelming military power, amid the attempt to take the "pax Americanus" to the rest of the world.
I think I understand why Rome needed a Caesar, because I think I see why WE are going to need a caesar to bail our butts out of the crack we're getting ourselves into, and when I was younger I would never have bought into that idea.
Right now it feels like we're in a chinese finger trap with regard to our freedom. The harder we pull to get out of the trap the more tightly we find ourselves bound.
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