Found this in a WaPo comments section: the lesson of Nero's death

[The Blue Flower]

From Ryan Holiday's Daily Stoic:

What is the lesson of Nero's death? Well, first, that an undignified and cowardly life almost always presages an undignified and cowardly end. It also reminds that power built on LIES, on EVIL, on NARCISSISM and DELUSION will always come crashing down. How long it will take is unknown, but we can take it as historical law that the Hitlers and the Neros always end up dying painfully, alone, and in a way that exposes their moral bankruptcy one last undeniable time.

[kimbutgar]

1. Rick Steves has a special on PBS about Fascism

Interesting correlation between the orange maggot with Hitler and Mussolini. I can see the similarity with Nero.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

2. Upside is they eventually die! Downside is others suffer and die before they do!

[PatSeg]

8. Exactly

And they cause a lot of death and suffering before they expire.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. This.

[2naSalit]

3. K&R

[saidsimplesimon]

4. The greatest fear

of the bully is to be ignored, disobeyed and forgotten. imo

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Let's not forget Stalin -- died alone on the floor of his bedroom, because everyone was too scared

to open the door and disturb him. Might have been saved by doctors, but no one wanted the risk.

[dalton99a]

7. +1. He had his doctor arrested and charged with espionage

because the doctor told him to take it easy during a checkup

[pretzel4gore]

11. how long will it take

humanity is losing the game, it's sinking deeper and deeper into a MAN MADE MESS...and when the species wakes up, to recognise the truth there was NEVER anything stopping humanity from prospering and living very well thank you EXCEPT what Socrates identified as the only problem ie: 'IGNORANCE'
>Ignorance-root word 'ignore'

look what happened to US. We're the richest, best educated and powerful subset of the human species in known history, but we're led by a grunting boor who uses hatred to galvanise his useless career- and there aint a durn thang we can do about it, but empower the same forces that created the mess in first place see FBI. The fascist Win by Losing, and Lose by Winning, and we are , even if we can avoid the political catastrophe (which will save the fascists from punishment) we are doomed because the enviromental repercussions of pumping trillions of tonnes of carbon into earth's 12 mile thick atmosphere for a few grasping generations has changed the very substance of the biosphere etc etc...to fix the problem we must FIX the politics, get ridda Foxnews and rush limbo and Trump Farted, but we can't even do that!
What was the USSR up against, why did Joe Stalin deal with his card game hand by throwing away so many aces? Was he stoopid! Was he just driven like Ted Bundy, by a madness he never quite understood, or was he tied up in knots by the same racist selfish bullyboy mentality that succeeded by hiding what it did, not only from history but from its own goofball adherents, not to mention US! Does anyone here think the nazipoohs are anti social because they hate their own children? Maybe they are ignoring the truth in order to feel good, and it makes complete sense if you believe the earth is flat, and jesus was white, and so on....
I know a fair amount about history, but even I only can guess at the misinfo Stalin was being given by the supermen (the anglo saxon white supremists) of the day. The 'Great Game' involved the murder of millions...it still does!
Lee Harvey Oswald was a secret policeman ferchrissake- who served the USA until death. His estate was retired in 2005, when Oswald would have been 65.

[smirkymonkey]

6. I really hope his crash is spectacular and very public.

I want him to go down in abject humiliation and shame, knowing that he will always be associated with failure and incompetence.

[NewJeffCT]

15. I've been hoping for

a moment like Jack Nicholson on the stand in "A Few Good Men"

"You're Goddamn Right I Order the Russian Hack!!"

[malaise]

21. It's the first thing I look for at the beginning of every fucking day

[smirkymonkey]

22. Hey Malaise!

I'm not religious, but I pray every day that I will wake up and something will have happened to him and his administration that has caused irreversable, irreparable harm to them so that they will never be in power again. This has to end somehow. I feel like there is so much tension in the world and in this country that something is going to snap soon.

