Ammianus Marcellinus served as an officer in the Roman army through the campaigns of the mid-fourth century, and when he sat down in the 380s to write the history of his own time, the empire around him was still functioning.
I've been thinking a lot about the upcoming 250th anniversary of America's Declaration of Independence. If there's any sense of broader civic identity that is transcendent of personal political leanings, now's the time you'd see it manifest. But pretty much everyone -- including the right-wing, if I'm being honest -- is carrying on like it's business as usual.
This is a good read.
I've been thinking a lot about the upcoming 250th anniversary of America's Declaration of Independence. If there's any sense of broader civic identity that is transcendent of personal political leanings, now's the time you'd see it manifest. But pretty much everyone -- including the right-wing, if I'm being honest -- is carrying on like it's business as usual.
It is a very hard headspace. Knowing what is happening but feeling like, well, I still need to work, and the rest of the world doesn't seem to care.