America: The New Rome.

                             

Is America the New Rome of the Modern Age? Will we forever be the super power of the 21st century or will we face the same fate as the Romans did? Are we in a threshold of no return? Is it possible we are falling victims to corruption,fascism, and de-moralizing of society. Is this great nation of ours coming to a soon demise; does history repeat itself? 

Rome: From greatness to demise

Rome at the height of its power was the most powerful nation in the world. Rome's power extended from the deserts of Persia all the way to the marshy lands of the British Isles. The Roman Empire controlled 6.5 million km of land surface. The power was so great that Rome influenced language, religion, philosophy, and law on the countries it controled. The influence is still seen heavily today in modern society of most of the world (including the U.S.A). Rome also had the most powerful army of its time and was heavily equipped. With this all said, it makes you wonder how could something so powerful and great just fall like that....?

WHY DI D ROME FALL......?

                      

       ·    DEMORALIZING of society- The society of rome completly          lost thier sense of their morality. Bestiality was rampant, crazy orgies among people of power and the utter apathetic attitude of the people of rome (working class and poor).   

·    Over expansion- Rome controlled most of the known world. But also conquering came with a price. They constantly had to control the borders which took lots of time money and soliders that they did not have during their decline. it was just too much for the empire. Also with expansion it caused hatred and mini-wars among the people who were subjected to roman oppression/power.

·    Corruption- THE SENATORS OF ROME became extremly corrupted.  seats/positions could easily be sold for the right amount of money. They accepted bribes in exchange for favors and also pushed agendas of others who could pay a good sum.

·    Economic problems(National debt)- rome had a huge debt because of the cost of just maintaining the empire alone. The war debt also helped increase economic problems. Also the de-value of the roman currency also helped to ruin the economy. 

·    Constant  state of war- rome always had to suppress rebellions and  had to fend itself from enemies. This constant state of war helped decline rome.

KINDA  SOUNDS FAMILIAR RIGHT….? THESE ARE THE SAME ISUES THE U.S.A IS GOING 

THRU RIGHT NOW.

So will it fall...?

Sadly, I strongly believe America is the new Rome of the Modern Age; Just like the Romans were powerful and declined so will America. History always repeats itself.

>> http://archive.org/details/TheDeclineAndFallOfAmerica-TheMovie  <<

                                       (link of video link on the reason why we will fall )

America: The New Modern Rome;The demise.

America was founded on the greatest ideas any country could ever ask for; Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our whole function of our government revovled and was the Constitution. The Constitution promised us  our God given right to be free and the protection for the people from the government. It was  the suprume law of the land. Today's news shows you that the constitution is no longer in power. With the singing of the Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the Trespass bill all of our rights have been stripped away. These bills are the start of what is to come....Facsims.

America has been spiraling down this path of no return. Just as the Romans were, all powerful and great and the super power of the world. Their greed, unmoral, constant war-state, and corruption got the best of them; History always repeats itself.

The corruption of the U.S.A gov is even worse of Rome itself. The bailling out of corrupted banks on wall street with tax payer money. The slashing of domestic policy that is vital to the majority of Americans. The mass media propagagandaPro-war coverage. The death of innocent civilans from around the world because of U.S.A foreign policy (which is under the clock of "spreading democracy''). Eventually, everything corrupted and evil ALWAYS comes to an end. History will repeat itself.

AMERICA IS THE NEW ROME! 

Creationism or Evolution?

           Where do we come from? This question has puzzled humans for thousands of years.  In the world we live in today, we hear this question quite often.  Is there an all-powerful God that created the world as we know it? Have we evolved from apes over thousands and thousands of years? Were we an alien life form that came crashing down from the sky? Which of these theories is true? There is no definite answer to this question, only opinions. My personal opinion being that we came about from the process of evolution.

What is evolution? Evolution is defined as a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. One person who played a huge part in the beginning of theory of evolution is Charles Darwin. Darwin was a British Scientist who lived between 1809 and 1882. He laid down the foundation of modern evolutionary theory with his concept of the development of life through the slow working process of natural selection.  I personally find the theory of evolution very interesting. I tend to only believe in things that have some sort of scientific merit supporting it. With evolution, there has been scientific research done for many years to help prove this theory. There are fossils of human-like species dating back close to 5 million years ago. Evolution has shaped the modern homo sapiens in numerous ways to help adapt to their environments.

What is creationism? Creationism is the doctrine that matter and all things were created, substantially as they exist, by an omnipotent Creator, and not gradually evolved or developed. Most of my personal belief in evolution is my disbelief in creationism.  There is evidence of human life forms stretching thousands of years before anyone even thought of there being an all-powerful god. Do we have any concrete evidence that there is a God? We have the bible which has been changed and altered throughout the years. Why do we worship so many different Gods? There were the Greeks who worshiped a different God for every situation you can think of. There are the Christians who worship God and his son Jesus Christ. There are the Muslims who worship Allah. There are the Hindu people who believe Brahma is the creator of everything we know. If there really was a “God” who created everything, why wouldn’t we all be worshiping the same one?

