=== USA ROOTS
=== WEST WORLD CULTURE
=== LANGUAGE AND OTHER MATTERS --
=== THE TROUBLE WITH NON ITALIANS
=== GRECE. ROME, U. S. A.
=============================
USA ROOTS
Our Western World's cradle was ROME and ITALY, in the Mediterranean Sea, called "Mare
Nostrum" ("Our Sea") by the ancient Romans.
The Mediterranean Sea is contained (or surrounded) by (clockwise from its West
end) :
Spain, France, Italy's peminsula (jutting southward from Central-Southern Europe),
Balkan/Greek peninsula, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt. Libya, Tunisia,
Algeria, Morocco.
The coast from Morocco eastward to Egypt (included) delineates the entire
African North Coast(Southern limit of the Mediterranean sea). A simple map
will give the best picture, especially because the area and its countries are
still now in the world headlines since 3 millennia ago.
Italy stands out still in its central position: almost unavoidable and coveted
by locals and foreigners.
That is only part of the reasons to attribute its own prominence to the "Italian
factor".|
|An ethnic or racial path, however, is misleading.
When Muhammad Ali, probably the greatest boxer of all time, made a tour of black
Africa (far south or the immense Sahara Deaert; which extends southward from the abive mentioned south Mediterranean coastal countries ) in the 1980's, to see where his race
originated, and what it meant.
He came back to his native USA declaring how much alien he felt to Africa, and
how glad he was to be an U.S.A. American.
Virtually all American-born of non-European origin are incredibly closer to the
European culture than to their ethnic background.
They use a West European language with Latin (Roman) -Latin) and Anglo Saxon
roots, the Roman alphabet, Rome- and West-Europe-rooted American law, customs,
technology, finance, life-style, morality, education, art, fashion, music, etc.
Mr. Ali may be called "African-American" by politicians who want to separate him
and his image from the rest of America (as a voting block to manipulate), but he
is culturally 100% American, only marginally (if at all) African.
Realistically, we can say that the average American black can find much more of
his roots in Rome or New York than in African Monrovia.
Man's significant roots are cultural, not ethnic or racial.
When tribes form larger communities and nations, their uniting factors are no
longer blood and kinship, but customs, traditions, history, language, folklore, law, and
other traits, all included in the concept of "culture".
Culture starts in the family, and goes beyond family, kinship and race.
It must harmonize family and open fatherland as only Rome could do it
harmoniously for almost three millennia.
We could expand to the point of including more than one nation and language.
As explained later in this chapter, the Roman family was coherent with
morality and Rome's patriotism..
Like Americ's- invited immigration and
assimilation of immigrants, in contrast with the xenophobia or isolationism of
the past Chinese, Greek and other cultures.
Historically, Americans (like the ancient Romans) have always assumed that
virtually every culture included not only its originators, but all who joined or
were assimilated, regardless of their territorial, racial, historical or other
background.
As to Americans born from Americans, they have just as much duty to absorb and contribute to our culture, as the new comers . Even if citizenship is now
being granted to illegal criminal immigrants (I hope that I am
exaggerating).
Western Civilization includes all those who live in the cultural pattern the Europeans inherited from Rome (which became Italy) and spread beyond Europe to
the North- and South-American continent, Australia, New Zeeland and world areas
where they expamded,reside in and control.
With all probability, the major factor which induces us to disregard our
Roman roots, has been the attempt to eclipse them with a misunderstood proto-Christian and Biblical overlay.
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886), the father of historiography, stated:
"It may be said that all ancient history flows into that of Rome, as into a
river, flowing out into the sea; and that "all modern history stems from the
Roman".
" I will even go so far as to say that, had the Romans not "existed, there would
be no history to speak of".
Without Rome, what was left of Greece and the Middle East countries would have
sunken into the anonymous sands of history.
Europe would have remained an Asiatic peninsula, still today roamed by nomadic
Mongoloid, Turkish, "Nordic", "Teutonic" or similar tribes.
The American continent would still be now, as it had been for many millennia,
under self-destructing fighting native tribes who didn't know the wheel, the
horse, written language, house and road building, and practiced torture, human
sacrifices, slavery, and even cannibalism.
Our politics-contaminated Hollywood-style lionizing of the "Native Americans"
has gone too far for political reasons that history will correct in due time.
"Protecting their independence" in isolated "reservations" embalmed them in
their primitivism, without the real chances others just as foreign and
underdeveloped had to contribute and be absorbed to the point of becoming indistinguishable from the more fortunate...
But what about "crazy" Roman emperors, slavery and so on?
Sure, but they were not typical of Rome, just as Hitler and Stalin were not
typical of Germany and Russia. We know that the corrections came from the same
Rome, Germany and Russia...
As to the Vikings and others having "discovered" North America before Colombo
(native name of "Columbus") , the claim of "discovery" in the real
historical sense, is absurd, because their landing was not a civilizing or
organized conquering/migrating- /colonizing/civilizing enterprise.
They came essentially by chance, some marooned, some with only individual or
accidental purposes, mostly without kno wing where they landed, or for similar
reasons that motivated the first Eskimos, other Asiatics or Europeans (some
still undetermined) to migrate to the American continent in the sub-Polar or
other regions.
The hostile "public relation" attitude of some American communities against
Columbus (to the point of trying to eliminate or ridicule Columbus Day
celebrations) stems from the original Protestant posture against Catholics and
Rome (and, consequently, everything Italian), and from the resentment of native
Americans about Columbus descriptions of the cannibalism practiced by the
indigenous Caribs especially against the Taino tribes in the areas of the
islands around St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico. They were not the
only native American cannibals.
As to Protestants vs. Catholic comparisons, consider that America was discovered
in 1492 by the Italian Catholc navigator Cristoforo Colombo.
In1517, the German Catholic priest Martin Luther (1483-1546) published his articulated critics of the Pope and some Catholic church decisions, which confirmed the same protests already old and current but unheeded in Italy 0 as well in Germany).
Meanwhilel, Henry VIII of England, declared by dhe pope "defensor of the Catholic Church", became anti-Catholicbcause the pope did not recognise his divorce from the first of his 6 wives (Henry nvIII even had one of his own six wives wies beheaded.
Protestantism started officially after 1517 in Germany, and, in 1527 Rome was ferociously invaded and massacred d by a huge Getman horde, and Rome's population was horribly massacred (including wholesale rape, torture, plunder and similar horrors on a gigantic scale)
by German hordes (the historically infamous -but hush-hushed-
"Sack of Rome")...
No other world religion had an as nefrious start...
