Hi, I’m Evolving, are You?
Many years ago…, now wait, I should say; many, many years ago Herodotus conducted his research, wrote it down, et voilà, we now have the product of his ‘investigation’. That is, an historical account of The Persian War. At this point the long-standing debate on the nature of history as an art or a science arises, since presentation of the results of investigation, which cannot be formulated in strictly scientific terms necessarily, involves the problem of form and interpretation (so says Mr. Godolphin in introduction to Herodotus’ work translated by George Rawlinson). In other words, where do the facts fall off in the literary composition of history and the opinions begin? For this present study that is irrelevant. What is more to the point is…, well first, have you read the book?
The point is thus; how far have we, as a species, evolved since Herodotus wrote The Persian War? To address this question, let us, like the derivation of the word ‘history’ do some research. One place to start is in the Coliseum. Of course this is springtime in the eastern reaches of the USA but stay with me for a moment and pretend it is a warm sunny afternoon in the fall and you, along with approximately 50,000 screaming maniacs are in a spiritual frenzy as the gladiators knock each other to the ground until one or more of them cannot get up due to a protruding bone that had broken the surface causing blood to squirt out upon the manicured stomping grounds. You, and the other fans, rise from your seats to show appreciation for the carnage of battle below and in so doing perform ‘the wave’.
Of course American football is not just about the body count, it encompasses so much more, like character(s). Character(s) being those who have so much to give, such as their body and soul, to the advancement of the legion as it musters for yet another encounter with the barbarians from the north, or south, or east or… “Win one for the Gipper!” rings out often today, in a modernized rendition of course, as it did for Ronald Reagan when he whispered that famous line to Knute and hence the Irish had a slogan, a brand on which they could hang their hats and…, sell more season tickets. Of course today, with text messaging and photo sharing you can embellish the fighting words with a few extra particulars like “want to score one with the gipper after the game?” or “how old are you…, really?”
Sorry, I digressed. Now, back to Herodotus. If one takes a generalized overview of the work it becomes clear that, in relation to today’s information age, there are some deficiencies in the historical technique he used, some questions about the literary style, and amazement with the notion that he may have accidentally preserved facts, but one solid and important achievement stands out in the work. He has succeeded once and for all in expressing the conflict between the ideal of the free man defending his autonomy and basing his state on the rule of law, and those who base their rules on force (or political ideology) and whose subjects have the status of slaves (or worse, lemmings). Does this sound familiar in any way?
If one digs down deeper into the text of Herodotus familiarity becomes blazingly evident as line for line the written word can be pulled and used to supplant or augment content in today’s reports on politics, military events, domestic and foreign relations, and…, the list goes on. Can you find out how we have changed if the ideas, the methods and the stratagems are no different today than they were in 500 B.C.?
Yes some things have changed, or so we think. Take for example male cheerleaders. Did they have male cheerleaders when the Olympic Games were first held in 776 B.C.? Now, don’t get me wrong, cheerleading can be good, or fun to watch when they use poles to dance with, but male dancers…, sorry, cheerleaders? Did Darius have male cheerleaders, did Xerxes? Probably not, Eunuchs yes, but cheerleaders, I don’t think so. I mean who would want to watch a bunch of young men bouncing up and down and clapping like, well, like sea lions. Now they do get to grab the female cheerleaders in their private regions demonstrating public displays of…, investigation. That type of cheering can get you on youtube, or some other file sharing sites on the internet, right, and that is not too bad for extroverts is it.
Now, no matter how much we believe that we have changed, we do still go to the Coliseum to watch the gladiators. Only now we do it with digital cameras linked to our telephones which give us instant internet access so that we can type text messages to anyone and everyone if we are ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ or can’t sit still long enough to think of the second line of the sonnet because the first line has been analyzed by the net-based news reporting group who quickly thrust the next topic front and center while we cheer our favorite team and watch the OMG feeds that state exactly what our texts should say in response to the opposing quarterbacks tryst with the news reporter from places too far away to visit because we must go shopping for clothes, on line. And as the next body falls you have to stop and think, turn to the person closest to you who serves as your mate for the day and ask…, “are we routing for the “Lions” or the Vikings?”
Fortunately the mate in question also has instant access and gives you the lowdown…, “well the bookies say that we should bet on the Vikings, but my guy on the inside says that Nero has his money on the…".
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