jsol@bbncca.ARPA (Jon Solomon ) (11/05/83)
I heard somewhere that homosexuals were blamed for the downfall of the roman empire, what I see happening today is close to a similar downfall. Those professing sexual freedom, social freedom, freedom of thought, etc. (NOT JUST HOMOSEUALS), pitted against traditionalists, set in their ways and not able to cope with change. Eventually this latter group demands action from the government, which is unwilling to resist the change because a larger percent of the population is in the former group. Democratic governments are extremely sensitive to voter opinion. After all, ones political career depends on becoming elected by the population one serves. Eventually, the latter group takes matters into their own hands. Civil war breaks out. End of civilation. I hope our civilation is more mature than this one. --Jon
shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs) (11/08/83)
I am presently in the process of reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (about halfway through the unabridged - just after the end of the Western Empire, and continuing with the Eastern), and there's not much evidence that homosexuality or whatever caused the decay, nor that civil wars were responsible. Gibbon asserts that a primary cause was Christianity, also a relaxation of the "martial spirit" that was instrumental to the formation of the empire, and many other occurrences. Arnold Toynbee argues that the very *act* of creating the empire was a sign of decay in the civilization, and that the collapse was inevitable. So enough on this "homosexuality will cause the collapse of Western civilization" foolishness. stan the l.h. utah-cs!shebs ps The decay happened so slowly (5 centuries) that nobody was really aware of it. The final end of the Western Empire was anticlimactic - the senate issued a decree that the Emperor was no longer necessary, and asked the Eastern Emperor to appoint the barbarian king Theodoric (who had taken over Rome) as the count of Italy. Anyone for net.history?