Guest spartacus Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Happy April Fools Day to one and all !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Germanicus Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 I don't get you here Sparticus - was the Topic an April fools Joke ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Spartacus was banned for about 12 hours to send a message. We appreciate his enthusiasm for starting topics... we despise some of the insulting and inflammatory tone. That's that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboy Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 * Edited * Doesn't matter any more Primus Pilus explained it just as I posted. ( this thread had me thoroughly confused ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spartacus Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 Yes, it was an April Fools But my prank backfired as some dont have a sense of humour like the Brits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pompeius magnus Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 Different cultures find different things humorous. I personally think that the idea was creative and Im sure he did not mean to insult or offend anyone. Even some of my jokes backfire and lead to punishment because of a lack of understanding of my humor, but in the end I turn away from using those jokes in front of people who are offended by it. Thats my 3 cents, I don't have a dime because I am broke so I put in my 3 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlapse Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 This topic was very similar to previous topics where warnings were issued, joke or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnewhous Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 Well, to take it seriously for a moment, I don't agree with Ursus that the Romans would have just as much to teach us as we have to teach them, but the appropriate question is to ask is how far did they progress? The Romans 1) created an empire of citizens and not of subjects. They were not free of racism or xenophobia but things gradually got better as they went along. 2) In the treatment of women they were way ahead of the Greeks. 3) slavery had almost died out by the end of the empire. If it had died out a lot sooner it may have saved the republic, but they were better towards their slaves, gladiators excepted, than other societies. 4) the culture of Greece and Rome provided the template to organize societies that worked to overcome the blights of mankind Racism and sexism are univeral properties of all cultures BTW. Western civilization has delt with them better than others. As far as relevance to modern societies goes 1) The difference between the Anglosphere and continental Europe has a lot to do with the bureacratic nature of Roman society and the much more individualistic culture of pagan Anglo-saxans. 2) The fall of the Republic - at the popular level no one mourned its passing because it hadn't served the interests of the public for decades. This has a lot to do with the fact that a government designed to govern a city-state couldn't handle the demands of a nation. Could it be that the strains placed on modern republican governments could lead to the downfall of our republics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anticleia Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 I challenge you to show me one single "great empire" that has NOT killed, destroyed and acted pretty damn badly at some point in it's history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Germanicus Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 Can't accept that challege, you make a really good point ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnewhous Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 This is what a lot of idiot lefties get hung up on (not intellectual lefties, but your run of the mill idiot world trade organization protestor type), they are familiar with Western history and criticize it while assuming that the histories of other civilizations must be better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost_Warrior Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 1) Is there a certain fallacy in judging the mores of a by-gone era by modern notions, and should we only judge the Romans by how well they lived up to the standards they set for themselves (did they live up to their own propaganda, in other words)? 2) Some of our modern notions might themselves be in error, or at least not as exceptionally advanced and enlightened over an allegedly primitive and barbaric people as we would like to believe? In the above two questions I have found some cause to hesitate before condemning the Romans for anything that runs afoul of modern sensibilities. I'm not saying I'd want to live in ancient Rome, but I do believe the Romans would have as much to teach us as we moderns would have to teach them. That's why I study them and admire them. I agree. The Romans were following their own standards. Were their standards flawed? Possibly. But modern societies have some pretty "flawed" standards as well. What the Romans did was acceptable in Rome. It was all they knew, and to my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong here) not too many ancient Romans had a problem with the way Rome was at the time. (I'm not saying they loved it. But they didn't have too much of a problem) Sure we might have a problem with it, but ancient Rome would likely have a big problem with us as well. Personally I admire Rome's culture, and military, and architecture, and almost everything else about them that I know of (almost. I don't agree with everything they did, for example I read in a Roman law book that the testimony of slaves was inadmissable EXCEPT if it was gained by torture. I certainly don't admire them for that little idea.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesar Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 This is a very interesting topic. One of the things I consider most important in studying history, is the question "why." Why do we study history? I personally, see studying history as a way of taking what was best in humanity's past, and using it to create a better future. When we look at the Roman Empire, we admire and discuss the best elements that they had to offer, because we can use those as guidelines and foundations for the history we will create. When we discuss the worse elements of Roman history however, the point is to understand the conditions and reasons for why things occured, so that we may insure they do not happen again. This way, we take the best of what history has to offer, but leave the worse out of the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost_Warrior Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Good point Caesar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augur Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 This is what a lot of idiot lefties get hung up on (not intellectual lefties, but your run of the mill idiot world trade organization protestor type), they are familiar with Western history and criticize it while assuming that the histories of other civilizations must be better Is this another April Fools jibe? If not, my congradulations. I am relative new here, but gratuitiously insulting declarations of this type are quite rare on this otherwise well-mannered site. But I think it is safe to say that that latest post of yours is one of the most tasteless and ill-linformed few lines I have seen here. I can't help but ask: who you normally correspond with, and who corresponds with you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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