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Good essay, Notch. I just wonder how many people in China understand the mistakes they made during the boxer rebellion. Desperate people turn to unreasonable options, but some of what the boxers did to persuade the population to join them leaves a lot of questions. They told the population that they, the boxers, were immune to western weapons, and used blanks to prove it. They spread rumors about having members with supernatural powers to help them. In the end, they only harmed their people, making a bad situation worse. I hope the people in China have learned from this.
I would say that technology has made it so that you don?t need to know the basics the way you used to, so a lot of students don?t bother as much. However, it has also made it possible for those who are hungry for knowledge to gain a great deal more. I?d say there is a wider gap nowadays. The slackers can slack more so they?re further behind, but the scholars can learn more so they?re further ahead.
Incidentally were there actually real berserkers. They appear in the sagas and poems doing magical things, like the valkyries of myth, but are there any proofs that they actually existed.
Among a group of people who lived off of pillaging, raping and burning, it would not be surprising to see a few wild individuals hooked on drugs and going crazy. It?s pretty safe to say that the berserkers existed. What they actually were is clouded by myth, probably to add to the intimidation factor they created. Perhaps the Vikings stumbled upon a narcotic, or some sort of natural steroid.
Excellent pictures, nevertheless. I guess traveling is like surfing the Net. You have to overlook all the advertisements and watch out for spammers, but there?s a lot of neat stuff to find. I have to see Greece. My wife got to go on a business trip and she loved it.
The unity point is a very good one. The enemies of America probably have more to fear from the million moderate march than they do from vociferous extremists. The people who are weakening America most are likely to be the ones that are accusing Obama of being a communist or denigrating Bush as a half wit.
Shouldn't your last point say strengthening instead of weakening? Questioning the government is paramount to American independence and politicians should always be held 'up to the flame' to remind them of their role in representing the people. If everybody just relaxed and let the government do as they pleased the 13 colonies would still be under the British crown. I don't much care for Obama now nor did I when he was elected, not because I think he's a "communist" but because he failed to bring about positive change that everybody was hyping.Furthermore the xenophobia I would certainly say is fabricated. How many times does the mass media tell people about the 'Axis of Evil' and the enemies are real and 'among us', yet all that happens as a result is the post-9/11 paranoia like the alleged terrorists in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY. I, for one, strongly believe that 'terrorism' is the new Red Scare. See the works of Leo Strauss if you want to see some of the reasons why.I am convinced that there are many similarities between modern U.S. and the Roman Empire but there are far more differences. I think there is a danger in correlating the two too strongly and drawing conclusions as a result, but it's fine to make allegories all day long just so long as you don't fall into the habit of creating 'whiggish' history because you are convinced that the similarities might be too strong.
garbanzo, I agree that we need to be able to point out flaws in government in an effort to improve. Being able to face the truth is a strength because we can correct mistakes and prevent them from re-occurring. What historyscientist is talking about, however, is false propaganda spread about us by our own people. We know that others are going to do it, but when we hear North American people claiming that we planned Pearl Harbor, or that Obama is a communist, it becomes an internal division. We cannot give in to paranoia, but we have to be aware. 9/11 was successful because the authorities were off guard. It doesn?t mean that we should keep an eye on every Muslim; that leads to racism. But, having strict security and investigating suspicious actions is a way of saying that it?s better to be safe than sorry, especially when we know they want to hurt us. As for analogies from Rome, one of the main objectives of studying history is to prevent the same mistakes from reoccurring, and to seek good examples as a reference for decisions. It all comes down to human nature, which is so complex that we can never fully understand it, but looking at an empire with similarities to our own can give us insight about ourselves. The Roman Empire lasted 600 years partly because they were able to bounce back from defeat. This is something we need to be able to do. The fact that they did it doesn?t? mean we automatically will, but some of the parallels can assist us in finding out how to. Of course, in modern times that will have to be done in a different way, but some of the concepts that worked for them will surely work for us.
Americans are not surrounded by barbarians, but today geography is global, and attacks are economical more than military. The Taliban can attack through travel routes, the Internet, and from within. I heard a recent quote about them encouraging followers to launch as many attacks as possible, because, even if they don't succeed, they cost money and disrupt the US. China's currency and manufacturing of knockoffs is another front we need to think about. If we look at Rome, we see that they were most prosperous when they were united. They fought an array of internal conflicts. I wonder what the total number of Roman soldiers that died at the hands of other Roman soldiers is? I think unification is what can strengthen the US more than anything else. A leader like Constantine did it in Rome. I hope the US can see the same thing now.
I suppose today exposure to the sun is very risky, but rickets isn't the only problem that can arouse from not getting enough sunlight. Why was the disease around in the 17th century?
Yeah, now the Inquisition is something Spanish people don't like to talk about, putting it off as a bad fad, but I think it did more harm to them than they're willing to admit.
Thanks, garbanzo. Yes, I suppose if Spain had put more emphasis on agriculture, and also on the industrial revolution, their colonies would have been more inclined to stay with them. Instead, they chose to mine precious metals so they could buy what they needed. The reason I say that the British fared better is because some of their colonies willingly chose to stay with them. Even a place like Hong Kong, which had a tiny British population, wasn't eager to break ties. I would even say that if Puerto Rico and Guam were offered the choice of returning to Spain they would choose to stay with the US, which makes me believe that Spain did not provide growth opportunities for their colonies. skiguy, I'm not sure I quite follow? I'll look into the readings garbanzo suggested and maybe I'll understand, but I just think that the colonies were places to make profits from. Sure, investments needed to be made, but the advantages to be had made them worthwhile.
Right. Nevertheless, there?s something to note about China prior to the communist takeover and even more so the cultural revolution. If we consider the opium wars, we see that China was more advanced than Britain in many ways, yet the British were able to defeat a huge army with a relatively far smaller navy. This is puzzling at first, but if we go deeper into Chinese society at the time, we see that the most elite men sneered at a military career, seeking to become poets, philosophers or artists instead. The military officials were often the ones who had been unable to become artists, very contrastingly to the European desire of elite men to join the military. This is one of the main reasons for Britain?s victory. Prior to the communist times, the emphasis and money spent on art in China was immense. The pottery, jade, ivory and gold that is displayed in Asia really tells a story. I don?t gamble, but I like to go into Stanley Ho?s casinos in Macau just to see some of the art.
Well, I know that the most valuable art China had was moved as the Japanese advanced and eventually ended up in Taiwan, but I tend to believe that the Japanese soldiers took what they could. The museum in Taiwan is impressive, to say the least, showing that they managed to save. I remember hearing about Chinese paintings being sold on the black market. I'm not sure about South East Asia, but looting of art is almost a given, isn't it?
There?s probably a lot more to find in Japan than in Germany, since there were less occupying forces there.
Looks like every modern army should study the Vikings. How about the Berserkers? I?ve read that the frenzy that they worked themselves up to was accomplished through drugs. What type of drugs from that era could do something like this?