From Internet's Wikipedia,
The city of Rome has been sacked on several occasions. Among the most famoustageslicht (each Sack of Rome here represented with ****):
**** (387 B.C.) by the Gauls
**** (410 A. D.) by Alaric, King of the Visigoths.
**** (455 A. D.) by Geiseric, King of the Vandals.
**** (546 A.D.) by the Ostrogoths Ostrogoths.
**** (846 A. D.) by The Arab Saracens.
**** (1084 A. D.) by the Normans..
**** (1527 A. D.) by the hordes and mutinous troops of German Charles V.
While Rome changed hands by force during World War II, no significant sack of the city occurred during that war; few bombs actually fell on the city, and the fighting mainly occurred elsewhere.
The simple facts that the Italian Cristoforo Colombo had the planned official
mission of discovering a new way to a new or old land to add to the Spanish,
European and Christian (logically Catholic, because Protestants did not exist
yet in 1492) civilization sphere, and that the given name "America" comes from
another Italian, Americo Vespucci (whose describing travels and maps inspired
the name of the new continent to European scholars of the time), obviously adds
to the Italian mission and credits.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), wrote: "A man who has not been in Italy, is always
conscious of an inferiority".
This was particularly valid in the 18th century and before. For the average
American of today, Romans and Italians evoke little more than alleged orgies, gladiator
fights, anti Christian persecutions, pizza, spaghetti and the Mafia.
Such interpretation is far below cultural literacy.
Rome and Italy literally produced Europe and the -Western culture, OUR CULTURE,
brought peace and civilization to chronically warring, marauding and migrating
Europeans and other tribes, taught them to write and read, build roads, bridges,
houses, cities, public works, govern, make laws and codes beyond primitive
level, create and administrate nations, make war and peace.
It organized and spread Christianity in the world, gave us laws and
jurisprudence, civil and military organization, and gave Roman citizenship (not
slavery) to the people it civilized, after civilizing them as Roman provinces.
No other nation in history brought so many barbarian peoples to its own
civilization and citizenship.
No other nation in history built so many cities (most still vibrant today),
roads and public structures as Rome in the conquered territories.
Europe is a continental civilization Rome created out of her territories and
provinces in the west en d of Asia.
Thus North & Latin America, Australia, and all of the Western Culture share the same Roman/Italian Heritage; which some fanatical bigots oppose frantically.
sous08th AmericaORTH & s086U, in the Western World, are full, genuine heirs of Rome, even if the
overwhelming majority of us and of our ancestors were not born in Rome, or
descendent from Rome. Moreover, many of us may be better Romans than many
original Romans for cultural merits, because Rome is a culture, not just a
physical or racial qualification.
The Roman system was to colonize, civilize and then make Roman citizens out of
the people Rome conquered.
The Romans also gave them the Roman (we call it "English") alphabet (the one we
still use now in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Scandinavia, civilized Africa and spread worldwide), the legal code and the legal
system on which ours is still based from the roots. That includes the the military, civil,
political, financial and other social organizations we still use today...
Therefore they are full of Latin and Italian words...
The republic (Latin"Res Publica": public matter or govern), with the Senate
and public representatives and Constitution, was initiated in Rome, starting in
509 b. c., after the deposition of the Etruscan-born king Tarquinus the Proud.
The Roman/Latin language unified Europe and became common root and "lingua
franca" (international official language) of most Western Europe and other
countries...
Most roads built by the Romans are still main roads today, not only in Italy,
but also in the rest of Europe , in all Mediterranean countries, North Africa
and Middle East...
Not only Rome and virtually all Italian cities, but also London, Paris, Vienna,
Frankfurt-am-Main and hundreds more great cities that still flourish today were
founded by the Romans in Europe, Middle East, North Africa and all along the
Mediterranean coastal and inland areas...
Christianity may not be around now if the Roman emperor Constantine (306-357 a.
d.) had not forced the bickering Christian sects into the Council of Nicaea (in
today's Turkey), in 325 a. d., for a debating convention to choose and elect the
prevailing sect as a unifying factor in the faith and Roman Empire. Historically, his
interest was political rather than religious.
He presided the Council, which was held in Greek (in true multicultural
impartial style), a language he hardly knew.
The finalists were the Catholics and the Arians.
The Catholics prevailed, and Constantine put the Roman empire's power and seat
at their disposal.
His motivation was political, rather than religious.
In fact, he was baptized only in his deathbed in 337 a. d. by a Christian-Arian
bishop.
Without Rome, Christianity, apparently on its way out after 3 centuries of
terminal bickering decay, would have most likely dissolved in internal discords,
like most other religions of those times and places (not much worse then we do
today .
The basic Christian liturgy and the 4 New Testaments were composed in the
Catholic interpretation from the numerous conflicting documents in circulation.
Paul of Tarsus (born after Jesus, 10?, died 67? A. D.) was probably the main compiler
of the New Testament).
Latin became the prevailing (and then official) language of this "Oriental"
religion with Semitic/Persian (Zoroastrian)-/Egyptian roots and Greek
documentation".
Then, it became and remained the unifying language of Europe for over fifteen
centuries, and well beyond the discovery of the American continent..
The process of "Italianization" permeated the Christian Church with the
Roman-Italian style, which was much more cultural and sophisticated than now
generally known.
After all, the term "Pagan" is now arbitrarily used to define a range of
non-Christian cultures from the most primitive to the highly developed like the
ancient Greek and Roman...
The complexity of "pagan" polytheism necessitated the sublimation of human
dramas and the creativity of genius to formulate a coherently interacting and
multicultural mythology expressed in literature, visual arts, sculpture, architecture,
painting, music, theater, festivals and rituals in an advanced refined culture.
Monotheism, no matter how lofty and intricate, was anti-intellectual by
revelation to the common men (but often theologically intellectual): one god
resulted being the one, invariably easy answer for everything and everybody.
It was so simplified that it couldn't withstand philosophic and other
intellectual investigation.
So much so that philosophy, myths, and intellectual speculative works had to be
prohibited, together with any graphic representation, description, or even the
oral mention of God's name.
That explains the initial artistic and philosophical stagnation of truly
monotheistic faiths (as in the "Dark Ages"), from the Jewish to the Muslim
religion...
The Italians injected the Christian version of pagan sophistication into
Christianity and lifted it from the original oversimplifications.
The Saturnalia were a joyous Roman festival with merrymaking and gift exchanges
celebrating the winter solstice (21 December).
December 25 was the birthday of the Persian Zoroastrian mystery "god of light"
Mithras, extremely popular among the Roman soldiers.
Jesus was born sometime in spring, but the Church decided to join the invincible
popularity of the Saturnalia and Mithraism celebrations.
Therefore December 25 became Christmas.
Hence: Mithra's birthday, born from a virgin and sanctified in a profusion of
blood from a sacrificed bull (remarkably, however, crucifixion was an eminently
bloodless torture) was assigned to Jesus, and the Saturnalia festival became the
Christmas celebration.
