Thanks dynachrome, usually these phony comparisons are absurd, but this one is both amusing and somewhat apropos.
Posted on 12/15/2023 11:18:33 AM PST by dynachrome
You've heard everyone talk about it. "When you look at the end of the Roman Empire and the current state of America, you can't help but see the parallels!" It's time to dig down and discover just how true that is.
The Babylon Bee is on the case, presenting the following list of shocking similarities between the later years of the Roman Empire and today's United States
(Excerpt) Read more at babylonbee.com ...
Satire?
Not even close - we haven’t had a tranny emperor yet.
And don’t forget the horses asses in the Senate.
Big Mike may yet be the nominee for the Democrats.
Then (as now) an elite group (the optimates) hogged all political power, manipulated voting and robbed the rest of the citizenry blind.
As a consequence, ambitious members of the elite realized they could use populist resentment about the sclerotic oligarchy to promote their own careers.
This dynamic oddly enough makes Trump more like Sulla than Caesar. Sulla was the first to march his armies on Rome and did so to restore mos maiorum, the traditional political and social arrangements of Roman society. While he removed many of the plebeian checks on Senatorial power, he also went through the Senatorial class with fire and sword. He wanted the Roman constitution to function as it once did, with a Senate chastened into behaving itself. After having himself appointed dictator, he resigned from public life and died a few years later.
Of course, he failed as his reforms didn't last very long because the Senatorial class soon went back to its old ways, while the professional Roman army continued to be staffed by poorer citizens and officers from the equites or Roman middle classes, whose resentment made it a ready tool for ambitious men.
just like the Babylon Bee, the Romans were capable of some great satire concerning their emmperors, too
for a very amusing example, see
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10001/pg10001-images.html
Our military is going the same way as Rome’s
Most of the Senators were gay: Sound familiar? Hmmmm?
Linda turns light out cuddles with ummm pal
Actually the similarity is far worse. Rome fell because it could not control its borders. The barbarians moved in and took over.
A bit off topic.
The show “Big Dogs” (8 episodes) opens with an NYPD captain lecturing a new hire on the fall of the Roman Empire at Noricum Ripense, and then pours some whiskey in his coffee. I found it to be pretty amazing viewing. A future(?) New York where several gangs are vying for control of the drug trade. Violence, drugs, and language.
“BIG DOGS exists in an alternate reality of New York City. Businesses are shuttered, crime is rampant, black markets thrive. Drug are run via taxis and NYPD detectives use taxis for undercover teams trying to rein in the chaos.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6599010/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_big%2520dogs
Thanks dynachrome, usually these phony comparisons are absurd, but this one is both amusing and somewhat apropos.
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