Blog 5 Part 2: Roman Issues

I was unable to find good similarities and passages for all the issues I discussed in my previous blog, but found plenty to discuss with the following two!

Major debt and financial crisis, Roman style
"But now the holy fount and grove and shrine are let out to Jews, who possess a basket and a truss of hay for all their furnishings. For as every tree nowadays has to pay toll to the people, the Muses have been ejected, and the wood has to go a-begging."


"In Rome, every one dresses smartly, above his means, and sometimes something more than what is enough is taken out of another man's pocket. This failing is universal here: we all live in a state of pretentious poverty."
I love the way he describes it as 'pretentious poverty,' I feel like that is so similar to what is happening in our society today. People go into obscene amounts of debt to buy the newest cars and the biggest houses possible, but then they can't afford anything else. Or they find other ways to go into more debt to buy those other things, when in reality they own nothing. All of their belongings are basically on loan to them until someone calls in their debt, at which point they realize just how little they have.


Under Funded Schools
I felt like it was appropriate that when bewailing the evils of the Roman society, the only mention of education and schooling was dismissive; "And now that I am speaking of the Greeks, pass over the schools, and hear of a crime of a larger philosophical cloak." It's as though the Romans too felt that schools were not important enough to be bothered about. There were more obvious issues that were easier to complain about than the education system, so whenever it was brought up people quickly changed the subject to something that was easier to get mad about without feeling bad themselves.

Current Issues

 Top Social Issues in the US today

Major Debt

We have been relying on money that we don’t actually have for too long, and instead of being in control of our spending, our spending habits and subsequent debt often end up controlling us. Irresponsible spending habits are catching up with us, leaving some people planning to pass away before they finish repaying their debt.

Lack of Funding for Schools

In high school I had classes every day where at least two or three students had to sit on the floor or in a chair in the corner because there was literally not enough space or desks. If we expect students to learn enough to compete in a global job market and their teachers to be able to constantly raise their standardized testing scores, it’s only fair that we provide them with the resources they need to do it.

  

Apathy

There is a frightening trend in my own age group of either feigned or real apathy towards current events. There are young people who keep up with the news and are aware of what’s going on in the world of course, but they are usually their own subgroup. It’s much cooler to know about a band before the rest of your friends than it is to know about a piece of legislation or a foreign conflict incident before them.

The Impossibly Perfect Women

"Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall [butt], long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll [boobs]. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.” –Tina Fey, Bossy Pants

Solon the Sad and Dreary

I am drawing inspiration from Herodotus' imagined debate between Solon and Croesus when I assert the opinion that Solon was a pessimist. His statement that "how much better a thing for man is death than life," belies his belief that true happiness isn't even worth striving for. He believes that the only truly happy man is a dead man, because up until a man's death there is always a good chance that his fortunes will change and he'll be miserable. I feel that he ignores that joy and happiness that can come from every day circumstances.

He believes that happiness comes from one's end being " surpassingly glorious . . . [receiving] the highest honors," while I believe that happiness comes from doing one's best to enjoy life regardless of the circumstances you may be in at the present. If a man cannot find something to make him happy while he is living an ordinary life, he will most likely not be able to find happiness if he receives glory and riches for his amazing deeds. Herodotus' negative outlook would make it very difficult to find happiness in ordinary life, and I shudder to imagine what he thinks a woman would have to do to find happiness. Since women are usually not a part of fighting and battle in ancient Greek civilization, except on rare occasions, I do not imagine he would suggest dying in battle as a great way for them to go. Or perhaps he believed women would only attain happiness through their husbands, so perhaps once their husbands were dead they could just assume that the rest of their lives would be happy. Whether he had different ideas about women and happiness or not, I am glad that I do not have to rely on Herodotus' philosophies to find happiness in this life and the next.

The Role of Law

Using specific examples from what you read in Sophocles, Thucydides, and Plato determine what the role of law is in a free society. Is that role the same today?


I felt that Thucydides and Socrates, as voiced by Plato, had very different ideas of what justice really was, but both emphasized the importance of it as the basis of law in a free society. Thucydides voiced the opinion that bad laws are better than no laws, and expressed a rather pessimistic view of men and their innate nature. He believed that "unlearned loyalty is more serviceable than quick-witted insubordination,"  thereby implying that it didn't really matter why men followed laws as long as they followed them. He believed that ", fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws." He saw the role of law as that of a defense against the naturally evil tendencies of the common man, something to safeguard idiots from destroying each other in fits of passion.


Socrates, on the other hand, had a more noble view of man; he saw him as a being of reason and understanding, who follows laws not out of fear but rather because he sees it as the right thing to do. Men will follow the laws of their city or state not because they wish to avoid punishment, but because they believe those laws to be just and true. My favorite part of all of the readings for this class session was Plato's discussion of the consent a free man gives to be ruled by his society when he neither attempts to logically persuade the government to change, nor leaves the city in favor of a different state and government. According to Socrates, a man who disobeys the laws of the society where he was born and raised is guilty three times over, " first, because in disobeying us he is disobeying his parents; secondly, because we are the authors of his education; thirdly, because he has made an agreement with us that he will duly obey our commands." People who live in a free society are given the choice to agree with and follow its laws, to disagree with those laws and either do something about it or leave. There is no need for a man to fear his government, or to fight against its laws, if he has willingly entered into an agreement to follow those laws. 


In a free society such as ours, I believe Plato's arguments to be entirely correct. It is not right for people to live their lives not participating in or even just agreeing with everything their society does until one day it is no longer convenient. And yes, in Socrates' case his death was a bit more than an inconvenience, but he still believed in the laws of his society. It is a shallow belief that only exists when it is convenient for the believer, and disappears at the first sign of trouble. I agree that laws are important to keep society functioning well, but unlike Thucydides I believe that laws are upheld in free societies by consent more than fear.