[malaise]

24. +1,000

I can't bear the sound of his voice - the non-stop spewing of ignorance

[Thekaspervote]

14. Don't point a finger at a group per se. those aged 40-64 as a block voted in larger #s for IQ45

Than boomers. Follow the link

https://www.businessinsider.com/exit-polls-who-voted-for-trump-clinton-2016-11

It is very divisive, especially on DU to single groups out. We are all here, regardless of age working for change. Many will take offense

[ifihad2]

18. hold on

...okay, I understand you're frustrated and angry and maybe you have the numbers, but don't include me in them ... sometimes I'm afraid remarks like yours just create another division, another bias ... I am not trying to justify myself but trying to remind you not to lump everybody ... would you want the rest of the planet to include you with the Trump lovers just because you live in the US? I don't think so, so please extend that courtesy ... BTW, I grew up in NY and knew without a doubt that the Orange Moron was an over privileged moron from day one ...

[Thekaspervote]

25. The salon article you added interesting.. 5th paragraph in "those ages 45 and older." Not exactly

Boomer age. Again, my point is it is divisive to pick out a group...any group and blame them. That’s not working together! The gopeee love when there’s division. We cannot we must not

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. We don't any more divisive remarks like this.

A whole lot of us old baby boomers spent plenty of time and effort protesting the Vietnam War and have been dedicated progressives ever since; in fact, when I attend some kind of liberal event or rally these days I see plenty of gray hair but not so many young people. Don't forget we're in this mess together and we can't afford to fight among ourselves.

[byronius]

12. There's also the counter-lesson of Nero's early tutor Seneca.

Who tried very hard to install a moral compass in his student, but failed. Once Nero got into his twenties he fell prey to a group of advisers and friends who all pushed him toward predatory and destructive behavior that ended with his ordering the assassination of his own mother. Seneca was on the list; he gave all his money to Nero and retired from public life to a hut in which he wrote his famous letters.

Seneca's words are astonishingly wise, and are currently blowing my mind. Balanced, thoughtful, humanistic Stoicism full of brilliant philosophy. He was anti-slavery and anti-arena games, very much an early liberal and full of a life of experience that gave him startling insight. Everyone should read Seneca.

His student, however -- survives only as a Bad Example, as did Hitler and Stalin, as will Trump and Putin. There is no winning for them; their success can only be temporary, because there was and is no wisdom to them at all.

[vlyons]

13. There will no heroic statues of Trump on the Wash mall.

No freeways or parks named after him. Already his name is getting pulled off buildings. If he gets impeached, Congress will pass a law that he can't have a presidential library. A trump presidential library -- think about that one for a minute. Gives me the creeps thinking about it. yikes

[jayschool2013]

16. And both Hitler and Nero committed suicide

after having to flee their homes.

Nero, a sniveling coward, allegedly needed a servant to help him commit suicide.

Interesting analogy.

[smirkymonkey]

23. I'm kind of hoping we are looking at more of a Mussolini type of situation here.

Besides, I don't think he would ever commit suicide.

[Power 2 the People]

17. Was watching the movie Gladiator last night and was thinking about the striking similarities

Last edited Tue Oct 23, 2018, 02:50 PM - Edit history (1)

between the maniacal emperor Commodus and Trump. Both were born into privilege and ascended to power illegitimately. Both tried to dismantle the democratic process and ruled through fear,violence and intimidation. I was struck by how familiar and diabolical Trump's tactics are (as demonstrated by this short speech by Derek Jacobi who played Senator Gracchus.

Gracchus: Fear and wonder, a powerful combination.

Falco: You really think people are going to be seduced by that?

Gracchus: I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum. He'll bring them death - and they will love him for it.

Though events of Commodus life were fictionalized for the movie you'd be shocked and horrified at how similar the reign of Trump and Commodus really are. See short article below.

http://listverse.com/2017/09/18/10-insane-facts-about-emperor-commodus-left-out-of-gladiator/

[maddiemom]

19. Re: Trump: "Wouldn't it be pretty to think so?" (Hemingway)

[superpatriotman]

20. Millions had to die before the tyrant's end

nt