Re:Ancient Rome’s Collapse Is Written into Arctic Ice
by throwaway5752 on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @11:21AM
(#17134847)
Okay - I think you are just making that up. Are there serious people in historical academia working on some sort of "political project" like that, are are you nutpicking some marginal/fringe off the internet? Can you offer some sort of links describing the name of this academic school, who belonged to it, evidence of their influence, etc? I have a personal interest in history sufficiently deep to doubt you.
Re:Ancient Rome’s Collapse Is Written into Arctic Ice
by siidooloo on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @12:47PM
(#17135634)
Can you name the academics who claim war was not rampant over the last couple thousand years?
Re:Ancient Rome’s Collapse Is Written into Arctic Ice
by 8bitsrule on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @11:57PM
(#17140977)
Heh. Gradualism vs. Catastrophism all over again.
As for 'no recovery for us' (if by 'us' you mean humanity) a thousand years is a long time. Hopefully, by then, they'll have taken some hard-earned lessons from our completely avoidable bone-headed mistakes. Or ... probably too optimistic. Okay, then, 10,000 years to stop being followers of fatuous fools.
On the bright side, if we use up most of the extractable fossil fuels, there won't be enough left for them to take that path.
This camp, as part of a present-day political project, portrays the past as some kind of peaceful, egalitarian utopia ruined by "capitalism" and "colonization". In this camp's ridiculous woldview, all societies are equally complex, all languages are equally expressive, and cultural and linguistic changes always reflect some kind of peaceful transition instead of a violent upheaval.
Rome never fell, these people say: instead, it just chose to adopt the sustainable economic practices of the peaceful immigrants from the steppe. My eyes cannot roll any harder when I read shit like that.
Fortunately, these people are well on the way to being thoroughly discredited. Populations do change. Catastrophes do happen. War was rampant. Ancient DNA confirms it.
Civilization and order are fragile and worth preserving, and an honest examination of the past and strike the fear of decay into us. It took the world until the 19th century (!) to recover from Rome's collapse in all respects; for us, there will be no recovery at all.