I've Got a Job

I've finally broken into the film industry.

OK, so I'm selling popcorn and cleaning 3D glasses, but hey - I'm in showbiz!

Unfortunately, this means I have even less time for my small part in the campaign against the irrational (I actually don't have a problem with 'irrational' as a way of being, it's just when it's formed into a multi-national, corporate-sized brain-washing machine that I like to poke holes).

This week's recommended reading is Barbarians by Terry Jones & Alan Ereira.

What did the Romans ever do for us? Created a brutal, unforgiving religion (Roman Catholicism) where new born babies are sent to burn in hell if they happen to die before they get a chance to promise to suck God's member (or whatever it is they do), apparently.

See, even Christian Romans continued to enjoy a good bloodbath on a Saturday afternoon. St Augustine would spend a couple of hours watching some slaves and/or gladiators having their brains mashed, arms lopped off, testicles gouged out, then he'd go home and work on his 'original sin' and 'just war' ideas.

A "just war" is kind of a compromise between the idea "Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:39) and the Roman Imperial imperative to slaughter their enemies.

(So we can thank Augustine for the "just wars" which continue to this day. Bush and Blair had a word with their invisible friend and heard him say "Dudes, I want you to fight one of those 'just wars' for me". So they did.)

The point is, most "barbarians" were quite reasonable and managed to work out ways of living together without resorting to ripping each others' innards out. But the Romans were psychos and needed some kind of bizarre philosophy just to get them to moderate their bloodthirst.

Which society in this modern world has a tendency to glorify bloody pursuits?

Who started this 'war on terror' (the new name for the 'just war')? Don't know. But I do know who has all the aircraft carriers and nukes. And they are the ones who will write the history. And, 2000 years from now, people will believe they were the civilising ones and will teach it to their children.

That is the scary thing.