Breandan
April 30th, 2007, 01:26 AM
Today has been one of those weird days where major changes in my personal paradigm have occurred, but very subtlely. I have come to an understanding about some things that can only be summed up by a quote from Livius-
"After [the Roman emmisaries] had delivered their instructions in the council of the Gauls, the following reply was given:
'Although we are hearing the name of Romans for the first time, we believe nevertheless that you are brave men, since the Clusines are imploring your assistance in their time of danger. Since you prefer to protect your allies against us by negotiation rather than by armed force, we on our side do not reject the peace you offer, on condition that the Clusines cede to us Gauls, who are in need of land, a portion of that territory which they possess to a greater extent than they can cultivate. On any other conditions peace cannot be granted. We wish to receive their reply in your presence, and if territory is refused us we shall fight, whilst you are still here, that you may report to those at home how far the Gauls surpass all other men in courage.'
The Romans asked them what right they had to demand, under threat of war, territory from those who were its owners, and what business the Gauls had in Etruria. The haughty answer was returned that they carried their right in their weapons, and that everything belonged to the brave." - The History of Rome, Vol. I, 5.36, Titus Livius
Such has been the motivation for the decisions I and a few others have had to make today. Since no one else has been willing to step up to the plate and take care of business, they cannot bitch now that we have taken the yoke firmly in hand and decided to do what they had neither the courage nor drive to do.
"To the brave belong all things" is becoming a motivating factor for us that strips away all pretenses at political correctness, blasts away the weak, useless mewling pretenses at fairness that some nitwit in a social engineering class decided was somehow good for the world, and rips away the dress on the pig to expose it for the swine that it truly is- those who do set the rules, those who do not are left in the dust to either follow or impotently whine about their fate while being left in the dustbin of history.
For right or wrong, those who do are the movers and shakers of the world, whether overall or just in their little corner of it. Talk, as they say, is cheap. Ideas are empty without substance to back them up. Fairness is an illusionary utopian hope by the downtrodden and the idealistic who seek to balance out the ugliness in the world with thought instead of deeds. Disagreement is easy, contesting action with action is difficult.
The point of all of this? Well, to be frank, it's 0224 in the morning and I haven't slept in 20 hours, and had a very long day, so I doubt there really is a compelling point beyond voicing what I hold to be a truth to an audience that will likely either disagree (see above), or raise an eyebrow and mutter "The old nutter's finally gone off the deep end. Totally starkers." ;)
"After [the Roman emmisaries] had delivered their instructions in the council of the Gauls, the following reply was given:
'Although we are hearing the name of Romans for the first time, we believe nevertheless that you are brave men, since the Clusines are imploring your assistance in their time of danger. Since you prefer to protect your allies against us by negotiation rather than by armed force, we on our side do not reject the peace you offer, on condition that the Clusines cede to us Gauls, who are in need of land, a portion of that territory which they possess to a greater extent than they can cultivate. On any other conditions peace cannot be granted. We wish to receive their reply in your presence, and if territory is refused us we shall fight, whilst you are still here, that you may report to those at home how far the Gauls surpass all other men in courage.'
The Romans asked them what right they had to demand, under threat of war, territory from those who were its owners, and what business the Gauls had in Etruria. The haughty answer was returned that they carried their right in their weapons, and that everything belonged to the brave." - The History of Rome, Vol. I, 5.36, Titus Livius
Such has been the motivation for the decisions I and a few others have had to make today. Since no one else has been willing to step up to the plate and take care of business, they cannot bitch now that we have taken the yoke firmly in hand and decided to do what they had neither the courage nor drive to do.
"To the brave belong all things" is becoming a motivating factor for us that strips away all pretenses at political correctness, blasts away the weak, useless mewling pretenses at fairness that some nitwit in a social engineering class decided was somehow good for the world, and rips away the dress on the pig to expose it for the swine that it truly is- those who do set the rules, those who do not are left in the dust to either follow or impotently whine about their fate while being left in the dustbin of history.
For right or wrong, those who do are the movers and shakers of the world, whether overall or just in their little corner of it. Talk, as they say, is cheap. Ideas are empty without substance to back them up. Fairness is an illusionary utopian hope by the downtrodden and the idealistic who seek to balance out the ugliness in the world with thought instead of deeds. Disagreement is easy, contesting action with action is difficult.
The point of all of this? Well, to be frank, it's 0224 in the morning and I haven't slept in 20 hours, and had a very long day, so I doubt there really is a compelling point beyond voicing what I hold to be a truth to an audience that will likely either disagree (see above), or raise an eyebrow and mutter "The old nutter's finally gone off the deep end. Totally starkers." ;)