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If one could go back in time and show the likes of Julius Caesar, Vlad the Impaler, William the Conqueror, Alexander the Great, Nero, Caligula etc. what life is like for the average man/woman today, at least for the west, how do you think they would feel? Do you think they'd find it incredibly interesting for your common person to have so much freedom or do you think they'd be disgusted with it and think it's completely wrong and unnatural or the like?
If one could go back in time and show the likes of Julius Caesar, Vlad the Impaler, William the Conqueror, Alexander the Great, Nero, Caligula etc. what life is like for the average man/woman today, at least for the west, how do you think they would feel? Do you think they'd find it incredibly interesting for your common person to have so much freedom or do you think they'd be disgusted with it and think it's completely wrong and unnatural or the like?
I would have added to your list Ivan IV The Terrible, Saladin, Asoka The Great , Qin Huang De, Rameses The Great and Sargon The Great as well. I think they would kill the first person who did not worship their divinity or Primacy
.
In their worlds the ideas of freedom and liberty that only emerged a few centuries ago in ours would have been alien to them. In studying history this is a good idea to learn and resist the temptation of trying to hammer them into a 21st Century mind set.
If one could go back in time and show the likes of Julius Caesar, Vlad the Impaler, William the Conqueror, Alexander the Great, Nero, Caligula etc. what life is like for the average man/woman today, at least for the west, how do you think they would feel?
I imagine they would find the whole concept totally alien. But those thoughts would not be limited to tyrants or conquerers.
Many leaders of democracies earlier in this century were very accustomed to the idea of democratic republics held in check by both officially and unofficially enforced social norms that effectively limited personal freedom.
The concept that anyone other than the wealthy bigshots had worth is only a few hundred years old and still not universal. That would be the idea which the old time dictators, or anyone from the past, would find baffling.
The US Constitution was the first government document to ever codify the idea that each individual is worth something, and consequently entitled to a series of rights.
The folks mentioned in the OP were all from the age of the disposable individual.
The concept that anyone other than the wealthy bigshots had worth is only a few hundred years old and still not universal.
I would say only a little more than 100 years old, and still not universal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grandstander
The US Constitution was the first government document to ever codify the idea that each individual is worth something, and consequently entitled to a series of rights.
And even this egaltarian document had a series of internal checks that reserved some decisions for those who knew better or "better". Neither senators, nor the President were directly elected and the old electoral college was not mostly symbolic.
And even this egaltarian document had a series of internal checks that reserved some decisions for those who knew better or "better". Neither senators, nor the President were directly elected and the old electoral college was not mostly symbolic.
The early democracy was not as inclusive as it has become, but what I had in mind by codification was the Bill of Rights. Spelled out in the national charter is a list of the government's limitations in what it can do to anyone, rights which were universal to all citizens.
None of the American ideals are in any way unique.
They didn't even originate from Americans.
Jefferson had Bellarmine among his influences.
Ancient Greeks and Romans exemplified all the freedoms
we have, during parts of their histories, as did many
other peoples.
The struggle of might vs. right has existed since civilization,
and it's far from settled.
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How do you think dictators, tyrants of the past would feel about people having so much freedom today?
