We're at least as good as the "Roman" soccer team. Am I right? As you can see, we got royally robbed in that match and the author is still bitter about it.
Anyways, a recent New York Times bestseller has stirred up a little bit of a cultural debate, and that book is Cullen Murphy's "Are We Rome?" (I know it's supposed to be underlined, I have a mac and you can't change the font style, I blame this on Google). "Are We Rome?" is a metaphorical look at our culture compared to the ancient Romans', specifically our military and our paranoia concerning our borders. As it is only runs about 205 pages, it doesn't really discuss anything too deeply or overturn figurative boulders, it's a thought provoking subject, even if the book is grounded in more of a metaphorical basis, rather than a strict observation of facts and trends.
Britain was originally a Roman colony, conquered by Caesar, and set up in the Roman frame of mind. Is it possible that many of these Roman ways of life and prevalent political structure were reflected in the early roots of the British Empire? Absolutely. Time passes. Rome falls, too large to sustain as a democracy, and too turbulent at the top to be a republic. But, some of these ideals lived on in Britain. Enter America. The British, whose prominent writers emphasized the freedom of economic choice, "successfully" colonized America. So, if British culture was influenced by Rome, and American culture was influenced by the culture of the British, it is likely that some of these Roman cultural standards, in an indirect and diluted way, made their way accross the Atlantic.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is nobody is free from influence. Each independent society is not truly so; they are imprinted with the societies that made their own nation possible. Since I am not somebody who believes that man knew (by nature) exactly how to conduct oneself strictly by having a mind and a God-given set of moral standards, freedom of outside influence is impossible. So history is a dynamic process, impalpable, and difficult to describe without considering dozens of variables and factors. It's like in economics, or math, when you hold variables constant--you do these for the ease of the representation of the other factors you are trying to represent. Nothing is ever truly "constant."
I think this impacts what we are studying currently (specifically the Seven Years War and the Continental Congress) because there are a lot of viewpoints being represented in these debates/conflicts. America is becoming more and more of a class society, and the gaps between classes are growing, and people are beginning to loathe the underrepresentation--this representation is their right. They believe this for a reason.
So is America Rome? I don't believe so, but it's interesting to think of the influences that generated our nation. In America, we have many subsets of a larger culture that all need to be considered and not lumped together (like we talked about last week). However, it is also of great personal importance to know why I believe what I do and how that came to be. This is a large reason why many study history; to give their own lives some context.
4 comments:
We are not as good as the Italian soccer team. The US got hella lucky in that game and were fortunate to be on the same international football stage as a powerhouse like Italy. Although I agree American society has taken much from European culture and government, soccer is not one of those defining characteristics. ;)
but the result stands! (if I could envoke a Gob Bluth "C'mon!" here)
I believe that we do have a unique culture that is seperate from other influences. The amount to which our 1st amendment is used has never been realized in any culture as to the extent that freedom of speech is used in the United States. You not only have the right, you have to push the right, then defend it in the courts/media, then make a book and eventually a made-for-TV movie about it. Also, our culture is constantly evolving and changing and that is essentially our culture - change. We are constantly attempting to improve our society.
Good discussion Corban of what influences individuals and larger national cultures. You mention interest in history is in part to put one's life in context. This refers to earlier discussions we've had about what is taught in history - leaving out certain things while including others can also sway interpretation. What is our responsibility in educating and learning?
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