Decline of the empire
Mar. 23rd, 2003 07:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraYou know, I think CNN made a big mistake in not somehow snaring the rights to this war as a pay-per-view event. Apparently American Idol on Fox Wednesday night (first night of Operation Iraqi Freedom) outdrew the back-to-back war coverage on the three senior networks. Well, okay – at a certain point CBS got smart and cut to Survivor. Still, this tells you something about bread and circuses, though I'm much too addled to tease that thought out into a series of grammatical sentences.
Theories about the Decline of the Roman Empire:
1. Lead poisoning from pottery. Only the upper classes could afford expensive dishes painted with lead-based pigments. Cue scary theme music and close-up of a Botox vial.
2. Decentralization of the military. At some point Rome was fighting so many wars on foreign fronts that it was alley-alley-oop-home-free when the Visigoths charged. Let's see, right now we're in Afghanistan and Iraq. Syria's next. And then what? France? Canada?
We're definitely living in the decline of an empire here. What I don't quite get is why it isn't more fun.
Today's news brings confirmation that it was one of our own who lobbed the grenade into those Command Officers' tents. My theory, knowing how the military operates, is that our liberators are wired to the gills on various cocktails of potent methamphetamines and so are now entering their sixth consecutive day without sleep. They're losing it. Incidents like this are going to get more and more common. I seem to recall that a lot of them happened during Vietnam. It's hard to have much sympathy this time – it is an all-volunteer army, after all, and they should have known what they were getting themselves into when they signed up.
In other news – have decided to turn the Tibetan bodyguard into a Russian or Polish detective. Not sure what pretext I use to get him into Tibet, but I have this very strong visual of him leaning over a chess board, sipping a glass of heavily sugared tea, playing the king's gambit while somebody natters at him. Finally he looks up. "I argue very well," he says. "Ask any of my remaining friends. But I never discuss politics."
Theories about the Decline of the Roman Empire:
1. Lead poisoning from pottery. Only the upper classes could afford expensive dishes painted with lead-based pigments. Cue scary theme music and close-up of a Botox vial.
2. Decentralization of the military. At some point Rome was fighting so many wars on foreign fronts that it was alley-alley-oop-home-free when the Visigoths charged. Let's see, right now we're in Afghanistan and Iraq. Syria's next. And then what? France? Canada?
We're definitely living in the decline of an empire here. What I don't quite get is why it isn't more fun.
Today's news brings confirmation that it was one of our own who lobbed the grenade into those Command Officers' tents. My theory, knowing how the military operates, is that our liberators are wired to the gills on various cocktails of potent methamphetamines and so are now entering their sixth consecutive day without sleep. They're losing it. Incidents like this are going to get more and more common. I seem to recall that a lot of them happened during Vietnam. It's hard to have much sympathy this time – it is an all-volunteer army, after all, and they should have known what they were getting themselves into when they signed up.
In other news – have decided to turn the Tibetan bodyguard into a Russian or Polish detective. Not sure what pretext I use to get him into Tibet, but I have this very strong visual of him leaning over a chess board, sipping a glass of heavily sugared tea, playing the king's gambit while somebody natters at him. Finally he looks up. "I argue very well," he says. "Ask any of my remaining friends. But I never discuss politics."
