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How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

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Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#51

Post by nullindividual »

Jensson wrote: post #46
belval wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has the be the funniest trend to come out of Tiktok. My SO point blank asked me how many times I thought about the roman empire and I replied "I don't know, once or twice a week". Little does she know we get a post from acoup every week! Reference (for those out of the loop): https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/09/18/how-ofte...

Why do people think that is funny? Edit: Why downvote a genuine question? How else would I learn why people find that funny?

One might think that an individual who thinks about an empire that has been “dead” for nearly 1500 years is a bit strange. Why would anyone care about a dead empire, after all? The reason why it’s funny is because of how common people say they do think about the Roman empire (which for me is also quite often). It’s subverting expectations— you think no one thinks about the Empire— in reality, all of your family and neighbors do think about the Empire on a regular basis.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#52

Post by henrikschroder »

swasheck wrote: post #22
belval wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has the be the funniest trend to come out of Tiktok. My SO point blank asked me how many times I thought about the roman empire and I replied "I don't know, once or twice a week". Little does she know we get a post from acoup every week! Reference (for those out of the loop): https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/09/18/how-ofte...

my wife asked me and i said once per week. then she and my daughter cackled and asked me to repeat my answer and i knew i was about to become part of a trend so i refused. but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? people are coming up with theories about why this is the case but i'm not sure any of them resonate with me. i was always more of a greece person until i visite…

> but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are?

If you're in the US, how can you not be? It's everywhere! The fledgling US was desperately in need of authority and gravitas, so they essentially cosplayed as the inheritors of the ideals of Rome, and put that shit everywhere.

Why does Washington DC look the way it does? Why are there pillars and obelisks and domes and white marble everywhere? Why is there Latin on the money? Why does every US courthouse look like a Roman temple, and why is there a Roman goddess on it?

The trend is popular because it's laughing at men for being "nerdy", but I think it's sad how ignorant a lot of people in the US are for not knowing about or recognizing the absolutely enormous amounts of references to Rome that exists in modern US.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#53

Post by seanw444 »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #21
ulizzle wrote: post #17

I think I’m almost out of this illness. Still sweating the fever but no migraines Ive been reading a lot because that’s about the only thing I can do so I read the original Gallic wars from Julius Cesar and its funny because he’s painted like a bad guy today for becoming a dictator but the Senate was at that point so corrupt and inefficient and everyone hated it so he wasn’t the only one trying to get rid of democrac…

I recently read Rubicon by Tom Holland, and honestly I came away from that book feeling like it's Sulla, not Caesar, who truly deserves the blame for the downfall of the Republic. Like yeah, Caesar crossed the Rubicon, but that seal was broken decades earlier by Sulla. If Caesar hadn't done it, someone else would have because it was clear that there would be no real consequences as long as you could win the war. And…

This is the conclusion I've come to. Societal decay causes nations with even the most solid foundations to topple. There's really no way around it.

A phrase to summarize the phenomenon is: "Politics is downstream from culture."

We focus too much on slapping bandaids on society through increasing bloat of government and adding more laws to the pile, when the real root of the problem is our culture is falling apart. No amount of laws is going to fix that.

I parallel it to medications. You get one illness, so you get prescribed a medication. But then that medication causes an unusual reaction with your body, so you're given another medication to fix that one. But that medication has adverse effects when taken in conjunction with the first one, so now you need to take another medication to fix that... and it continues until you have a daily ritual of popping 20 pills to solve a trivial health condition.

The US is taking way too many medications, and not going on the proper diet to solve its health issues. That can be said both literally, and in the metaphorical sense.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#54

Post by bcherry »

Jensson wrote: post #46
belval wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has the be the funniest trend to come out of Tiktok. My SO point blank asked me how many times I thought about the roman empire and I replied "I don't know, once or twice a week". Little does she know we get a post from acoup every week! Reference (for those out of the loop): https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/09/18/how-ofte...

Why do people think that is funny? Edit: Why downvote a genuine question? How else would I learn why people find that funny?

For me, it's because it's true. I really do think about the roman empire all the time! and my wife couldn't believe it.

Most "trends" from TikTok are made up, stupid, fake, or highly exaggerated. This one is funny because it's actually kinda true for a LOT of people, and has nothing to do with TikTok.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#55

Post by henrikschroder »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #21
ulizzle wrote: post #17

I think I’m almost out of this illness. Still sweating the fever but no migraines Ive been reading a lot because that’s about the only thing I can do so I read the original Gallic wars from Julius Cesar and its funny because he’s painted like a bad guy today for becoming a dictator but the Senate was at that point so corrupt and inefficient and everyone hated it so he wasn’t the only one trying to get rid of democrac…

I recently read Rubicon by Tom Holland, and honestly I came away from that book feeling like it's Sulla, not Caesar, who truly deserves the blame for the downfall of the Republic. Like yeah, Caesar crossed the Rubicon, but that seal was broken decades earlier by Sulla. If Caesar hadn't done it, someone else would have because it was clear that there would be no real consequences as long as you could win the war. And…

> Rubicon by Tom Holland

I'm currently listening my way through The Rest Is History, the podcast he does with Dominic Sandbrook. Very entertaning, highly recommended!