The Christmas Tree was also adopted from the pagan Scandinavian tree winter
celebrations. "Santa Claus" stands for Saint Nicolas, the bishop sent from Rome
in the 4th century a. d. to convert the Scandinavian tribes to Christianity.
The Christmas Tree was originally a Scandinavian/German celebration with lights
and presents on evergreen trees, adopted into the Catholic and Protestant
celebrations.
The root of the English language itself was introduced from France by William
the Conqueror (1028-1087 a. d.), who spoke a Roman-Latin French language.
Before his conquest, the inhabitants of the British islands spoke Saxon and
Scandinavian dialects, which had no affinity with Latin or French before
William's conquest.
The original Christian rules like the Jewish and Moslem forbade statuary,
paintings and other "pagan" expressions in the temples, but they were later
allowed and encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, as protector and promoter
of art and culture. kkk
The resulting active sponsorship of art, and the concurrent scientific
awakening, originated the cultural revolution in Italy that unfolded into the
cultural Renaissance (="Rebirth", with special impulse in Florence) and Western
civilization.
The Roman rule (in Jesus words: "...to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what
is God's") of separating Church and State rescued
civilization...
In 1517, Martin Luther (1483-1546 a .d.) initiated the protestant
one-dimensional posture by raising the criticism the Italians had already been
raising since long before.
The theological parallel diversions were still going on.
Soon later, Henry VIII (1491-1547 a. d.) of England , previously declared
"defender of the Faith" (1521 a. d.) by the pope for his defense of the Papacy against
Luther, turned against Rome in order to marry a second time (1533 a. d.) against
the papal prohibition, and to get the rich real estate possessions of the
Catholic Church.
The conspicuous disparaging of Rome and Italy in Protestant folklore is like a
Freudian slip to conceal a theologically discordant past.
The Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox are especially galled by the fact that
Catholic Rome is still by far the major center of Christianity.
Again: the theological diversions are still going on.
It is unfortunate that the schism is not yet resolved.
Most Americans, even the Italian Americans, appear unable or reluctant to
recognize the overwhelming (but unnoticed) Italian presence in their culture.
Even the significance of Columbus is reduced to political folklore or biased
diatribes.
To make it worse, some history "deconstructionists" (who mutate history to their
emotional or political preferences) now describe Cristoforo Colombo as an evil
environment malefactor: a ridiculous accusation against a relatively
insignificant number of people in an environment enormously larger than they
could possibly damage even deliberately..., in a continent so big and barbaric
where the aborigenes exterminator of "innocent" natives (who had been
systematically massacring and enslaving each other for ages before Colombo.
They
even practiced cannibalism, which Colombo found among the Caribe tribes, who ate
many of Columbus men).
"Banking" derives from "banco", a sort of crate facing the street in seaports.
It originated the banking jargon on the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Italian coasts,
and then spread abroad.
Political, economical, medical, scientific, military, legal and other
disciplines, as we know them, were started in Italy by Romans (and their Italian
progeny), but the fact is vaguely noticed today, and only from the adoption of
ubiquitous and pertinent Latin (ancient Italian) and Italian words.
That is why the legal, financial, scientific, medical, accounting, military,
political, construction, marine, philosophical, theological, pedagogic,
psychological, biologic, linguistic, and other disciplines are full of Latin and
Italian words. and their modifications.
The designation of "Latino" for Spanish and Portuguese speaking
peoples North, Central and South Americans has just a much to do with Rome or
Italy, even if less recognized in U.S.A.
The present music pentagram and notations were created and developed in Italy by
Guido d'Arezzo (991-ca.1050 a. d.).
We are hardly aware of the importance of those developments in music.
The piano, the violin and most musical instruments developed in Italy too.It
originated the banking jargon on the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Italian coasts, and
then spread abroad he now famous French cuisine was literally brought to France,
as Florentine cuisine, from Florence (the Italian focusing source of the
Renaissance culture) by the Italian Caterina dei Medici in the 16th century ,
when she married the future French king Henry 2nd (1519-1559 A.D.). She also
introduced the use of silverware to the French, who were still eating with their
fingers.
The Italian pioneering and developments in painting, sculpture, architecture,
music, jurisprudence and science are historic watersheds virtually unmatched by
any other culture anywhere, anytime.
With this background, being Italian means absorbing a deeper and wider cultural
heritage than most people think.
Being Italian is not just wiggling a Tarantella on a parade float, showing
Venice's Canal Grande with an incongruous Neapolitan "Santa Lucia" song, or
showing off in a regional spaghetti extravaganza.
Being Italian is more and less than mentioning Julius Caesar (100-44 b.c.),
Leonardo da Vinci (`1452-1519 a. d., considered the greatest genius known to
mankind), Galileo (1564-1642 a. d.), Napoleon Buonaparte (changed to "Bonaparte"
when he became French) (1769-1821).
Rather than just boast Italian past glories, we should step down from a stage
without audience, learn Italian culture to absorb rather than parade it, and
expose it in friendly competition with the Germans, Japanese,
French, Chinese, Indian, Koreans, Mexicans, etc.
The present marginalized cultural level of the Italian Americans stems from the
narcissistic hypochondria of those who find it easier to despair of not being
like Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564 a. d.) rather than promote his skills.
Some of those us who descend from immigrants who wanted to forget South-Italian
depressed conditions of the past contributed not only hard work and skills, but
also a creative progeny that contribute to our progress not less than any other
ethnic group.
Yet, just because anyone in U.S.A. is free to absorb and adopt any cultural
American compatible background, being just ethnically Italian is like riding on
a dead horse.
Finally, I could mention a language development by "osmosis".
I married my German wife in 1951 in Heidelberg, Germany. We had one son in Italy
(1952), one more in
Venezuela (1954), where they absorbed "daycare Spanish" and then German with us
parents at home.
In 1955, we migrated to Chicago to stay.
There and in Elgin, IL, we had 5 more children. English became my full-fledged
8th language (after Latin, Greek, Italian, German, French, Spanish. Portuguese)
and my wife's fourth, after German, Italian and Spanish, while our children -as
they grew- spoke German and Italian in alternative groups of days at home.
They were immersed in English at school, TV, play,. with friends, neighbors etc.
As a result, we became a fluently trilingual family.
After a puzzling divorce that I cannot explain here, I married an American
divorcee with 2 beautiful little daughters. All 3 spoke only English.
Within 2 years or less, we were 3 adults and 9 children all fluent in English,
German and Italian... All by "osmosis"...
================================================================================================
THE TROUBLE WITH NON ITALIANS
Some politician's disparaging opinions of Italy were their problems, not
Italy's.
After all, they were no cultural giants.
Telling them what great admirers of Italy Thomas Jefferson and other truly great
Americans were wouldn't help, even with historical evidence. They are exhorted
to research it.
