[HN Gopher] Lessons from Roman Empire about dangers of luxury
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Lessons from Roman Empire about dangers of luxury
        
       Author : saemei
       Score  : 7 points
       Date   : 2021-04-17 19:29 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bigthink.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bigthink.com)
        
       | 1cvmask wrote:
       | This is the problem with these writers is that they lack
       | precision in their arguments and conflate partial facts with
       | delusions to come to a desired outcome.
       | 
       | From the article:
       | 
       | "Faced with a trade deficit with China, the British Empire
       | flooded their country with cheap opium they had shipped over from
       | India. A luxury drug became an addiction, and the British traded
       | their opium for porcelain, tea, and silk."
       | 
       | Britain started a series of wars on China to accept the drug
       | Opium which was banned in China.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
       | 
       | Modern Germany and the technological advancements was not
       | enslaved, weakened or slowed down by the universal social
       | security and healthcare system enacted by Bismarck in 1883:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck#Social_legis...
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany
        
       | cafard wrote:
       | Bullshit. The Ptolemies went to pot in Alexandria, but even so
       | Cleopatra went down fighting. The (down-home) Macedonians had a
       | lot of money, but they went down fighting. The Gauls lost a
       | series of pitched battles before they were conquered, as did the
       | Britons.
       | 
       | Tacitus was a remarkable writer, but he had an axe to grind. The
       | degeneration through luxury he had in mind was back in Rome.
       | 
       | The Big Think? Here I want to quote G.K. Chesterton's friend, who
       | heard what someone prefaced with a "A thought:", and said, "Good
       | God, man, you call that a thought?"
        
       | cultofmetatron wrote:
       | well.. I gotta say, being enslaved by good health care wouldn't
       | be the worst problem to have
        
         | gentleman11 wrote:
         | I think that many Americans fear they will lose its edge if the
         | people get things like healthcare for free
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-04-17 23:02 UTC)