Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Fall of the American Empire?

Anon. pointed out that The Bubonic Plague could have been to blame for the fall of the Second Roman Empire.
Maybe...
H1N1, S.A.R.S., West Nile Virus, Anthrax - name it.
It would seem as though we are working on our own modern versions.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I once had a sociology profesor that said that most empires last only around 1,000 years, 500 going up and 500 coming down! Don't know how true it is, haven't researched it either, but, could be,so how old is America now?

uglyblackjohn said...

We may count as part of the second half of the British Empire.

SweetTea said...

It's good to see a mention of these health problems. We upper middle class white folks are way too relaxed - SARS only happens to poor Asians, H1N1 happens to poor Mexicans, Ebola happens to poor Africans..... right? Helloooooo MRSA! When hospitals become where you pick up deadly diseases, that's scary.

Constructive Feedback said...

UBJ:

The point that I am attempting to figure is: WHAT COMPETENCIES will your community have upon the fall opening up of the "belly" once the beast is dead like road kill and the International scavengers begin to feed on the rotting carcass - thus puncturing its stomach? You and all of the other contents will in spilling upon the ground?

Why is there a continued build up of dependency upon a declining source of entitlement?

uglyblackjohn said...

@ SweetTea - MRSA is an odd one.
MRSA is common because many of us have become overly-prosperous and overly hygenic.
When we've become so clean that we fail to build the proper immunities to our own environment - we have problems.

@ Ronald - Huh?
I'm not advocating the death of our empire - the ish seems to work for me.
I like living in America.
I like the options of fast food, fast cars and fast women.
I was just pointing out that we seem to be on a trajectory which will lead to our demise.
That many of our actions are excelerating the inevitable process.
But that most of these situations are actionable.

Constructive Feedback said...

[quote]I'm not advocating the death of our empire - the ish seems to work for me.[/quote]

UBJ:

You missed my point COMPLETELY.

It is NOT a matter of WHAT YOU WANT that will determine America's fate.

The preponderance of this nation's circumstance will do this.

I ASKED YOU - with this being the case WHAT HAVE YOU DONE to prepare yourself for this possibility which may become an inevitability?

Your "Fast Car" will still need fuel and paved roads for it to be of any use. If there are dead human carcasses lining the road due to anarchy will your car be of any use?

Those "Fast Women"? What if they have lost all of their fat and muscle cells that always seem to fall into the right place after they "jiggle" due to the starvation triggered by the collapse of our food supply channel?

What will you have done to mitigate your exposure to this?

uglyblackjohn said...

I have my farm in the sticks of Louisiana.
I've got a well, some livestock, crops and family all around me.
When the ish hits the fan, I'm going out to the country.