My friend who came back from Italy laughing at the Italian "imitation of the
American pizza" and at the Italian "ridiculous pronunciation" of "North
Cahroleenah" was unable to believe that pizza came from Naples, Italy, as well
as the name Carolina is an originally Italian name, pronounced "Cahroleenah".
The Italian calendar and "non-circumcision" (as in the rest of Europe) are other
Italian "oddities" for chauvinistic American tourists.
The Italian calendar comes from Roman and early Christian tradition. The first 5
days are named from Roman mythology: Lunedi (from" luna", the moon), Martedi
(from "Mars"), Mercoledi ( Mercur), Giovedi ("Jupiter)), Venerdi (Venus), Sabato,
from the Jewish Sabbath, and Domenica from Dominus (Lord), as day of the Lord,
to go to Church.
The American week starts with the Sunday. Yet, Sunday is the end of the
Christian, Roman and American week: the seventh day the Lord has chosen to rest.
In a country where all opinions were free, the religious leaders of the
English-speaking and Protestant agenda which had started hardly a couple of
centuries before, the preponderant Pilgrim zealotry felt compelled to eliminate
any hospitality to Catholic theology and customs, especially because t the
Catholics had over 1500 years more history, solid theological foundations,
traditions, and experience in their favor. Moreover , in.,1527 (only 10 years
after Martin Luther merely announced his first "Protest" in 1517, even before
the Protestant Church was "installed", a Satanic horde of countless thousands of
German fanatics suddenly invaded the unsuspecting city and population of Rome
and perpetrated the worst atrocious massacres in history, (STILL NOW CAREFULLY
KEPT AWAY FROM PUBLIC AWARENESS) the "Eternal City" or other big city ever
experienced before and thereafter , later known with a relatively euphemistic
(but horrendous) designation:
"SACK OF ROME",
as the capital of Catholicism and of the ancient Roman empire (the resentful
psychological (Anglo-Saxon/Protestant complex is still there) bestial murders,
mass rapes of young and old, sadistic tortures and burning alive of entire
families and groups, massacres of thousands and thousands of innocents, from
babies to any age even cannibalism, just to show their contempt and hatred
Satanic organized infamy IN THE NAME 0F G0D was the perfect start of an
enormously elaborate and carefully disguised national and international guilt
complex
In a psychological "complex", one refuses to see his own guilt and hides it even
from his own consciousness, and covers it up with opposite feelings, to a point
that he believes to being the virtuous victim of his victims, and must condemn
them in an obsessively righteous way.
In our midst, therefore, the Catholics and the Italians (and "Latinos" become
perfect target of demonizing and discrimination. ---
Why else such hidden and unreasonable need to downgrade everything directly or
indirectly connected with Italy, Rome and Catholic nations and groups, and other
Latin-derived cultures. And ?
Why an almost knee-jerk reaction thinking of circus gladiators, anti-Christian
persecutions, slavery and cruel emperors at the very mention of Rome, when those
were typical of those centuries and in a greatly more humane and sophisticate
form than in other countries? Why no mention is made of the fact -unique in
history-, that the Roman built more cities, at home and abroad, international
roads and public works than all the comparable nations together, than anyone
else, anywhere, from the British islands to North Africa, from the Atlantic
African and sts and all the whole Mediterranean area to the Middle East, where
literally thousands of great cities now still standing and growing, including
Paris, London, Frankfurt, Venice, and many many more and countless public
works..
Slavery was common all over the world, but only Rome made free Roman citizens of
inhabitants of the foreign countries and territories as they were occupied and
developed. Other empire-building nations did nothing comparable
The British started toward that goal, but it didn't go far at all...
Their empire did not succeed and last like Rome by far
From here to mentioning the countless examples of deliberate, often
subconscious, ways to contrive and cultivate habits, methods, theories, actions
and atmospheres hostile and damaging to Italians and Catholics.
That explains the incredibly successful hiding of such historical injustice ( to
put it mildly).
American reluctance to accept the obvious advantages of the International Metric
System of Measurements and many other nationally and internationally adopted
improvements is now beyond discussion, and will cause U.S.A.. decisive settbacks
which in virtually endless ways staggers the imagination
To be Italian, rather than just birth or genes, one needs the uniique depth and
complexity of a "style" developed in nearly 3000 years of unique evolution that
should be nurtured beyond genetic possibilities.
With sincere devotion and interest, any one can do it.
It sounds like a corny statement applying to any ethnic environment. But the
Italian environment contains almost 3ooo years of continuous development in
virtually all fields of human progress and prominence.
It is an intricate and devoted learning process that offers its reward more in
essence than status.
More than the knowledge or memory
of the Italian achievements, the inspiration coming from them with a sense of
proud sharing
History will bear it, not the ephemeral neighborhood festival.
One cannot be truly Italian by wishful thinking anymore than learning
self-surgery from a do-it-yourself manual.
Therefore the do-it-yourself Italians fizzle.
As to circumcision, it is simply a Semitic (Jewish and Arabian) custom
arbitrarily imposed on the American public without any serious or valid reason.
Medical science doesn't see in it more than another fee to be charged.
Several American anti-circumcision groups (check in the Internet) are now
increasing their activity against this medical oddity.
Then, there is the new Columbus matter.
In 2006, the Columbus Day celebration was ignored or cancelled in some or
several American cities .
Reason: the alleged atrocities by ed by Columbus against the Indians
First, it was and is a false accusation. Hisrorical records show that it is
nonsense.
Second, the Indians knew neither horses, nor wheel, nor houses before Columbus
(Italian: Cristoforo Colombo) landed with a Spanish crew in the area where the
Caribbean cannibals lived. There were also other native cannibals, from inland
to the American Pacific coast.
Did I just hit a wasp nest ready to accuse me of badmouthing the Indians?
Mind you, it is not the Indians wno would go up in arms to defend the Indian
honor ( and why would the Indians bother to take my side?).
Did Columbus also teach the Indians hoe to practice human sacrifice and tear the
still pulsating heart from the cut open chest of their victims.
"But it was a religious ritual!".
Then, everything is OK
=========================
LANGUAGE AND OTHER MATTERS
The English language (just a few centuries old) uses the almost 3,000 -year old
Roman/Italian/Latin alphabet, also used in French, Spanish, German, and many
other languages.
For local reasons, the English vocals spelling and pronunciation underwent
uncontrolled irrational changes that the widely sparse British and American
population was too unfocused to prevent.
This is too hard to explain in written English.
