Bolivar and San Martin: Guayaquil, Ecuador

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

occasus verum

They talk about aggression like the West invented it. Like before Europe there were never any wars, and no one died under the hand of his brother. Think state of nature, people. Today, in Iraq, we see what happens when you destroy the Leviathan and fail to replace it with an equal or greater authority: war breaks out, every man versus every man, and blood runs in the streets while child-bereft mothers wail in the darkness. But is this the legacy of the West? No, this is the legacy of all mankind. Who stormed the pass at Thermopylae ten years after coming ashore with hopes of plunder at Marathon? Who conquered west to the Straits of Gibraltar and east to the steps of Kashmir in less than a hundred years? Who assailed Constantinople for 800 years before finally achieving the bloody goal? The Crusades did not begin this clash of civilizations, they were merely another phase in a conflict that dates back to antiquity, even before the Son of Man walked the earth or the Prophet spoke aught of the mind of God.

1 comment:

Desiree said...

What an argument. Passionate, intelligent, and really kinda poetic in some spots too. It sucks how I am so in the dark with this stuff though. I mean, Thermopylae? The Straights of Gibraltar? Who DID assail Constantinople for 800 whole entire freakin years? Why am I not in the know? This is all going straight over my head and my head is like not happy about that. I need some brain food here. I'm lacking the smarts.