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Badtux the Snarky PenguinIn a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. Religious fundamentalists are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun -- and that this must be stopped. |
Wednesday, June 27, 2007The Dance of DoomOnce upon the time, there was a mighty superpower. This mighty superpower expanded to its natural boundaries via conquering and/or killing off the natives of lands it coveted, then settled down to purr in its self-satisfaction, secure in the knowledge that its mighty armies would forever keep it safe.Over time, politics in this mighty superpower became somewhat... deranged. Divorced from the lives of normal people. An aristocracy ruled this mighty superpower, an aristocracy which lost interest in the things that made the superpower great and instead only pursued wealth and power. But the wealth they pursued was artificial, illusionary, not the wealth that is food and manufactures and services that make people's lives better but, rather, the artificial wealth that is created by the State. Similarly, the power they sought was power over the government. They did not worry about whether the actual functions and services provided by government met the needs of the people, they simply wanted to rule. As the economy and infrastructure of this mighty superpower crumbled, as its government became increasingly ineffectual and unable to maintain even the basic services of law and order, the people of power who ran this superpower continued their power games on top. For a while, nobody noticed that each generation's life became a little harder, a little poorer. After all, they were still the mightiest superpower on the planet. But then some barbarians, little more than savages in their estimation, managed to destroy one of their armies... and there was nothing left to rebuild their armies with. No manufactures. No resources. No ability to recruit and arm more soldiers to replace those that were killed. And no competent leadership of the remainder of their army, the competent leaders had all been purged because they (correctly) disagreed with the insane policies of the ruler of this mighty superpower. And so Rome fell. A few dozen centuries later, another superpower with a crumbling infrastructure and economy slowly slides towards the precipice. And the leaders of this superpower are all concerned with... petty political bullshit. The armies have been purged of competent leadership because the competent generals disagreed with Dear Leader's insane policies, the economy crumbles as the elites pursue artificial government-created wealth instead of the ability to produce, like, actual goods that have some sort of inherent value, and it looks like a good chunk of the U.S. military has been defeated in Iraq, with the majority of the Army's equipment pretty much destroyed and with the decayed economy of this superpower lacking the ability to easily repair or replace it. Shades of Adrianople... But oh look, over there. It's Paris Hilton, looking all fresh despite her jail time! Woot! Gotta keep our priorities straight, after all.... -- Badtux the History Penguin Posted by: BadTux / 6/27/2007 01:13:00 PMComments:Excellent post.Hey - I dunno if you engage in such things, but I left you a present at my place. # posted by --Blue Girl : 27/6/07 5:23 PM
Aw hell, it can get worse. And it will.
Indeed it will. I just hope I will be dead by the time everything collapses. The Western Roman Empire managed to keep on going for another hundred years after Adrianople, of course, not finally collapsing into mass death via starvation until the Vandals took North Africa and shut off the wheat supply to Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire managed another 500 years after that. But things just happen so *fast* nowdays... |
About Me
I am a black and white and yellow multicolored penguin making his way as best he can in a world of monochromic monkeys. ArchivesApril 2004 / December 2004 / January 2005 / February 2005 / March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 /
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"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." -- Molly Ivins, 1944-2007
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
-- Plato
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