Below is an excerpt from a very old book, "The White Chief" by Captain Mayne Reid. It was published in 1885. Strangely enough, Captain Reid understood the concept of the "Bread and Circus show" used by tyrants as their empires begin to collapse. Compare this excerpt with the American Idol, Sunday Football extravaganzas of today. Is the American Empire in decline? Hopefully yes, for it was built on a lie. The American Empire has nothing to do with the greatness of the American people. We will survive, and we will thrive once more, once the monkey of Empire is off our backs. May that day be soon, is my fe
" A fondness for "fireworks" is a singular but sure characteristic of a declining nation. Give me the statistics of pyrotechnic powder burnt by a people, and I shall tell you the standard measure of their souls and bodies. If the figure be a maximum, then the physical and moral measure will be the minimum, for the ratio is inverse.
I stood in the Place de Concorde, and saw a whole nation--its rich and
its poor--gazing on one of these pitiful spectacles, got up for the purpose of duping them into contentment. It was the price paid them for parting with their liberty, as a child parts with a valuable gem for a few sugar-plums. They were gazing with a delight that seemed enthusiasm! I looked upon scrubby, stunted forms, a foot shorter than were their ancestors. I looked upon eyes that gleamed with demoralised thought.
These were the representatives of a once great people, and who still deem themselves the first of mankind. I felt sure that this was an illusion. The pyro-spectacle and its reception convinced me that I saw before me a people who had passed the culminating point of their greatness, and were now gliding rapidly down the declining slope that leads to annihilation and nothingness.
" A fondness for "fireworks" is a singular but sure characteristic of a declining nation. Give me the statistics of pyrotechnic powder burnt by a people, and I shall tell you the standard measure of their souls and bodies. If the figure be a maximum, then the physical and moral measure will be the minimum, for the ratio is inverse.
I stood in the Place de Concorde, and saw a whole nation--its rich and
its poor--gazing on one of these pitiful spectacles, got up for the purpose of duping them into contentment. It was the price paid them for parting with their liberty, as a child parts with a valuable gem for a few sugar-plums. They were gazing with a delight that seemed enthusiasm! I looked upon scrubby, stunted forms, a foot shorter than were their ancestors. I looked upon eyes that gleamed with demoralised thought.
These were the representatives of a once great people, and who still deem themselves the first of mankind. I felt sure that this was an illusion. The pyro-spectacle and its reception convinced me that I saw before me a people who had passed the culminating point of their greatness, and were now gliding rapidly down the declining slope that leads to annihilation and nothingness.
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