Age of Empires

This is a reprint of a blog entry from my blog at the Daily Grail. The mirror image may not work totally, but I only hope it is thought provoking. If you act negatively, then ask yourself why. The first part is unproblemmatic as it is simply a matter of history. Would the second part be as contoversial if it took as it's subject the British Empire or the old U.S.S.R.?

What was it like to be a citizen of the Roman Empire at the close of the 3rd Century? Whether rich or poor, enmired in one of the unstable and violent slums or enthroned in a marble palace, each and every Roman believed that their Empire would last forever and was blessed by the Gods with the destiny of ruling the whole World. This was surely plain and obvious to all, as although wars had sometimes slowed progress, the Empire had continued to expand and would always do so. The Roman Empire was self-evidently the only home of civilisation, even if that civilisation had largely been stolen in the first place from Greece or Egypt or had been brought by immigrants from the client Kingdoms and conquered domains of the Empire. Romans knew that the nation was first in science, arts, literature, military might and culture. Romans believed that their Empire had the right to be the greatest consumer of natural resources because of this “manifest destiny” and jealously guarded their privileges from the “barbarians” – by whom they meant everyone not Roman. They were insular to the extreme, while still being imperialistic and expansionist, and nowhere was this more true than in the slums where the common citizenry were kept occupied by resource-gobbling circuses and subsidised foodstuffs.

Behind the facade of common belief though, the Roman state was headed for destruction due simply to these beliefs. The vast military meant that continual conquests had to be made to provide resources for it’s upkeep (gold) while the bread-and-circuses which kept the common populace in check drained even further the resources of the nation. So much so in fact, that periodically another internal minority would be described as enemies of the state and stripped of their wealth by persecution. The plurality of religion espoused by Rome was never sacrosanct and was often set aside so some fringe religion could become the latest to be persecuted. The arrogance and insularity of Rome along with its heedless gobbling of other nations wealth eventually lead to its downfall as it became stricken by internal dissent and outside aggression. The Roman Empire forgot also that every Empire must eventually fall.

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What was it like to be a citizen of the American Empire at the close of the 20th Century? Whether rich or poor, enmired in one of the unstable and violent slums or enthroned in a marble palace, each and every American believed that their Empire would last forever and was blessed by God with the destiny of ruling the whole World. This was surely plain and obvious to all, as although wars had sometimes slowed progress, the Empire had continued to expand and would always do so. The American Empire was self-evidently the only home of civilisation, even if that civilisation had largely been stolen in the first place from Europe or Africa or had been brought by immigrants from the client nations and conquered domains of the Empire. Americans knew that the nation was first in science, arts, literature, military might and culture. Americans believed that their Empire had the right to be the greatest consumer of natural resources because of this “manifest destiny” and jealously guarded their privileges from the “barbarians” – by whom they meant everyone not American. They were insular to the extreme, while still being imperialistic and expansionist, and nowhere was this more true than in the slums where the common citizenry were kept occupied by resource-gobbling entertainment programming and subsidised gas and SUVs.

Behind the facade of common belief though, the American state was headed for destruction due simply to these beliefs. The vast military meant that continual conquests had to be made to provide resources for it’s upkeep (oil) while the realityTV-and-SUVs which kept the common populace in check drained even further the resources of the nation. So much so in fact, that periodically another internal minority would be described as enemies of the state and stripped of their wealth by persecution. The plurality of religion espoused by America was never sacrosanct and was often set aside so some fringe religion could become the latest to be persecuted. The arrogance and insularity of America along with its heedless gobbling of other nations wealth eventually lead to its downfall as it became stricken by internal dissent and outside aggression. The American Empire forgot also that every Empire must eventually fall.