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#56

Post by Keyframe »

seanw444 wrote: post #48
swasheck wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my wife asked me and i said once per week. then she and my daughter cackled and asked me to repeat my answer and i knew i was about to become part of a trend so i refused. but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? people are coming up with theories about why this is the case but i'm not sure any of them resonate with me. i was always more of a greece person until i visite…

My answer to my girlfriend was that I think about ancient Greece more often. Rome less. Greece was ahead of its time in philosophy and science. So many household names. Rome has a lot of political analogs to today though, which is what I find interesting about it.

Difference being Rome was an entity with government, military, etc. with which we can draw a lot of parallels to today, whereas Greece was more of a loose interconnection of cities that shape shifted over time. Both extremely interesting, of course.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#57

Post by lo_zamoyski »

henrikschroder wrote: post #52
swasheck wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my wife asked me and i said once per week. then she and my daughter cackled and asked me to repeat my answer and i knew i was about to become part of a trend so i refused. but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? people are coming up with theories about why this is the case but i'm not sure any of them resonate with me. i was always more of a greece person until i visite…

> but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? If you're in the US, how can you not be? It's everywhere! The fledgling US was desperately in need of authority and gravitas, so they essentially cosplayed as the inheritors of the ideals of Rome, and put that shit everywhere. Why does Washington DC look the way it does? Why are there pillars and obelisks and domes and white mar…

> Why does Washington DC look the way it does? Why are there pillars and obelisks and domes and white marble everywhere? Why is there Latin on the money? Why does every US courthouse look like a Roman temple, and why is there a Roman goddess on it?

This is all true for much or most of Europe, the West, and Western-affiliated countries. (Also, the marble in Rome, and Greece from whom the Romans took much of these styles) was generally painted, so not quite the austere white of DC.)

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#58

Post by Jensson »

bcherry wrote: post #54
Jensson wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people think that is funny? Edit: Why downvote a genuine question? How else would I learn why people find that funny?

For me, it's because it's true. I really do think about the roman empire all the time! and my wife couldn't believe it. Most "trends" from TikTok are made up, stupid, fake, or highly exaggerated. This one is funny because it's actually kinda true for a LOT of people, and has nothing to do with TikTok.

Is it really that strange that people think about the Roman empire when things related to it are all around us? Even the white house is built to look Roman. Not to mention all the documentaries and games that touches on Roman stuff.

If you ask men how often they think about different manufacturing processes you will probably get similar numbers, or even higher, for the same reason.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#59

Post by lo_zamoyski »

seanw444 wrote: post #48
swasheck wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my wife asked me and i said once per week. then she and my daughter cackled and asked me to repeat my answer and i knew i was about to become part of a trend so i refused. but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? people are coming up with theories about why this is the case but i'm not sure any of them resonate with me. i was always more of a greece person until i visite…

My answer to my girlfriend was that I think about ancient Greece more often. Rome less. Greece was ahead of its time in philosophy and science. So many household names. Rome has a lot of political analogs to today though, which is what I find interesting about it.

> Greece was ahead of its time in philosophy and science

And some would say that, philosophically, while we have the potential benefit of hindsight and therefore the opportunity to exceed the Greeks (you just need to crack open the right books), our typical modern, academic philosophy, is in many ways, inferior to it.

Re: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate

#60

Post by mattmanser »

henrikschroder wrote: post #52
swasheck wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my wife asked me and i said once per week. then she and my daughter cackled and asked me to repeat my answer and i knew i was about to become part of a trend so i refused. but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? people are coming up with theories about why this is the case but i'm not sure any of them resonate with me. i was always more of a greece person until i visite…

> but isn't it fascinating how truly interested in the roman republic and emopire we are? If you're in the US, how can you not be? It's everywhere! The fledgling US was desperately in need of authority and gravitas, so they essentially cosplayed as the inheritors of the ideals of Rome, and put that shit everywhere. Why does Washington DC look the way it does? Why are there pillars and obelisks and domes and white mar…

It is not a US thing.

Europeans also have Latin on our money too. Our alphabet is the Latin alphabet.

They were still teaching primarily IN Latin at universities around the war of independence. Yes, you read that right, you spoke and read Latin as your primary learning language. The American universities copied the practice from their home countries.

Until the 1960s in the UK you had to know Latin to learn Medicine or Law. It was still taught in many schools, and I think has been having a resurgence.

I was taught Latin at school.

The Americans didn't cunningly adopt it to lend themselves legitimacy. It's as simple as the European settlers brought it with them. It was the culture of European intellectuals.

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