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Friday, March 07, 2008

Those damned Romans

What's Mallard raving about today?

Education, Kids Today.

Apparently Mallard likes hippies more than today's youth, which frankly comes as a bit of a surprise.

In addition, I would bet that some bitter crank in Rome carved an inscription just like this regarding Roman youth and Athens. Because if you can count on one thing it's that bitter cranks throughout history have found reasons to complain about anything and everything.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

The test he's going on about was about American history, not world history. Tinsley certainly showed us his fearsome knowledge about what the star-spiral-poundsign-star the Roman Empire was.

BillyWitchDoctor said...

Regular readers already have a pretty good idea of what Tinny means by "improving" our education system; pretty much the same technique Nero used to "improve" Rome.

Tell us, Educated Tin-Tin--what did bring down the Roman Empire? Pollutants? Political corruption? War? Marijuana, The Weed With Roots In Hell? ...Because I'm fairly certain it wasn't a liberal-hippy school curriculum.

Twit.

confused said...

If you’re going to pick something kids don’t know, don’t pick the Roman Empire. My son is five and knows the Roman Empire – and that it fell. He also knows dinosaurs. Ooooh.

"Gladiator" was a flop because no one understood the references. Wait...

Pick something obscure. Something someone might actually fail on a test. For instance, he could have had a lot of fun with the Goths.

----------
"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."
Peter the Hermit, A.D. 1274

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are disrespectful and impatient of restraint"
[attributed to] Hesiod, 8th century BC

BillyWitchDoctor said...

Confused, your selection of quotes is brilliant. They just prove once again, the more things change...

(Also: Goths. Oh GOD. Can't stop laughing now, because I'm picturing the resultant Tinsley strip.)

Anonymous said...

The earliest known quote of that sort is on an Assyrian clay tablet said to date from 2800 BCE:

"The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."

Unless Isaac Asimov pulled that quote out of his ugoksu, of course.

Anonymous said...

Heh. Anyone but Tinsley could come up with a bunch of "Goths vs the Roman Empire" jokes that were actually funny. With him it would just be something like "Goths wrecked the Roman Empire because they were TEH LIBRULS, Amirite?"

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure what really wrecked Rome was too many foreign wars and idiot rulers who spent all the wealth on their rich friends.

Just sayin'.

Frankie Machine said...

I'm gonna have to go with the theory that the spread of Christianity brought down the Roman empire.

I just blew Tinsley's mind.

Anonymous said...

"Because if you can count on one thing it's that bitter cranks throughout history have found reasons to complain about anything and everything."

Like obsessing about comics?

rewinn said...

Much worse than obsessing about comics is obsessing about someone else obsessing about comics ...

... and not having the ballz to post non-anonymously.

rewinn said...

BTW - about today's comic -

I doubt that Tinsley is deliberately criticizing Empire, but technically he's suggesting that we might end up in a militaristic state run by an all-powerful Executive.

That would be a more valid point if the miseducation of our youth were not lead by Tinsley's ideological allies.

---

And confused is right that kids definitely know of the Roman Empire; it permeates youth culture in games (e.g. "Age of Empires"), movies ("Gladiator", "Passion of the Christ"), and superstition (endless Xmas plays).

---
TuxedoSlack: I love that Assyrian quote!

---

I'd also like to point out that the fall of Rome didn't end the Roman Empire. A century before that, the Emperor moved the capital to Constantinople (basically because the economic center had moved anyway), where it flourished another 900 years. In a rational universe, Tinsley would be worrying about the economic center of the American Empire moving to Dubai.

Anonymous said...

I doubt that Tinsley is deliberately criticizing Empire, but technically he's suggesting that we might end up in a militaristic state run by an all-powerful Executive.

I think his point was more along the lines of the Empire being destroyed, hence the use of the term "alarmist". He probably thinks that (supposedly) stupid college students will lead to the end of America.

Anonymous said...

Ya gotta love it: "rewinn" berating someone else for posting anonymously. I'm guessing "rewinn" isn't what's listed on your driver's license, Chuckles. Oh, yeah, you have "ballz", lol.

BillyWitchDoctor said...

What's the matter, Anonymous/Insert? Can't argue the topic itself?

Nobody's asking for personal information. We just like to differentiate between our slobbering-idiot trolls, that's all. (Assuming they're plural...)

Erich said...

I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that rewinn's real name actually IS R.E. Winn...

Kaitlyn said...

DaveyK - Mallard is a bitter crank who complains about everything, but almost everyone, bitter cranks or not, thinks the generation after theirs is the worst one ever.


Something I hate that my mom does - bitch about "kids today" as if it's our fault our parents raised us the way they did and/or society is like it is.

ex - "We never needed to call anyone all day, cell phones aren't necessary." Then don't get one, don't insist we call you every hour!

Anonymous said...

If our education system was like the Romans, would that mean women wouldn't be taught? I though Mallard was for that type of thing.