More seriously, there is a strange attachment of fascists to the Roman Empire. A big part of this is that, before the 1930s, nearly everyone with an education in the West was, in effect, either a Graecoboo or a Romaboo. When the fascists came about, first in the 1920s, and then in the 30s, they leaned hard into the Roman aesthetic, both because of its expansionist implications and the symbolism that retained great influence in the pre-existing societies they sought to manipulate. This… both discredited a lot of Roman symbolism amongst non-fascists, and gave fascists a lasting taste for the symbolism, since it was used in the only period the fucks had real power over a significant portion of the world.
However, RoughRomanMemes, both the original on R*ddit (sadly could not convince the other mods to check out the Fediverse at the time of the original exodus, though I also wasn’t super-close with them) and the one on here ran by me, are ardently anti-fascist.
Rome was (largely) doing the best it could with the limited material and philosophical resources it had - we love that! Show me those proto-rights, that early rise in living standards, that conception of universal humanity! I’m here to share a shit-sponge with my fellow plebs and talk about the grain dole!
Fascists are universally doing the worst they can with all the material and philosophical resources of human history at their goddamn fingertips - fuck them.
See the “Roman salute”. Not actually Roman, but instead invented for a film about Romans. Italian fascists liked it and adopted it. Then the Nazis liked it and adopted it from the Italian fascists.
It doesn’t matter that it’s not actually Roman, it’s still something that the fascists can do in order to pretend to be Roman.
OF THIS I AM ASSURED
More seriously, there is a strange attachment of fascists to the Roman Empire. A big part of this is that, before the 1930s, nearly everyone with an education in the West was, in effect, either a Graecoboo or a Romaboo. When the fascists came about, first in the 1920s, and then in the 30s, they leaned hard into the Roman aesthetic, both because of its expansionist implications and the symbolism that retained great influence in the pre-existing societies they sought to manipulate. This… both discredited a lot of Roman symbolism amongst non-fascists, and gave fascists a lasting taste for the symbolism, since it was used in the only period the fucks had real power over a significant portion of the world.
However, RoughRomanMemes, both the original on R*ddit (sadly could not convince the other mods to check out the Fediverse at the time of the original exodus, though I also wasn’t super-close with them) and the one on here ran by me, are ardently anti-fascist.
Rome was (largely) doing the best it could with the limited material and philosophical resources it had - we love that! Show me those proto-rights, that early rise in living standards, that conception of universal humanity! I’m here to share a shit-sponge with my fellow plebs and talk about the grain dole!
Fascists are universally doing the worst they can with all the material and philosophical resources of human history at their goddamn fingertips - fuck them.
See the “Roman salute”. Not actually Roman, but instead invented for a film about Romans. Italian fascists liked it and adopted it. Then the Nazis liked it and adopted it from the Italian fascists.
It doesn’t matter that it’s not actually Roman, it’s still something that the fascists can do in order to pretend to be Roman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_salute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_the_Horatii
TIL
Invented for a painting, but your point stands.
Yes, thank you. Not invented for a film, but the film is where the fascists took it from.
You have my xylospongium.
Beautiful