Americans are the Anti-Greeks

I’ll explain later what I mean by “anti-Greeks”, but first I’d like to make a note about the title. I’m using Americans as an example in what I’m about to say, but my criticism reaches well across the Atlantic as well. After rereading The Iliad, I realised that the ancient Greeks were the most perceptive people in human history. They understood the nature of man more than anyone, and I feel that time of the Greeks is one of the the most golden periods of humanity.

If you look at why the Trojan war (whether or not it happened or not is irrelevant), it was started by the kidnapping of Helen by Paris. Menelaus, her husband, waged war on the Trojans not to get his wife back, but to preserve his honour. So, what IS honour anyway? Don’t go hurrying to look it up the dictionary. I’m sure that we all have lost sense of the word “honour,” so let’s call it “self-integrity”.

Menelaus, along with Achilles, were both ready to die in a heartbeat for what the stood for. Rather than sitting around and rationalising life like Hamlet, they lived and fought for self-integrity. This brings me to America.

Americans want, but they’re never willing to sacrifice anything to get it. An example? People want to feel safe, but they also don’t want to pay taxes or have their beloved petrol prices rise. This is the culture that has experienced decadence for far too long. Is there anything that anyone would die for anyway? Sure, someone will say “I’ll die for my country”. That’s super and altruistic of you, but you will not be remembered after the people who knew you personally die. The real heroes were the people who died for their own personal causes.