[metatuning] Barbarians at the Gate (was: Taliban genocide)

> From: <Afmmjr@...>
> To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 8:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [metatuning] Re: Taliban genocide
>
>
> Frankly, Bin Laden found some great loopholes, cashing in
> on Khomeini's type casting the U.S. as the Koran's "Great Satan."
>
> Johnny

I've resisted writing anything about the terrorist attacks
of September 11 and the fallout from it that's been posted here.
But since Johnny brought this up, perhaps it's time for me
to express my view. I agree completely with this statement.

First of all, I'm thankful that this affected my life
(*not* my thoughts) in only the most minor way. (I've lost
one student because her husband's business folded as a result
of the attacks.)

The whole thing has been very weird for me, happening as it did
while I was out of the country. I find that I've returned to
an America that is very different from the one I left a month ago.

I've seen some reflection here on historical events, mostly
posted by Margo and John Chalmers, which relates a bit to my
own feelings.

I can remember vividly the day over 21 years ago when I was
sitting in humanities class at Manhattan School of Music, and
daydreaming while listening to my professor and looking out
the window, I started having the feeling that there were
immense parallels between the America I was living in and
the Roman Empire of c. 300 AD or thereabouts. It really seemed
to me then that we had entered the Decline and Fall of the
American Empire (to paraphrase only slightly the title of
the most famous history of Rome).

Looking back at the big historical picture, I see this current
tragedy as the Barbarians At The Gate (to employ another famous
title from I know not where).

America -- no specific finger-pointing here, just the American
Empire as a whole -- has grown fat and lazy, as does every
successful empire, and now the barbarians are finding the holes
they can poke thru and begin infiltrating, just as the Germanic
tribes did with Rome in the 300s and 400s. Johnny's use of
the word "loopholes" in this context simply demanded that I
respond with my opinion.

I don't mean to be pessimistic, just realistic, when I say
that there's probably nothing that can be done to stop this
process. It's happened over and over again to just about all
big empires... eventually they come toppling down, and the
small successor states take their place, until new alliances
forge new empires.

Perhaps the fact that people all over the world saw what happened
and are sympathetic to the USA will make a difference. Perhaps
we (as a species) finally have evolved to the point where we
simply will not tolerate this kind of terrorism any more.

I hope so.

love / peace / harmony ...

-monz
http://www.monz.org
"All roads lead to n^0"

_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @... address at http://mail.yahoo.com