Curt Doolittle

Category: Civilization, History, and Anthropology

  • Yet Another Critic

    One’s “Kith and Kin”. |KIN| Self > Family > Clan > Tribe > Nation > Race. |KITH| Friends, Associates, Acquaintances > Neighbors > Polity > Culture > Civilization. kin·folk, kin
    [ˈkinfōk]
    NOUN
    (in anthropological or formal use) a person’s blood relations, regarded collectively.
    synonyms:
    relatives · relations · kin · kindred · family members · family · kith and kin · kinsmen/kinswomen · one’s own flesh and blood · blood relatives · connections · folks · people kith

    [kith]

    NOUN
    acquaintances, friends, neighbors, or the like; persons living in the same general locality and forming a more or less cohesive group.
    kindred.
    a group of people living in the same area and forming a culture with a common language, customs, economy, etc., usually endogamous.

  • Kith and Kin

    —“The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigour of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.”— — Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 38 “General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West”

  • Kith and Kin

    —“The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigour of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.”— — Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 38 “General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West”

  • Mercy is for kin

    THANKFUL FOR OUR GIFTS
    by James Santagata I woke up at 3 am. Dry throat. I flipped on a light switch, used the flushing toilet, washed my hands with soap and clean water, had a drink of potable water, checked to make sure my TV was office, that the refrigerator and freezer doors were closed, that my induction heating stove and appliances were off, and that my wife had set the “scheduler” button for our front loading washing machine and dryer to room. I plugged in my smart phone to recharge it, and closed the front window when I heard a motorcycle scream by. Then I got on my knees and thank my White Male Ancestors for all of these gifts, the thousands of inventions and unveiling of basic science to produce each of these products – the basic science and tech involved in a taken for granted automobile is mind blowing as is the people who invented or unveiled those secrets. It is not a social construct but an intergenerational baton pass of cultural and cognitive curiosity and ability underpinned and informed by genetics.

  • The Story of Its Ruin

    —Seek to lose count because they were many. There are never enough until there are none.—

  • Curt Doolittle updated his status.

    YES, THANK YOU WESTERN CIVILIZATION —“The World’s Poorest People Are Getting Richer Faster. In 1820, 94% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%.”–humanprogressorg Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you Western Civilization, for high trust people, heroism, individual sovereignty, rule of law, truth-jury-and-judiciary, markets in association, cooperation, reproduction, production, commons, and polities; reason, empiricism, science; freedom from poverty, starvation …. … hard labor, child mortality, early death, disease, suffering, superstition ignorance, tyranny and the vicissitudes of nature. Yes, thank you Western Civilization for dragging humanity kicking and screaming into modernity against their will, and hating you every day for it. Thank you Western Civilization, The Evil White Male, The Oppressor, The Colonialist, the Bringer of ending human suffering and the privilege of ridiculing those to whom your entire station is but a debt.

  • That’s not the Question

    —Mercy is for your kin, who have erred in character or judgement. Mercy Elsewhere is but folly – let none leave the field. Their place is under it.—

  • Seeing the Ditchotomy

    lesson of rome. If you’re going to do it. You do it like you did to carthage. You do not do it like you did to greece and judea.

  • Curt Doolittle updated his status.

    YES, THANK YOU WESTERN CIVILIZATION —“The World’s Poorest People Are Getting Richer Faster. In 1820, 94% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%.”–humanprogressorg Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you Western Civilization, for high trust people, heroism, individual sovereignty, rule of law, truth-jury-and-judiciary, markets in association, cooperation, reproduction, production, commons, and polities; reason, empiricism, science; freedom from poverty, starvation …. … hard labor, child mortality, early death, disease, suffering, superstition ignorance, tyranny and the vicissitudes of nature. Yes, thank you Western Civilization for dragging humanity kicking and screaming into modernity against their will, and hating you every day for it. Thank you Western Civilization, The Evil White Male, The Oppressor, The Colonialist, the Bringer of ending human suffering and the privilege of ridiculing those to whom your entire station is but a debt.

  • Constantine the Destroyer of The Empre

    CONSTANTINE THE DESTROYER OF THE EMPRE Emperor Constantine moved the legions from the frontiers to one consolidated roving army as a way to save money and to protect wealthier citizens within the cities. However, this grand strategy would have costly effects of the Roman empire by weakening its frontier defenses and allowing it to be susceptible to outside armies coming in. Also, people who lived near the Roman frontiers would begin to look to the barbarians for protection after the Roman armies departed. “Constantine abolished this frontier security by removing the greater part of the soldiery from the frontiers to cities that needed no auxiliary forces. He thus deprived of help the people who were harassed by the barbarians and burdened tranquil cities with the pest of the military, so that several straightway were deserted. Moreover, he softened the soldiers who treated themselves to shows and luxuries. Indeed, to speak plainly, he personally planted the first seeds of our present devastated state of affairs – Zosimus, 5th-century CE historian[citation needed]