Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Blog 5, Part 2: Parallel's to Rome's Imperial Period

1. Health Care:  "Most sick people here in Rome perish for want of sleep, the illness itself having been produced by food lying undigested on a fevered stomach. For what sleep is possible in a lodging? Who but the wealthy get sleep in Rome? There lies the root of the disorder".-232  
  • I don't necessarily know that this refers to Health Care, but it seems like something that happens with people here who do not have health insurance.  They can end up very sick, or die from something that if treated early on would not have been nearly as serious.

2: Gay Rights:  " 'Out you go! for very shame,' says the marshal; 'out of the Knights' stalls, all of you whose means do not satisfy the law.'"- 145
  • Again, I don't think this necessarily is referring to gay rights, however in a satiric way and taken out of context in which Juvenile was referring it sort of sounds the way a lot of people (not all) refer to the LGBT community in general.    
3. Abortion :  " slaying whomsoever the mob with a turn of the thumb[5] bids them slay; from that they go back to contract for cesspools, and why not for any kind of thing, seeing that they are of the kind that Fortune raises from the gutter to the mighty places of earth whenever she wishes to enjoy a laugh?"
  •  I didn't do a very good job of choosing things that went with this reading, but I suppose taken out of context this could fit well with abortion.    I suppose the mob could refer to the woman choosing the abortion where as the slayer would be the Doctor

4. Umemployment:  "Since there is no room," quoth he, "for honest callings in this city, no reward for labour; since my means are less to-day than they were yesterday, and to-morrow will rub off something from the little that is left"- 21

  • I thought this one fit well with Unemployment.  When there is no work to be found, and no offers are coming in sometimes you just have to go where the work is

5. Immigration:  "The Syrian Orontes has long since poured into the Tiber, bringing with it its lingo and its manners, its flutes and its slanting harp-strings[6]; bringing too the timbrels of the breed, and the trulls who are bidden ply their trade at the Circus. Out upon you, all ye that delight in foreign strumpets with painted headdresses! Your country clown, Quirinus, now trips to dinner in Greek-fangled slippers,[7] and wears niceterian[7] ornaments upon a ceromatic[7] neck!"- 58 

  • I thought this one went well with immigration, similar to the US in how is describes how new people are coming in from different lands, and with them bringing their culture, traditions and dress.    

6 comments:

  1. I actually thought your quote for Health Care went along very nicely. We usually associate the poor with those who need health-care to be able to be provided to them. In a way, this could be used as argument for health-care being readily available because the poor cannot not "sleep" because they are not getting the care they need.

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  2. I liked how you made immigration look like a good thing in your comment. Most would have made a parallel to how immigration was a bad thing. It's true that because of the differences in cultures it made Rome a huge melting pot of diversity. I guess that's why the United States is the way it is today.

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  3. I agree that some of the issues were definitely hard to match! You did a good job though. I noticed your immigration comment seemed positive as well. When that word is heard we often think of the negative side of it and forget about all the positive things. We forget this adds new ideas, art, and ways of thinking.

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  4. I think you had really great quotes! Even with things like abortion that weren't specifically referred to, you had very clever uses of the quotes from the passage. I really like your quote for gay rights and how it talks about "those who's means do not satisfy the law". I thought it was a really interesting comparison and really makes sense.

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  5. I liked your comments on immigration - and how you pointed out that "new people are coming in from different lands, and with them bringing their culture, traditions and dress." This shows a more positive side of immigration, which most often goes overlooked. While I do not support illegal immigration, I think it is important to look for the positive sides of it because it is a problem which is not black and white and cannot be quickly solved.

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  6. I liked all of your quotes! Especially the spin you put on emigration. Even though there are many, many, many people pouring into countries like America and Rome, they all brought ideas and arts. It's part of what made us great. Rome and America are both the melting pots of society.

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