Our vowels are A, E, I, O, U, Y (a quasi-vowel). kkk
The following list shows each vowel marked within parenthesis "(..)"_when it is
pronounced in the original Roman/Italian/international rules in the words here
written after the "=" in the following list:
a=(a)rt or cart
e=n(e)t or bet
i=p(i)zza or meet
o=r(o)be or cope
u=t(u)ne or dune
y=(y)acht or myth ***/
each row starting with one of the above listed 6 vowels, (e.g. "a" followed by
its Italian pronounced "(a)" [like "a" in the English word "art"] as shown in
"a: (a)rt" (the parenthesis on the vowel "a" is only to recall the Italian
pronunciation of the vowel as in the word "art").
For a related examp;e, let.s take the 3 words:
a, correctly pronounced "|(a)m(e)r(i)c(a)", "(I)t(a)l(i), Yet, according to the
English alphabet pronunciation, but IItalian spelling of that very English
kkk pronunciation: imiraikei; aiteiluai, rascia: or using the above list of English in italian
parenthesis:
"(e)(i)m(i)r(a)(i)k(e)(i)", "(a)(i)t(e)(i)l(u)(a)(i)"
"r(a)sh(a)"...
English but pronounced and spelled in Italian spelled but English pronounced
WRITTEN IN ENGLISH: EIMIRAIKEI, AITEILUAI, and RUSCIAIEI.
[Forget the mistyping of a blind man...]
The original Roman and international pronunciation is above isolated in a
parenthesis in an underlined word: like "(a))", as the underlined (a) of "art"
shown above.
Thus, the international rendition of the vowel pronunciation of the above shown
words is typed to show its original correct pronunciation is currently used).
To make it shorter, and using the capitals only for vowels with the original
pronunciation, we can show that AmErIicA and ItAlY are pronounced in the
original fashion, not EImIrAIkEI and AItEIlUAI, as the alphabet spelling would
suggest.
Confusing? Certainly. Just read again... and again...
Start living in NonAmerica and start learning English as your eighth language at
age 31, as it happened to me in 1955, and it will need no explanation
Just to repeat it in other words and style, for readers less smart then you:
The original pronunciation of the Roman vowels was established as follows: A: as
in "car"; E: as in "get", or "gender"; I: as in "flee" or "sheep"; O: as in
"bone"; U:
as in "loom".
This pronunciation of the Roman alphabet is mostly used internationally.
In Italian, each vowel maintains its original individual pronunciation remains
unchanged also when next to, or combined with, other vowels (which is not always
true in other languages).
Most non-English languages in the Western World respect the above phonetic rule
as much as practical.
For instance, Spanish writes "baseball" as "beisbol" in order to retain the
English pronunciation in Spanish; otherwise they would pronounce it "bahsehbahl",
according to original (non English) pronunciation of "a" and "e".
Accordingly, they would write "Kerolaina" for reproducing in Spanish the English
pronunciation of Carolina; "fait" for fight, "leit" for late; "grin" for green;
"bed" for bad; "bum" for boom; as anyone would do anywhere else in continental
Europe and in most of the world.
The most striking phonetic English distortion is in the "i", which was (and is
worldwide) the vowel with the sound of "ee" in "flee".
Then, the word "flee" should be written "fli", and the English sound for "I"
should be written "Ai"
The English-distorted vowel spelling caused original words written with "i" to
be adopted with the same vowel, but the pronunciation was arbitrarily changed to
"ai" because the average reader lacked the appropriate linguistic information.
It sounds complicated only because the average English speaking people are not
aware of the mess involved.
That phonetic mess is unfortunate, because English is nevertheless an extremely
rich, versatile and powerful language, and the easiest one to learn, except for
spelling.
English verbs are a masterpiece of simplicity coupled with unmatched power and
versatility.
The "international", or Italian (with very slight modifications) pronunciation
and spelling, by the way, would benefit international understanding, computer
design and most technical requirements remarkably better than mow. It would also
make the formulation and learning of English spelling and pronunciation
radically easier for children and foreigners.
For the above and many other reasons, we suffered a severe cultural loss when
the study of Latin was abandoned in American public education.
*/*/*/*/*/
The emasculation of history knowledge by submerging it into "social studies" was
another blow to American culture that is as crippling as it is unnoticed by the
"general public".
It would suffice to mention the virtual total unawareness the American general
public (including the politicians, lawyers, the press, Hollywood, the legal
experts and the "common person" the enormous debt we all owe to the Roman
jurisprudence, laws and legislation.
It started in about 450 b. c. with the Roman Law iniial code carved in the
Twelve Tables in the "Forum Romanum" and was continuously developed through the
"Corpus Juris Civilis" (534 a.d.), in many thousands of treatises and "digests'
(cfr. the Roman Bizantine emperor Justinian, 527-565 a.d.), encompassing the
civil, criminal, commercial, military, , international, and all aspects of life
(the Roman colonies were slowly transformed into Roman provinces, where every
resident was a Roman citizen, all over Europe, North Africa, from the Atlantic
Ocean to the middle East)...
Such cultural-juridical evolution never stopped and became the foundation of the
ensuing public and legislative culture of the Western World (to put it in these
few words...).
That explains, just for instance, the countless Latin and Italian words in our
legal, commercial, political, banking, accounting, financial, military, medical,
scientific, religious and other fields...
When J. F. Kennedy (1917-1963 A.D.) was campaigning for the presidency in 1960,
I heard some Americans expressing their fear that the Catholic Kennedy would
deliver America to the Italian pope and that the American Catholics would then
be ready to use the weapons hidden under American CAtholic churches for the
Italian/Catholic take-over...
Italian soldiers of WW 2 (1939-1945 A.D.)? I was there.
I was one of the very few I knew who didn't have relatives in USA.
I didn't know any Italian who seriously disliked USA, enough to fight them, let
alone die to fight them.
Why in the world would I shoot an American or he me?
Then, in the underground, we suspected the comrades who talked of fighting for
USA, Germany or Russia, even ready to risk their life for the "cause". "They
sound like a Mussolini in reverse".
The Italian underground fought to be left alone, not to die for some ideal that
was bound to be reversed after we left our women and children without us.
Let other nations marginalize Italy: they still need to be around for almost
another 30 productive centuries before comparing with Italy..., which is already
that "old" and still gaining more evolution...
When the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (56-120 a. d.) extolled the warlike
virtues (for no other reason other than the love of war, regardless of right or
wrong) of the Germans against the Roman "decadence" of 20 centuries ago, he
uncovered "la dolce vita" (="sweet life") of the time, but not its meaning.
In the 20th century, Luigi Barzini's wit uncovered another aspect: "the Italians
live on a stage". Interesting, but the reality lies deeper.
He should have expanded on the family stage.
The fact that Italy has "over 40% of the world's art treasures" could almost
redeem some kind of "dolce vita" on the stage.
On the surface.
Some of the ( likely THE) greatest generals/statesmen in history were two
Italians: Julius Caesar (100-44 b. c..) and Napoleone Buonaparte (1769-1821 a.
d.; naturalized French in his later youth).
