So All the shenanigans in the US, where Democrats are trying to ignore the elections and overturn the social contract implied in the procedural agreement of democracy to get their own way, reminds me of how the Gracchi brothers, trying to get land reform against a greedy upper class Senate in Rome, twisted traditions of the Republic to get their own way, were killed for their bullying tactics.
Usually they are portrayed as heroes, which they were, but the bad news is that their actions destroyed the balance between the classes, so in the long run they destroyed the republic in order to save "the people".
The Marxist interpretation of Julius Caesar is the same, that he was killed for trying to help "the people".
The irony: The landless masses got used to living off the dole, so when they got farms, they sold them back, preferring to live off the dole in the city rather than live poor on a farm where crops might fail. Cheap grain from Egypt undercut their ability to make a profit, and slave labor was cheaper to use to cultivate crops for export, while soil erosion/deterioration made the land in Italy less productive...
which is why I argued that the unions resemble the Luddites: many of the gov't jobs have been or will be computerized or outsourced to save money no matter how much they strike, but the damage to democracy will outlast their jobs.
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Yesterday was the feast day of Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother. Typical saintly biography HERE, where I got the picture of the effeminate saint so beloved by the pious.
So why is he so popular? Well, maybe it's because of the parts not usually noted in the pious biographies, such as he was a playboy once engaged to two ladies at the same time, and not the milksop of the pious books.
But the reason that the common people embraced him as one of their own can be found in this story:
"In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.
Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone. Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.
At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola"."
So he is now the patron saint of gunowners.
He's not the only saint whose popularity is obscured by pious retelling: It wasn't until I saw this movie on Saint Rita that I realized she was popular among my Italian classmates' moms, not for her visions as much as she was a sexy housewife and loving mother who not only managed to forgive her husband's murderers but who managed to stop a Mafia type feud between the families that were terrorizing the town by inspiring them to stop the feud.
Imagine that type of plot in the Sopranos...
Indeed, imagine such a peacemaker in Libya or the middle East, or even in Madison Wisconsin, saying we need to respect and love each other and stop the hatred and work together for the common good.
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another playboy/reporter made good. More here.
It would make a great movie if they left the jokes and religion in...
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Quick, before the copyright cops find out:
The Ginger Tree miniseries
is on youtube.
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