Posted: 7/19/2002 11:22:29 AM EDT
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Going through some old messages, I ran across this. When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere. -Robert A. Heinlien Which got me to thinking, "What are the signs of social collapse? Historicly speaking?" |
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The more outrageous behavior is accepted, would be a good sign that society is on the down slide. Forget who actually said that, but they were comparing the last days of Greece, and the last days of Rome, to our times today. However, by that logic, indoor plumbing could be a sign also. (I think the Romans were one of the first that came up with indoor plumbing). |
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I think that when a significant portion of the population no longer obeys a significant portion of the laws and shows no respect for law enforcement, that's a pretty good indicator. Our "War on (some) Drugs" is a good indicator, but check [url=icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0001head/page.cfm?objectid=12047134&method=full&siteid=50080]this out[/url] if you want to see what impending social collapse looks like. We're pikers by comparison. |
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One of the common themes of history is that when a country's money supply gets into trouble, look for a war to crop up. Our currency has dropped 15% against the Euro in the last few months, and has fallen against most other currencies as well. Hmmm. BTW, Sweep, I think you're thinking of the Romans having used lead (as in, Pb, as in bullet material) for plumbing, not to mention for their wine vats. There is some speculation that widespread lead poisoning led (heh, ok, "contributed") to their demise. |
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Kbaker, there is no way to follow all the laws of our country. THere are over 15 million laws on the books right now, with more being added every day. You have broken numerous laws in the past half hour. If there are too many, then all of them start looking optional. The only law I follow is "Do no harm to another" |
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Quoted: Kbaker, there is no way to follow all the laws of our country. THere are over 15 million laws on the books right now, with more being added every day. You have broken numerous laws in the past half hour. If there are too many, then all of them start looking optional. The only law I follow is "Do no harm to another" |
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How about this: The Fall Of A Republic When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England, Professor Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic over two thousand years previous to that time: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage. Alexander Tyler |