Their military genius was immortal.
The greatness of both as legislators and statesmen was probably even greater,
but less known by the populace. Compared to them, Alexander the Great (356-323
B.C.) was a short-lived phenomenon who attacked, destroyed and killed unprepared
peoples in Asia and North Africa, but did not civilize or help them
significantly, if at all.
When he conquered any nation (starting with Persia, now called Iran), his
soldiers had to live from the locally conquered resources, which had to be taken
from the local inhabitants, with consequent local suffering, if not massacres
and enslaving.
The Romans civilized and built virtually everywhere they conquered.
The Roman soldiers were also road- and construction- workers. Their armies
always had various colonization, supply and administration specialists.
Alexander's 10-year old empire disintegrated almost immediately upon his death
in 323 B.C.
What Caesar (100-44 B.C.) and Napoleon (1769-1821 A.D.) built culturally and
legislatively is still alive and operating today, albeit evolved to fit local
customs in their time.
What is said against them is only historic gossip by ethnically-biased cultural
illiterates.
What then about the Italian military failures of recent decades?
Isn't it true that Italy became a liability to Germany, rather than an ally?
May be (and fortunately so), but Germany's ally was Benito Mussolini (1883-1945
A.D.), not Italy.
Italy first cooperated, as long as Mussolini offered progress, peace, law and
order. When the moment came, for any Italian, to put his life on the balance for
something unfit for them , the existentialistic question arose: what is worth
killing and dying for?
No convincing explanation was available...
The cultural roots of "modern Italy" started with "Humanism" (focusing culture
more on "human" rather than only heavenly subjects, as in the "Dark Ages"); but
Humanism did not mean atheism, as some believe now, the intellectual Medieval
phenomenon born in Italy, which unfolded into the Renaissance (especially with
the "city-republics" like Florence, Pisa, Siena, Bologna, Milano, Venezia,
Genova, Napoli, and many more) and spread throughout Europe, to create the
Western Culture...
Until the Crusades (11th to 13th century a. d.), the previous Roman Pagan Europe
had long become the Roman Christian Europe, in which all was centered on God,
Jesus and the reward after death.
Art, music, literature, philosophy and everything else was focused only on
religious matters and images.
On this subject, the Italian Dante Alighieri (1265-1321 a.d.) composed the "Divina
Commedia" (Divine Comedy, that is: "divine drama with happy ending", describing
an imaginary voyage through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) which scholars of all
significant cultures (not only his contemporaries, but also W. B. Yeats, James
Joyce, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Henry James and many others, who pronounced
Dante "the greatest of literary artists") have defined "the greatest epic poem
ever composed by any one from anywhere and any time", including Homer,
Shakespeare and Goethe.
Dante is not read as much as Shakespeare, Homer, Goethe and other famous
literary giants because he wrote on an intellectual level and with many
converging literal, intellectual, allegorical, theological, historical and
philosophical meanings that may require more scholarly sophistication.
After the 13th century, Italian philosophers, painters, musicians, sculptors,
legislators, politicians and other influential people began to focus and work on
human matters during our life (=Humanism").
The Roman Catholic Church herself accepted the trend toward human rather than
exclusively divine subjects in artistic representations, literature, philosophy,
painting, sculpture, architecture, music and daily life.
Great writings and works of art were brought back to life from Roman and Greek
-as well as Moslem- past after the 6th century a. d.-, and man returned to the
center of the human stage: rather than (or in addition to) the after-life,
Earthly life became the life-as-it-is: alternative focus of man's attention,
while alive.
The unprecedented cultural creativity of this new approach produced the
Renaissance and the Western Culture.
The Roman tradition was further evolved and renewed, also thanks to Florence,
Venice, and many other city-republics, which would deserve (and produced)
volumes to describe.
Italy and the rest of the Western World entered the new era with simultaneously
diverging and merging consequences.
For the Italians, reality became centered on each living individual, as if each
life were a temporary and relative center of existence.
This followed the pattern of philosophical evolution, in which no system of
thought would be taken seriously enough to become an exclusive central faith.
Italian Catholicism became more tolerant, even if self-criticizing.
Martin Luther's objections against the Catholic church were really old hat in
Italy, but they were not yet considered immediately curable, as history proved
(still now...). ***/
Non-Italians took matters much more urgently, with a blend of humanity and
religion that was prone to excesses like fanaticism.
Indeed, non-Italian atrocities in a monstrous scale soon materialized in the
unprovoked "Sack of Rome" in 1527, worse than they had done in the Crusades in
the 11th-13th centuries or, later, in the "30 year War" (1618 1648 A.D.) in
Northern Europe, where both local Catholics and Protestants perpetrated
genocide, cannibalism, massacres, rapes in colossal scale and killed at least
one third of the population of Central and North Europe..., all "in the name of
God", Bible in hand.
Italians had no part in all of the above, in spite of being then the cultural
center ot Europe.
One of the reasons why the Italians have no history of large scale atrocities
may well be (with or without tongue in cheek) that it is typically Italian not
to take too much too seriously to be as efficient as the Nazis or other
"Utopians" in execu-ting large atrocities .
Why does Italian history show none of the gigantic genocides, massacres and
sustained methodic butcheries of people by the thousands and millions?
If any, they appear to be small-scale phenomena of temporary insanity, soon
remedied by the Italian aversion against persisting in cold or hot excesses of
either good or evil.
Even Mussolini couldn't participate in the massacres of the Jews.
The disparaging mention some care to make of the "Condottieri", the famous
Italian mercenary war professionals in the Middle Ages, neglects the reality
that those mercenaries became famous because they were the best professional
warriors of the time.
Many more bands and armies were available from other countries, but they were
avoided because of ineptness, treacherousness, and gruesome tendency to massacre
innocents.
History simply (and conveniently) forgot them.
Not many people in U.S.A. know about such historical events, whereas virtually
every American knows plenty about blown-up Italian trivia like Lucrezia Borgia
(1480-1519 A.D.), popes with concubines, the Mafia, the gladiators and the Roman
anti Christian persecutions.
One tragic truth of American education is that real history has been absorbed
and homogenized into "social studies" in the public schools.
Their history is apparently only interested in glorifying "minorities", native
Americans and other "disadvantaged" persons at the expense of theAngloSaxon
whites.
History shows abundant evidence that other peoples had many more and worse "Lucrezia
Borgias", many kings and emperors had more concubines in one generation than
popes and Italian leaders in centuries.
The Mafia was more notorious, but not worse than the other crime organizations
in U.S.A. and elsewhere.
Ironically, Las Vegas claims to owe its success to the Mafia Does that show how
truth can be manipulated with votes or public relations
The Roman gladiators were by far better off than other condemned captives of the
time in other countries.
