Brothers, if you’re wondering why events feel like they are rapidly spinning out of control, understand that this is how things always look when great empires fall. We’ve simply gotten far too used to comfort and ease in our lives. And make no mistake, compared to the way things were in the not-all-that-distant-past, we have it VERY easy indeed.
Very few generations, ever, can lay claim to having witnessed two different empires fall. Ours will be among that select group. Within my lifetime, we have seen the Fall of the Soviet Union – with, as it happens, nary a shot fired – and we will almost surely live to see the Fall of the American Empire.
Unfortunately, the latter Fall will likely be bloody, brutal, and barbaric beyond our limited ability to comprehend.
That is not to say that every seismic shift in world history is necessarily all that traumatic. When the Western Roman Empire “fell” – it actually did nothing of the sort, by that point the “Roman” Empire wasn’t even really Roman anymore – the actual results of that “fall” were barely felt by the populace in general. The last “Roman” Emperor essentially stepped off the throne and ceded control of Rome’s territories to a man who had once been an officer in the shattered remnants of the Imperial military.
And honestly, that was about it. Most of the rest of the Empire outside of Ravenna, the Imperial capital at the time, barely noticed.
But it is worth asking what happened to Rome in the years between 120 AD, approximately the high-water mark of the empire itself, and 476 AD. How did Rome go from a city of roughly half a MILLION, that controlled most of the ancient world, and at its peak determined the fortunes of roughly one quarter of that world’s population, end up as a broken backwater town of less than 5,000 inhabitants where wolves roamed what was left of the Forum?!?!
It happened because the Romans lost track of what made them great in the first place.
They allowed for a vast gulf to emerge between their elites and their people. Then they permitted nearly unlimited immigration from barbarian nations into their own territory. They simultaneously embarked on empire-breaking wars of conquest and expansion, taking the Roman Way wherever they went. And they did an amazing job of that, no question – the entire reason why Western civilisation exists as a thing today, is because the Romans exported their engineering, laws, roads, and culture all over Europe.
But they forgot that empires destroy nations, by definition. And they forgot that, in order to sustain an empire, you need VAST amounts of military expenditure to make it work. To do that, you need to tax your productive base – or you need to print lots of money. And to do that, you will INEVITABLY impoverish the very people upon which your empire depends to keep everyone fed and warm.
Does any of this sound familiar or applicable to our current pickle? Yeah. I thought so.
The Western world is repeating, almost line for line, every single mistake made by its predecessors among the Romans. With a bit of luck, whatever is left of the shattered remnants of our civilisation will remember what idiots our predecessors were, and will avoid making those same mistakes, at least for a few generations.
For the hard truth is that, as bad as things appear to be right now, humanity never really learns. We are flawed, Fallen, and broken by nature, and as such we are condemned to keep doing the same old stupid shit until we finally pull our collective head out of our collective arse and point ourselves back to the Truth.
That day appears to be a long way off, and that may depress or dishearten you. I know it does me, from time to time.
Yet do not be troubled and let your hearts be light. As bad as things are right now, and despite the fact that they will get FAR worse, we should not give in to despair. For there is great opportunity in the coming crisis as well, as long as we keep ourselves pointed squarely at what is Good, Beautiful, and True.
Stick to that, and let the rest take care of itself. You must of course take reasonable risks and learn from your mistakes. But as long as you focus on doing what is true, and therefore right, then you have a much better chance of surviving the coming conflagarations.
But let us turn away from such weighty and terrible thoughts for a while. Indeed, focusing on that which is Good, Beautiful, and True, requires us to focus on the first two points as much as on the last one. And that which is Good and Beautiful in life is worth enjoying to its fullest. We are not here on Earth to live joyless and boring lives – we are here to enjoy the many wonders and bounties of our world, and to steward it as we can.
One of the surest expressions of that which is Good and Beautiful is, of course, music. And when it comes to good and beautiful music, few people do it better than the modern-day descendants of the very Romans that we referred to above – the Eyeties:
Another aspect of the Beautiful is, of course, the feminine form. And since it’s Friday, we ought to pay homage to that most wonderful aspect of our existence. So here is a lively specimen to allow us to do precisely that.
Her name is Belle Lucia, age 26, from Australia (aka “the world’s largest open-air prison”). She is of Portuguese and German heritage, and she’s rather above most of the Instathots that we display around here, for two reasons.
First, she is honest about the fact that she’s been… tweaked here and there. Specifically, she openly acknowledges that she had work done on her face to deal with chronic acne from her teenage years.
Second, and rather more importantly, she’s a mother in what appears to be a stable relationship. Technically her man hasn’t made an honest woman out of her yet, but she does have a baby boy and clearly relishes her role as a mother. Good for her, in all sincerity.
Happy Friday, gentlemen. Do not let the crises and troubles of the world get to you. Do not let them make you black-pilled. Above all, do not forget your duty to yourself, your family, and your nation as the days of crisis rapidly approach. There will be time enough for worry in the days ahead. For now, focus on that which matters, and let the rest take care of itself.
1 Comment
That’s a Dude. 😲