>>50022092There's no poison being said here, instead all I see is nasty business from people here who apparently think allowing people to express themselves is a bad thing. There's a time for silly avatars and words but this isn't the time. This is real poison that affects the lives of millions of people, an ideology founded on mirages, deception and lies, and in trying to make the "other" a marginalized group.
The whole "decadence" and linking it to the downfall of society is straight from the extreme right's book. It sounds true enough until you actually *examine* these claims. Indeed these claims go back thousands of years and have become a trope in literature and in rhetoric. Bret Devereaux had an exellent series of blog posts on this which he dubs the "freeman mirage" and how it's really nonsense about people becoming "weak" via decadence or fall of morals, something fascists are obsessed with. But as I said it's something that goes even as far back as the first written works on what we would consider history. The Ancient Greeks in particular were obssesed with the idea of a declining Persian empire because they became "soft" and "decadent" in comparison to the manly and tough Greeks.
Suffice to say when looking at history from a critical eye this theory doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Indeed, the Persians remained a strong power despite some setbacks in the West, being able to manipulate the Greek city-states and re-gain control of Ionia via the King's Peace, put down the rebellion of Kyros the Younger, and re-conquer Egypt in a supposed period of "decline". The wildcard was Makedonia, whose rise to power was pretty much unexpected and took the Persians by surprise, not necessarily anything to do with any sort of decline. Makedonia itself, just like Thessaly and Thrace, may have not been very urbanized but it was abundant in population, good farmland and resources, pretty much a wealthy land. Philip II was able to bride away the Illyrians for example.