In those times, it was a widespread practice -in Europe and elsewhere- to give
death-condemned criminals and captured enemies a chance to fight as gladiators
to escape execution.
The ubiquitous Roman legal code included also regulation of such matters.
Many in today's death rows would not mind such an alternative...
As to the Christian persecutions by the Pagans, they were insignificant compared
to the persecutions of the Pagans by the Christians.
History has all the statistics we need about it.
On the other hand, it was Rome and Italy that made possible the establishment
and spreading of Christianity in mankind.
It is history.
We should not waste our time with articles and speeches in unneeded apologies to
the Italians, when they are slandered by non Italians.
What is really needed is to enlighten the non-Italians.
And the Italian Americans, who learned the anti Italian interpretations in the
public schools.
And those who think history started with the Pilgrims, and some foggy Biblical
notions before Cristoforo Colombo discovered America.
And those who think their cause will prevail if they disparage the Italians.
I would suggest the Italian creativity, cultural sophistication for survival and
evolution as an inspiration for other nations..
***********************************************
=========================================================================================================================
GREECE, ROME, U.S.A.
As they were surrounded by the overwhelming Catholic religion and culture, most
of the first Protestants chose to rid themselves of as much Catholic, Roman and
Italian history, traditions, theology and philosophy as possible.
They could surely use the Jewish background from the Bible, but it was not
enough.
The task would have been almost impossible if the ancient Greek cultural
tradition had not been available, with its literature, mythology, art,
sculpture, architecture, poetry, theatre and politics.
It is most significant that the Greek culture would have been almost forgotten
history after the second century b. c., if it had not been preserved by the Romans
and later also by the Arabs (Averrhoes, 1126-1198 a. d.)/
Drawing from the Greek culture without appropriate delving into Greek history,
however, produced some problems that are not so pleasant.
First, the Greek passion for democracy and individualism was too good to miss.
However, Greek democracy was intertwined with slavery and "ochlocracy" (rule by
the mob mediocrity) and contaminated with numerous embarrassments that the
Romans mostly overcame with their "res publica" (republic = rule of the public
law) formula already in the 6th century b. c. , after rejecting a series of
Roman and Etruscan kings.
As to "individualism", it also was a mixed blessing, because of the Greek
concept of individual as produced by the local education, laws and training.
But the Greek culture started with a custom that imparted a lifetime
disadvantage to every newborn:
In the Greek city of Sparta (the militarily strongest), since about the 9th
century b. c., the father of a newborn brought the child to the town elders for
their approval.
If they did not accept him/her, the child was abandoned to die.
The father could do nothing about it.
Nor could he provide a dwelling or any property for his children.
That made the father and biologic family or any man virtually insignificant.
In other Greek cities, it was not so drastic, but their systems marginalized the
family in favor of the individual or "democracy" (let alone the incongruity of
family members electing or deposing their parents, children, siblings...).
Moreover, the Greek custom of pederasty (homosexual activity between man and
boy) consisted of sons swapping among fathers...
This was caused by the Spartan lifestyle that chose what we would call the
"gang" or "team" lifestyle rather than the family's.
The family, in fact, was considered dangerously divisive for a village or city
that needed security against enemies.
All children, therefore, were removed from their biological family and placed in
a commune of unrelated adult men who would raise them to become killers and
warriors ready to die for Sparta.
That was the end of the family and paternal authority.
That system is believed to have destroyed the Greek culture.
Actually, even if individualism inspired art, culture and philosophy, progress
was corrupted by the sophistic philosophy, which suffocated any development in
cynical relativism.
A similar corruption of our present morality and philosophy is being perpetrated
by today's "deconstructionalism" , which sees morality and cultural atters
simply as arbitrary "constructs" of our society, where "virtue" and "vice", like
"true" and "false" have become just debatable opinions. Today, legality is
becoming stronger than morality, and thus can destroy our nation.
In primordial Rome (about 8-9 centuries b. c ), the mother of a newborn placed
him/her on the floor in front of her husband (not of unrelated elders), so that
he would accept or abandon the child.
This initial system was pretty harsh too, but it offered a night-and-day
difference: the father was the undisputable authority on which the family and
society could rely.
Being a good father was immensely more than just a matter of opinion.
I was 10 years old when I was told of this historical fact.
I knew that it was over 27 (...or so) centuries old, but I felt the warmest
swell of pride and gratitude toward my forefathers, together with the awareness
that "Pater Familias" ( family father) was the venerable person endowed with a
"Patria Potestas" (father's power)power of a father) that made his decision almost sacred,
indisputable....
Romans were required to honor values far more than speculations.
It was not diminished by the free individual right to oppose anyone or anything,
as it was usual in a Greek "demos" (township or community).
Rome's harmonious combination of "family" and "fatherland" was not only a
first-in-history, but it lasted longer than any other "empire" because of the
correlated respect for the family and the state, for the ruler and the
community, for the father whose dignity and power were nor marginalized by
unnecessary social conflicts.
But what if...?
Well, Rome and Italy were fortunate or culturally wise enough to endure those
plagues and oversimplified social experiments that destroyed other cultures..
Consistently longer than any other culture, and without the stagnation or decay
that afflicted other nations before.....
No opinions can change historical truths.
The parallels and similarities between Rome and USA are nothing less than
impressive:
- Both were started by immigrants into a vastly under populated land,
- Both depended on intensive, almost indiscriminate further immigration.
- Both separated state and religion (on due time preached by Jesus, whose
message the Romans spread first worldwide).
- Both welcome and assimilate into integrated citizenship as many immigrants as
possible, from all countries and religions.
- Nowhere else this concept succeeded as well as in Rome and -hopefully - in
USA-.
Many books have already confirmed the parallel between Rome and America.
======================
Some anomalies and notorious abominations are trying to rise to the first plane
of national interest, as in any democracy.
I f they succeed, America may simply fail, like many other cultures before.
- One disturbing factor is the present shrinking population in Italy, together
with the zero-percent birth rate overall in Europe.
The apparent sliding toward European decay has generally been facilitated by a
shrinking reproduction rate, as it is happening now (2004) in Italy. The
dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945 ) increased Italy's p
-
- pulation greatly when he was in power (1922-1943), by decreeing tax-free
families with 6 or more children).
According to historical precedents, Italy should rebound.
In the present menacing "3rd world war", however, the general scenario may defy
any nightmarish description.
******************************************************************************************************************
Finally, I could mention a language scenario with "osmosis".
I married my German wife in 1951 in Heidelberg. Germany.
