The high priests of academic and
“official” history love a good villain for two reasons: First, because
good official villains make the struggles and accomplishments of good
official heroes even more awe-inspiring. And, second, because nothing
teaches (or propagandizes) the masses more thoroughly than the social or
political lessons inherent in the documented rise and fall of the
world’s most despicable inhabitants. We get shivers of fear and
excitement when we discuss the evils and the follies of ancient monsters
like Nero, Attila the Hun, Caligula, etc, or more modern monsters, like
Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Goebbels, Mao, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and so
on. We take solace in the idea that “we are nothing like them”, and our
nation has “moved beyond” such animalistic behavior.
But even more fascinating popcorn-style history is found not in the destruction of tyrants, but the destruction of empires.
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