The trouble in Catalonia has got me concerned and stimulated the thought to skim through "Don Quixote" via the free download; another one of those books on the 'well-rounded man' list, eh? Somewhat aware of the gist with regard to standard received acculturation... the knight errant, his lady love - jousting with windmills.
The Catalan situation is serious, their having declared independence from Spain at the instigation of an entrenched anarchist political cadre who've got the people whipped up in a circumstance which could lead to civil war. Yes, Catalonia is different from Gothic and Morisco Spain. Along with Provence in France, old cultural ties to the former Roman establishment, their languages infused with colloquial Latin rather than the aggressive and guttural barbarisms from the north. The land of the troubadours. More akin to the Franks, who were their protectors from the Moors, than the Visigoth remnant in northern Spain. Wasn't it the union of Aragon and Castille which rallied the final throes of the reconquest? That's how far back the integration goes... to 1474.
Presently more cosmopolitan and a world tourist destination, they think they can go it alone on the revenues generated. Much out of spite. You just hate to see Spain tear itself up over egotistical folly. And, my oh my, haven't they had enough?
The Catalan situation is serious, their having declared independence from Spain at the instigation of an entrenched anarchist political cadre who've got the people whipped up in a circumstance which could lead to civil war. Yes, Catalonia is different from Gothic and Morisco Spain. Along with Provence in France, old cultural ties to the former Roman establishment, their languages infused with colloquial Latin rather than the aggressive and guttural barbarisms from the north. The land of the troubadours. More akin to the Franks, who were their protectors from the Moors, than the Visigoth remnant in northern Spain. Wasn't it the union of Aragon and Castille which rallied the final throes of the reconquest? That's how far back the integration goes... to 1474.
Presently more cosmopolitan and a world tourist destination, they think they can go it alone on the revenues generated. Much out of spite. You just hate to see Spain tear itself up over egotistical folly. And, my oh my, haven't they had enough?
As I slog through the blow by blows at Verdun, there's the same question? For what? President Wilson intellectualized rational Allied war aims with his Fourteen Points, one of which was 'the self-determination of peoples' and that's the nub here. Who gets to say who you are and what you are? We run into it in the States all the time with regard to mass media. Who writes the script? And does it matter considering whatever sells is the script? If one is a Christian, scripture informs, the rest mooted. The Body of Christ must needs do without national identities and gender posturing.
All to be decided democratically? Make the world safe for democracy? Really? An impossible dream? Concurrent to this tune getting into the nation's collective consciousness we'd been 'democratizing' the Vietnamese. That was old school then. Burn their villages, clear them out of the countryside to concentration camps under guard. This prevented the VC from victualizing and using the populace as cover. Pacification. The 'noble cause' of democracy. Practically speaking, in our present electorate, your votes cancelled by the craven and ignorant, driven by the winds of mass media. They want and want. Beg, borrow and steal to get.
All to be decided democratically? Make the world safe for democracy? Really? An impossible dream? Concurrent to this tune getting into the nation's collective consciousness we'd been 'democratizing' the Vietnamese. That was old school then. Burn their villages, clear them out of the countryside to concentration camps under guard. This prevented the VC from victualizing and using the populace as cover. Pacification. The 'noble cause' of democracy. Practically speaking, in our present electorate, your votes cancelled by the craven and ignorant, driven by the winds of mass media. They want and want. Beg, borrow and steal to get.
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