In conclusion, I follow things that can be seen, touched, heard and even tasted. To me, Creationism is none of those. The bible is supposed to be the all-knowing source of everything but this book has had changes throughout the years. While I do not believe in Creationism, I also do not hold it against people who do. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I believe there is nothing bigger than myself. There is no preconceived destiny for me. I make my own life happen, not what a god predetermined for me. I would like to think that I, like my ancestors before me, am evolving to stay current and adapt to my surroundings. With all this said, I would completely change my mind with some sort of real concrete evidence of a higher being.

Submitted By: Patrick DeVries

Comparative Culture

The modern pop culture seems much influenced by the many things people see, especially in this 21^st century, whether if it’s from what we see on television or the behaviors from different social groups, people are drastically changing in behavior, lifestyle and attitude.  In today’s society, we can say that we are more educated with the copious number of tangible resources and sources such as the Internet, newspaper and media that reflect today’s society.  The technological advancements play a huge role in our culture as well.  People in the 21^st depend on technology to make their lives more safe and convenient, but then again, isn’t that what technology is all about?  From constructing monuments, establishing a plan, or creating a design, there are many cultures that use technology for those purposes.  In comparison to the ancient Egyptian culture, technology helped build their beautiful, breath-taking pyramids.  The tools they used were primarily made of bronze, until they discovered iron to be more durable and strong.  They also figured out ways to mobilize heavier objects by using levers, rollers and ramps.  Of course, with many people working on the pyramids, they can work without tools and still get the job done, but the convenience of technological tools and ideal design, the work can be done in a more a faster and orderly fashion.  Heavy objects include the boxes for tools, stones and rocks.  It’s because of these very hard stones and rocks, the pyramids and many monumental structures, such as the Incredible Statues of Ramses II, still stand today for over 4000 years.  As I was doing my research, I stumbled upon a couple documentaries on YouTube pertaining to ancient Egyptian architecture and technological advancements.  For one thing, the stones that were used to build these structures were diorite and granite, the toughest stones on the face of this earth, anything that is past that is diamond stones themselves.  So you can imagine what the ancient Egyptians used to carve and chisel these stones and the amount of work they spent on perfecting measurements.  In comparison to the 21^st century, our culture is very fast pace to change.  It is out with the old and in with the new.  Buildings and foundations are dismantled every so often to meet the sociocultural standards.  Furthermore, the technological measurements used to build structures were truly amazing.  If you notice each statue that’s built is perfectly symmetrical, not so much on the body, but the head and face.  The Egyptians took much consideration and emphasized the face to be perfect, in honor to their powerful and highly respected rulers.  Ultimately, technology mirrors the art of any culture.  From the ancient Egyptians with their mysterious machinery to establish such breathe-taking monuments to modern pop culture’s research of new technology, there is no doubt that technology will never die.  In fact, it will expand into something unimaginable.  

- James Kang

The Meaning of Life

Humans are born, make decisions through life, and then die. In this life, the decisions that are made define who we are. Through trials and tribulations decisions made dictate the outcome, whether that is a positive or negative outcome remains in the eye of the beholder. Philosophers have squandered the beginning of life in every aspect imaginable, to develop an explanation for “the meaning” of life. From mathematical equations explaining the possibilities of movement to earthly elements of air and water being the basis for life, proposed theories of the beginning were set to set the foundations for this meaning of life.

After the foundation of WHERE humans came from became more concrete with reason and logic, further questions developed as to WHY humans have a life. Two primary theories developed as to how we can answer the questions to the meaning of life. The first theory is humans must go through the stages in life to find a constant, which will deliver us our self -gratification and a fulfilled life. The other theory is that instead of finding our constant, we must undergo choices that force change and allow us to grow. Whether you take life on to find the constant or growth in it, both theories illustrate that one must live a life through obstacles to find meaning in it. Based on the challenges and choices made, true meaning for the life lived will be revealed.

Through time, everything changes. In a simple sense, fashion and technology change radically every year. However, more complex ideals take longer to change, and sometimes, not necessarily for the better. Take the way humans learn as an example. Days long ago, students learned primarily though word of mouth form there teachers and with the aid of books. In today's classroom however, there is a push with technology to make learning more proficient with the use of computers, laptops, and tablets. The problem with changing the medium in which we learn is that computer screens cause a dumbing down effect. Screens cause a different chemical reaction in the brain and so the information is stored differently, which makes whatever was learned easily dismissed and forgotten.

With the changing of the times, because the way we learn has changed the way that we view life has also changed. Our priorities are different and so, the life that we live is different. To test this theory of mine, set this scenario yourself. Go a week without your modern technologies and see how different your everyday normalcy changes.  Most people in today’s society would not be able to survive with out the comfort and artificial security that these devices provide. The new meaning of life is so dependent upon our devices because it is more comfortable to have them. Everything is instant, fast, and easy so that life is easier to live, but does this necessarily make life easier or harder. Can we truly find the meaning to life, or find who we are through endless hours of Google searches and Wikipedia?

The "real answer" to life

The "Answer" according to Raymond

http://users.aristotle.net/~diogenes/meaning1.htm

By: Eric Hebert