We generated one son in Italy (1952), one more in
Venezuela (1954), where he absorbed adult and "daycare Spanish" and then German
home with us at home. In 1955, we emigrated to Chicago to stay. There we landed
June 30 on 63rd Street, which hat a big Sears store across the street to buy
winter clothing; our 3-year3-year old Andres (still tropical-dressed) cried,
while crossing from the train: "Que pasa? ME DUELE EN TODO EL CUERPo!" He didn't
know what cold was...
There and in Elgin, IL, we had 5 more children: 4 boys and 3 girls total: all
beautiful and healthy. English became my full-fledged 8th language (after Latin,
Greek, Italian, German, French, Spanish. Portuguese) and my wife's fourth, after
German, Italian and Spanish, while our children spoke German and Italian in
alternative groups of days at home.
They were immersed in English at school, TV, play, with friends, etc.
As a result, we became a really fluently trilingual family.
After a puzzling divorce that I cannot explain here, I married a beautiful
divorcee with 2 beautiful little daughters. All 3 spoke only English.
Within 2 years or less, we were 3 adults and 9 children all correctly fluent in
English, German and Italian... All by "osmosis": with loving in persistence in
that effortless multilingual bonanza...
======================================================================================================
GREECE, ROME, U.S.A.
As they were surrounded by the overwhelming Catholic religion and culture, most
of the first Protestants chose to rid themselves as much as possible of
Catholic, Roman and Italian history, traditions, theology and philosophy, no
matter how good or bad.
They could surely use the Jewish background from the Bible, but it was not
enough.
The task would have been almost impossible if the ancient Greek cultural
tradition had not been available, with its literature, mythology, art,
sculpture, architecture, poetry, theatre and politics.
It is most significant that the Greek culture would have been virtually
forgotten history after the 4th century b. c., if it had not been preserved by
the Romans and later also by the Arabs (Averrhoes, 1126-1198 a. d.)
Drawing from the Greek culture without appropriate delving into Greek history,
however, produced some problems that are not so pleasant.
First, the Greek passion for democracy and individual-lism was too good to miss.
However, Greek democracy was intertwined with slavery and "ochlocracy" (rule by
mediocrity) and contaminated with numerous embarrassments that the Romans mostly
overcame with their "res publica" (republic: rule of the public law) formula
already in the 6th century b. c. , after Rome rejected a series of 7 Roman and
Etruscan kings.
As to "individualism", it also was a mixed blessing, because of the Greek
concept of individual as produced by the local education, laws and training.
Yet, the Greek culture started with a custom that imparted a lifetime
disadvantage to every newborn:
In the Greek city of Sparta (the militarily strongest), since about the 9th
century b. c., the father of a newborn brought the newborn child to the town
elders for their approval.
If they did not accept him/her, the child was abandoned to die.
The father could do nothing about it.
Nor could he provide a dwelling or any property for his children who were raused
by the community.
That made the father and biologic family or any man virtually irrelevant.
In other Greek cities, it was not so drastic, but their systems still
marginalized the family in favor of the individual or "democracy" (let alone the
incongruity of family members electing or deposing their parents, children,
siblings...).
Moreover, the Greek custom of pederasty (homosexual activity between man and
boy) consisted of sons swapping among fathers...
This was caused by the Spartan lifestyle that chose what we would call the
"gang" or "team" lifestyle rather than the family's.
The family, in fact, was considered dangerously divisive for a village or city
that needed security against enemies.
All children, therefore, were removed from their biological family and placed in
a commune of unrelated adult men who would raise the boys to become killers and
warriors, ready to die for Sparta.
That was the end of the family and paternal authority.
That system is believed to have destroyed the Greek culture.
Actually, even if individualism inspired art, culture and philosophy, progress
was corrupted by the sophistic philosophy, which suffocated any development in
cynical relativism.
A similar corruption of our present morality and philosophy is being perpetrated
by today's "deconstructionism" , which sees morality and cultural matters simply
as arbitrary "constructs" of our society, where "virtue" and "vice", like "true"
and "false", have become just debatable opinions.
Today, legality is becoming stronger than morality, and thus can destroy our
nation.
In primordial Rome (about 8 centuries b. c ), the mother of a newborn placed
him/her on the floor in front of her husband (instead of unrelated elders), so
that he would accept or abandon his own child.
This initial system was pretty harsh too, but it offered a night-and-day
difference: the father was the undisputable authority on which the family and
society could rely.
Being a good father was immensely more than just a matter of opinion.
I was about 10 years old when I was told of this historical fact.
I knew that it was over 27 (...or so) centuries old, but I felt the warmest
swell of pride and gratitude toward my father and forefathers, together with the
awareness that "Pater Familias" ( family father) was the venerable person
endowed with a "Patria Potestas" (father's power ) that made his decision
almost sacred, indisputable....
Romans were required to honor values more than speculations.
That was not diminished by the free individual right to oppose anyone or
anything, as it was usual in a Greek "demos" (township or community).
Rome's harmonious combination of "family" and "fatherland" was not only a
first-in-history, but it lasted longer than any other "empire" because of the
correlated respect for the family and the state, for the ruler, mother and the
community, for the father whose dignity and power were not marginalized by
unnecessary social conflicts.
[And woman?
She makes everything possible with mutually devoted symbiosis with man. This
subject alone is worth many books].
Rome and Italy were fortunate or wise enough to endure those plagues and
oversimplified social experiments that destroyed other cultures.
Consistently longer than any other culture, and without the stagnation or decay
that afflicted other nations before.....
No opinions can change historical truths.
The parallels and similarities between Rome and USA are nothing less than
impressive:
- Both were started by immigrants into a vastly under populated land,
- Both depended on intensive, almost indiscriminate further immigration.
- Both separated state and religion (on due time preached by Jesus, whose
message: "to God what is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's"; and the Romans
spread first worldwide).
- Both welcome and assimilate into integrated citizenship as many immigrants as
possible, from all countries and religions.
- Nowhere else this concept succeeded as well as in Rome and -hopefully - in
USA-.
Much has already been written confirmed the parallel between Rome and America.
======================
Some anomalies and nefarious abominations are trying to rise to the first plane
of national interest, disguised as alluring temptations in any democracy.
I f they succeed, America may simply fade away, like many other cultures before,
or be just as simply destroyed, with the history written by the conqueror, as
the ultimate insult added to the tragedy.
- One disturbing factor is the present shrinking population in many society like
Italy, together with the zero-percent birth rate overall in Europe.
The apparent sliding toward European decay has generally been facilitated by a
shrinking reproduction rate, as it is happening now (2004). The dictator Benito
Mussolini (1883-1945) increased Italy's population greatly, while he was in
power (1922-1943), by decreeing tax-free status for families with 6 or more
children).
According to historical precedents, Italy should rebound.
In the present menacing "3rd world war", however, the general scenario may defy
any nightmarish description.
by John J. P. Caporaso
*************************************************
The city of Rome has been sacked on several occasions. Among the most famous: