我們所知道的“西方”會(huì)像羅馬帝國(guó)那樣崩潰嗎?（一）
Will ''the West'' as we know it collapse the way the Roman Empire collapsed?
譯文簡(jiǎn)介
西方文化的“殘酷真相”是，“西方”不夠愛(ài)自己，以至于無(wú)法繼續(xù)存在太久。有一種頹廢感，一種對(duì)舒適和生活中美好事物的熱愛(ài)，幾乎滲透到現(xiàn)代西方社會(huì)的每一個(gè)方面。
正文翻譯
Will 'the West' as we know it collapse the way the Roman Empire collapsed?
我們所知道的“西方”會(huì)像羅馬帝國(guó)那樣崩潰嗎?
評(píng)論翻譯
很贊 ( 1 )
收藏
The ‘brutal truth’ of Western culture is that ‘the West’ does not love itself enough to continue to exist for much longer. There is a sense of decadence, a love of comfort and the finer things in life, that has seeped into almost every aspect of modern Western society.
Rome fell because Rome had become decadent as well. Its people weren’t hardy enough to handle the ‘barbarians at the gates’ their ancestors had successfully fought off for centuries. Their leaders and elites had become thoroughly corrupt, and thoroughly perverted. Wine, bread, games, plenty of distractions… followed by a decline in birth rates, a decline in fertility. And, ultimately, the collapse of it all.
There is a trend of analyzing one’s past and being incredibly critical of one’s own history, people, culture, nations… of toppling statues, of rewriting history, of embracing shame, encouraging deep introspection. Of cancelling historical figures, sometimes centuries after their demise and with little understanding of the era in which they lived. Only the West does this. Other nations, cultures, maintain a sense of admiration for their ‘glorious past’, whereas in much of the Western world, the past has been summarily stripped of all its glory.
西方文化的“殘酷真相”是，“西方”不夠愛(ài)自己，以至于無(wú)法繼續(xù)存在太久。有一種頹廢感，一種對(duì)舒適和生活中美好事物的熱愛(ài)，幾乎滲透到現(xiàn)代西方社會(huì)的每一個(gè)方面。
羅馬衰落是因?yàn)榱_馬也變得頹廢了。它的人民不夠堅(jiān)強(qiáng)，無(wú)法對(duì)付他們的祖先幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)成功擊退的“門(mén)口的野蠻人”。他們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人和精英已經(jīng)徹底腐敗，徹底墮落。酒，面包，游戲，大量的消遣，隨之而來(lái)的是出生率的下降，生育率的下降。最終，一切都崩潰了。
現(xiàn)在有一種趨勢(shì)，就是分析自己的過(guò)去，對(duì)自己的歷史、人民、文化、國(guó)家提出難以置信的批評(píng)……推翻雕像，重寫(xiě)歷史，接受恥辱，鼓勵(lì)深刻的反省。遺忘歷史人物——有時(shí)是在他們死后幾個(gè)世紀(jì)，對(duì)他們生活的時(shí)代知之甚少。只有西方國(guó)家會(huì)這么做。其他國(guó)家、文化對(duì)他們的“光輝的過(guò)去”保持著一種崇拜的感覺(jué)，而在西方世界的大部分地區(qū)，過(guò)去的光輝已經(jīng)被剝奪了
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處
The brutal truth about Western culture, is that it’s all about to collapse. Whatever culture the West has, it does not fight hard enough to defend or preserve. People have their Netflix, their fastfood, their holidays and they’re lulled into complacency and a sort of nihilism, best summed up as “meh”. Stronger cultures with stronger values, closer families and stronger leaders will ultimately eat up what’s left of the West.
剩下的是一種相當(dāng)空虛、相當(dāng)物質(zhì)主義的文化，其中相當(dāng)一部分知識(shí)分子更關(guān)心如何解釋問(wèn)題，而不是解決問(wèn)題。更專(zhuān)注于分配責(zé)任而不是尋找解決辦法。消費(fèi)主義變得猖獗，最新的品牌比最新的科學(xué)發(fā)展更重要，真理被那些從未進(jìn)過(guò)大學(xué)教室的人所忽視。但有了谷歌和WiFi連接，就足以形成他們固執(zhí)地堅(jiān)持的、難以置信的強(qiáng)硬意見(jiàn)……
關(guān)于西方文化的殘酷事實(shí)是，它即將崩潰。不管西方有什么文化，它都沒(méi)有足夠的努力去捍衛(wèi)或保存。人們有他們的Netflix，他們的快餐，他們的假期，他們陷入了自滿(mǎn)和一種虛無(wú)主義，最好的總結(jié)是“漠不關(guān)心”。更強(qiáng)大的文化、更強(qiáng)大的價(jià)值觀、更緊密的家庭和更強(qiáng)大的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人最終將吞噬掉西方剩下的一切。
It's astonishing to me that you have spoken like a Saint. 125 years back one of the greatest Monks of India, Swami Vivekananda had warned Americans while attending THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS in US, and I quote:
Too much materialistic living without spirituality is dangerous. From 50 years from now I stand here and warn you that you will face terrible consequences if you don't change. I have come here to teach you and I don't have to learn anything from you.
What a clairvoyant warning!
Exactly 50 years second world War broke out and now they're facing tragedy after tragedy endlessly. Drugs, sex, gun culture, no value for life, many youngsters counselled in rehabilitation centres for mental derangement etc.
讓我驚訝的是，你說(shuō)話像個(gè)圣人。125年前，印度最偉大的僧侶之一，斯瓦米·維韋卡南達(dá)在參加美國(guó)宗教議會(huì)時(shí)曾警告過(guò)美國(guó)人：過(guò)于物質(zhì)而沒(méi)有靈性的生活是危險(xiǎn)的，我站在這里警告你們，如果你們不改變，你們將面臨可怕的后果。我是來(lái)教你們的，我不需要從你們身上學(xué)到任何東西。
多么有洞察力的警告!
二戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)整整50年了，現(xiàn)在他們面臨著一場(chǎng)又一場(chǎng)無(wú)盡的悲劇。毒品、性、槍支文化、生命沒(méi)有價(jià)值，許多青少年在精神錯(cuò)亂康復(fù)中心接受咨詢(xún)等。
The good part is that the barbarians at the gates also loved Rome and tried to preserve whatever parts of Roman life and culture that they liked and could preserve,like Christianity,Roman law,the baths,Roman roads etc. In the same manner,the rising Eastern powers like China,India, Bangladesh, Vietnam,etc love Western values of capitalism, secularism, seperation of Church and State,human rights, democracy etc. Not all countries have all these things but most have adopted atleast some Western values. The youth in these countries still look upto the West. We'll preserve Western values when the West forgets them.
好的方面是，門(mén)口的野蠻人也熱愛(ài)羅馬，他們?cè)噲D保存羅馬生活和文化的任何他們喜歡和能夠保存的部分，比如基督教、羅馬法律、浴室、羅馬道路等。
同樣，中國(guó)、印度、孟加拉國(guó)、越南等崛起的東方大國(guó)也喜歡西方的資本主義、世俗主義、政教分離、人權(quán)、民主等價(jià)值觀。
不是所有的國(guó)家都有這些東西，但大多數(shù)國(guó)家至少接受了一些西方價(jià)值觀。這些國(guó)家的年輕人仍然仰望西方。我們將保護(hù)西方價(jià)值觀，即使西方忘記了它們。
I like your optimism but I am not sure I share it. A lot of major nations like ‘some’ Western values but above all the one thing they adopted seems to have been capitalism and consumerism, only it is often mixed with increasing levels of authoritarianism, something even the West itself is in no way immune to.
我喜歡你的樂(lè)觀，但我不確定我是否也有同感。許多主要國(guó)家喜歡“一些”西方價(jià)值觀，但最重要的是，他們采用的一種東西似乎是資本主義和消費(fèi)主義，它經(jīng)常與越來(lái)越多的威權(quán)主義混合在一起，就連西方自己也無(wú)法幸免。
India has some authoritarianism because the opposition can't be trusted to run a kid's birthday party so Modi has a free reign. Bangladesh has everything else,it just has a flawed democracy. The 'dictator’ is keeping radical Islamists from coming into power and most Bangladeshis approve of her.
I can't speak for Vietnam as I don't know much about it.
China is a lost cause. Its government is now dictating how much time kids can play video games and going after big companies and celebrities now.
印度有一些威權(quán)主義，因?yàn)榉磳?duì)派不能被信任來(lái)管理孩子的生日派對(duì)，所以莫迪可以自由統(tǒng)治。孟加拉國(guó)什么都有，但民主制度有缺陷。這位“獨(dú)裁者”正在阻止激進(jìn)的伊斯蘭主義者掌權(quán)，大多數(shù)孟加拉國(guó)人都支持她。
我不能為越南說(shuō)話，因?yàn)槲覍?duì)它了解不多。
中國(guó)……，它現(xiàn)在決定了孩子們能玩多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的電子游戲，并開(kāi)始打壓大公司和名人。
“capitalism, secularism, seperation of Church and State,human rights, democracy”
These are not “western values”. They’ve been around at many places throughout the world at various points in time, including China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc.. (in fact many of these places before western Europe as a whole)
“資本主義、世俗主義、政教分離、人權(quán)、民主”
這些不是“西方價(jià)值觀”。它們?cè)诓煌臅r(shí)間出現(xiàn)在世界各地，包括中國(guó)、印度、孟加拉國(guó)、越南等(事實(shí)上，這些地方在整個(gè)西歐之前就已經(jīng)存在了)
Western “values” are European cultures, languages, scxts, accents, clothing, rituals, including religions of traditional paganism or Christianity. Aspects like capitalism, secularism, human rights, democracy, etc, have been practiced across other civilizations as well, in whole or in part. Indians will preserve their own cultures, civilizations, languages, etc, all united under Hindu Dharma. Perhaps English is the only Western “culture” that “might” be preserved, but that’s about it. Europeans must wake up and save themselves on their own continent of Europe, which is their rightful homeland.
西方的“價(jià)值觀”是歐洲的文化、語(yǔ)言、文字、口音、服裝、儀式，包括傳統(tǒng)的異教或基督教。像資本主義、世俗主義、人權(quán)、民主等方面，也在其他文明中全部或部分地實(shí)踐過(guò)。
印度人會(huì)保存自己的文化、文明、語(yǔ)言等，所有這些都在印度教下統(tǒng)一起來(lái)。也許英語(yǔ)是唯一“可能”被保存下來(lái)的西方“文化”，但也僅此而已。歐洲人必須清醒過(guò)來(lái)，在他們自己的歐洲大陸上拯救自己，這是他們合法的家園。
The barbarians at the gates did change Roman culture though.
門(mén)口的蠻族確實(shí)改變了羅馬文化。
Problem with this was that by the reign of Caracalla in AD 212, everyone living inside the empire became a Roman. Even those that lived by different morals, ethics, and even some groups like the germanic tribes became citizens of Rome, changed the dynamics of what it meant to be Roman. Germanic tribes were never treated with respect, even inside the empire, long story short, they invaded and sacked Rome.
Distrust of the germans may also have something to do with the disaster in the Teutoburg forest back in AD 9, when Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, basically annihilating them.
How I see this in comparison to Europe today is that, everyone is equal by law, even those that have different morals, ethics and value system opposite of what we have; a democratic liberal free society.
問(wèn)題是到公元212年卡拉卡拉(Caracalla)統(tǒng)治時(shí)期，所有居住在帝國(guó)內(nèi)的人都變成了羅馬人。即使是那些生活在不同的道德，倫理，甚至一些群體，如日耳曼部落也成為了羅馬公民，這改變了對(duì)羅馬的定義。日耳曼部落從未受到尊重，即使在帝國(guó)內(nèi)部。最終，他們?nèi)肭植⑾唇倭肆_馬。
對(duì)日耳曼人的不信任可能也與公元9年發(fā)生在條頓堡森林的災(zāi)難有關(guān)，當(dāng)時(shí)日耳曼人伏擊了羅馬軍團(tuán)及其支援部隊(duì)，基本上將他們殲滅。與今天的歐洲相比，我認(rèn)為每個(gè)人在法律上都是平等的，即使是那些有著不同的道德、倫理和價(jià)值體系的人;民主、自由和解放的社會(huì)。
Indeed, all cultures are not equal and multicultural societies inevitably become multi-confrontational societies.
事實(shí)上，并非所有的文化都是平等的，多文化社會(huì)不可避免地成為多對(duì)抗的社會(huì)。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處
“all cultures are not equal”
These were my exact words during a university seminar. I believe I talked about Ancient Greece vs some Siberian tribes. The feeling of discomfort was definitely there. The professor decided to show me I was wrong and started to talk about an old peasant woman who could sing lovely songs and who was a good person.
Great, let me just throw Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics etc out of the window. Instead I will smile and sing a little song. Because all cultures are equal! Or so our schools claim.
“所有文化并不平等”
這是我在大學(xué)研討會(huì)上的原話。我記得我講過(guò)古希臘和西伯利亞部落。不舒服的感覺(jué)確實(shí)存在。教授想證明我錯(cuò)了，于是開(kāi)始談?wù)撘晃荒艹蓯?ài)歌曲的農(nóng)婦，說(shuō)她是一個(gè)好人。
很好，讓我把柏拉圖、亞里士多德、斯多葛學(xué)派等都扔出窗外。相反，我會(huì)微笑著唱一首小曲。因?yàn)樗械奈幕际瞧降鹊?！至少學(xué)校是這么說(shuō)的。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處
It’s fine if each culture is contained to the specific area in which it evolved. It does become a problem if you throw people of different cultures together and just tell them to get along with each other (maybe with some extremely zealous anti-discrimination laws in favour of the minority as well).
What happens is that these cultures clash in various different ways and compete with each other until one is able to subdue the other (usually with violence) or everyone is compelled to follow the overriding culture. Otherwise, you will get increasingly violent agitation as people demand specific representation on the basis of their race/ethnicity/culture.
如果每種文化都局限于其發(fā)展的特定區(qū)域，那就好了。如果你把不同文化的人聚在一起，只是告訴他們要和睦相處(也許還有一些極端熱心的、支持反歧視法的少數(shù)人)，這確實(shí)會(huì)成為一個(gè)問(wèn)題。
這些文化會(huì)以各種不同的方式發(fā)生沖突，相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，直到其中一種能夠制服另一種(通常是用暴力)，或者每個(gè)人都被迫遵循壓倒一切的文化。否則，隨著人們基于他們的種族/民族/文化要求特定的代表，你將會(huì)遭遇越來(lái)越多的暴力煽動(dòng)。
I don't think the decline of the West has much to do with nihilism or a laziness induced by a glut of material and material comforts.
It's got far more to do with stupidity and an utter abandonment of critical thinking and science and obxtive and consensus reality.
Thomas Jefferson…and several of the American founding fathers, in fact…often said and wrote during their lifetimes that, without a sufficiently educated electorate, democracy simply could not work.
And so, my friends… here the fuck we finally are.
It's stupid that'll do and is doing us in.
我不認(rèn)為西方的衰落與虛無(wú)主義或物質(zhì)享受過(guò)剩導(dǎo)致的懶惰有多大關(guān)系。而是與愚蠢、完全放棄批判性思維、科學(xué)、客觀和共識(shí)有關(guān)。
事實(shí)上，托馬斯·杰斐遜(Thomas Jefferson)和幾位美國(guó)開(kāi)國(guó)元?jiǎng)自谒麄兊囊簧薪?jīng)常說(shuō)，如果選民沒(méi)有受過(guò)足夠教育，民主根本無(wú)法發(fā)揮作用。
所以，我的朋友們，我們最終還是面臨著這樣的、該死的局面。
這太蠢了，會(huì)害死我們的。
Unfortunately the quality of university “research” has drastically declined over the years and Marxist propaganda originating from these campuses is one of the biggest reasons for the self-hating, exceptionalist attitude about the past of the West.
不幸的是，這些年來(lái)，大學(xué)“研究”的質(zhì)量急劇下降，這源自這些校園的馬克思主義宣傳，它是自我憎恨、對(duì)西方歷史持例外主義態(tài)度的最大原因之一。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處
I’m not sure if it is fair to blame it all on “Marxism”. Plenty of overly liberal ‘woke’ people have nothing to do with Marxism or even socialism and are simply historical revisionists. They’re certainly not all die-hard commies, although there is quite a few of them.
我不確定這一切都?xì)w咎于“馬克思主義”是否公平。許多過(guò)度自由的“覺(jué)醒”的人與馬克思主義甚至社會(huì)主義無(wú)關(guān)，他們只是歷史修正主義者。
他們當(dāng)然不都是共產(chǎn)主義死忠，盡管他們中有不少人是。
What they share with Marxism is the identification of oppressors and oppressed, only it is worse because it is race based rather than class based, and that is entirely irrespective of who the individual is or how they fit in any power structure.
Marx at least assigned it to class rather than innate characteristics.
This is frankly worse as it akin to tribalism in nature. That doesn’t bode well for a multiracial society.
他們與馬克思主義的共同之處是對(duì)壓迫者和被壓迫者的劃分，只是它更糟糕，因?yàn)樗腔诜N族而不是基于階級(jí)，這完全與個(gè)人是誰(shuí)或他們?nèi)绾芜m應(yīng)任何權(quán)力結(jié)構(gòu)無(wú)關(guān)。
馬克思至少把它劃分為階級(jí)而不是內(nèi)在特征。
坦率地說(shuō)，這更糟糕，因?yàn)樗诒举|(zhì)上類(lèi)似于部落主義。這對(duì)一個(gè)多種族社會(huì)來(lái)說(shuō)可不是什么好兆頭。
The perspective you are talking about is conflict theory, not Marxism.
你所說(shuō)的觀點(diǎn)是沖突理論，不是馬克思主義。
Karl Marx is the father of Conflict Theory,
Marxism is rooted in it.
卡爾·馬克思是沖突理論之父，馬克思主義植根于此。
It doesn't mean it's the same thing. Wokeism does not equal Marxism. They diverge over significant points. Marxism is a conflict theory but not the only one.
這并不意味著它們是同一件事。工人主義不等于馬克思主義。他們?cè)谥匾狞c(diǎn)上產(chǎn)生分歧。
馬克思主義是一種沖突理論，但沖突理論不是它的唯一。
Nothing ever entirely disappears. Rome collapsed but on it's renmants a more vital culture sprang up as an amalgamation of the barbarian and the Roman culture and indeed now we consider the Western culture as having a certain continuity all the way from Greece and Rome - despite the many changes along the way.
沒(méi)有什么會(huì)完全消失。羅馬滅亡了，但在它的復(fù)興之時(shí)，一種更有活力的文化涌現(xiàn)了出來(lái)，這是蠻族和羅馬文化的融合。
現(xiàn)在我們認(rèn)為西方文化從希臘和羅馬一直延續(xù)至今，盡管過(guò)程中發(fā)生了很多變化。
I am sorry, but the “moral decadence” hypothesis of Rome’s decline is simply not what happened. By the time of the collapse of the Western Empire, it had become much smaller in terms of population and more impoverished then when it was at its peak almost 350+ years earlier. The city of Rome, once the crown jewel in the Empire, had shrank by hundreds of thousands of residents and become a bit of a backwater; the regional capital had been moved to modern-day Milan. Disease had ravaged the population and most of the land and resources had become concentrated in the hands of influential aristocrats, who in many ways were the precursors to the feudal lords of the Medi Period. The Roman military remained strong almost to the end, but there was simply no functioning state left to support it. The poverty of many Western Roman citizens made them loath to share limited land and resources with the “Barbarians”, a group they were already deeply prejudiced against. This led to rejection of the Germanic peoples. Indeed, this is what happens in history over and over again: breakdown of economic opportunities for the population leads people groups to lash out at each other in an effort to hold on to the limited available resources.
我很抱歉，但羅馬衰落的“道德墮落”假說(shuō)根本不是事實(shí)。
到西羅馬帝國(guó)滅亡的時(shí)候，它的人口比350多年前的巔峰時(shí)期要少得多，也更加貧困。羅馬城，曾經(jīng)是帝國(guó)王冠上的一顆明珠，已經(jīng)縮減了數(shù)十萬(wàn)居民，變成了一個(gè)閉塞的地方，該地區(qū)的首都已經(jīng)搬到了今天的米蘭。疾病肆虐，人口大部分土地和資源集中在有影響力的貴族手中，他們?cè)诤芏喾矫娑际侵惺兰o(jì)封建領(lǐng)主的前身。羅馬軍隊(duì)幾乎一直強(qiáng)大到最后，但已經(jīng)沒(méi)有一個(gè)正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的政府來(lái)支持它了。
許多西羅馬公民的貧窮使他們不愿與“野蠻人”分享有限的土地和資源，而他們對(duì)這個(gè)群體已經(jīng)有了很深的偏見(jiàn)。這導(dǎo)致了日耳曼民族的排斥。事實(shí)上，這是歷史上一再發(fā)生的事情：人口經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會(huì)的崩潰導(dǎo)致各群體相互攻擊，以努力攫取有限的可用資源。
The global “West” rose because opportunities were afforded to more and more sectors of the population. There was still horrific exploitation, but gradually more and more people (men and women, racial minorities, etc.) were able to participate in the economy and gain material wealth. If we turn back on this process and create a society where only the rich can participate, then history shows the consequences are clear.
這與西方的困境有什么關(guān)系？如果我們崩潰了(可以說(shuō)，目前存在著嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題)，那將是由于經(jīng)濟(jì)不平等，以及除了富人之外的所有人都被剝奪了機(jī)會(huì)。隨著收入不平等的加劇，就像過(guò)去40多年來(lái)一樣，社會(huì)建立起了一種只對(duì)上層階級(jí)有效的方式。因此，其他人都失去了希望。軍隊(duì)仍然強(qiáng)大，但社會(huì)方方面面卻在崩潰。與西羅馬帝國(guó)后期的情況類(lèi)似，政策由有影響力的貴族控制，而犧牲了廣大民眾的最佳利益。
試圖解決問(wèn)題的改革者要么被壓制，要么被迫離開(kāi)政府，必要時(shí)還會(huì)使用暴力(就像發(fā)生在馬杰里安等西羅馬皇帝身上的事件一樣，他本可以扭轉(zhuǎn)局勢(shì))。
當(dāng)權(quán)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人成為有錢(qián)貴族的棋子，而有錢(qián)貴族才是真正的“王座背后的權(quán)力”。這也是羅馬的情況，在末世，傀儡皇帝一旦遇到里里默或他的門(mén)徒岡多巴德這樣的貴族就會(huì)興衰起伏。
全球“西方”的崛起是因?yàn)闉樵絹?lái)越多的人口提供了機(jī)會(huì)。剝削仍然是可怕的，但越來(lái)越多的人(男人和女人，少數(shù)民族等)能夠參與經(jīng)濟(jì)和獲得物質(zhì)財(cái)富。如果我們逆轉(zhuǎn)這一進(jìn)程，創(chuàng)造一個(gè)只有富人才能參與的社會(huì)，那么歷史表明，后果是顯而易見(jiàn)的。
You see, you’re doing things wrong. When you’re supposed to explain the fate of the Western Roman Empire, you aren’t supposed to look at what actually happened according to primary or secondary sources and attempt to derive conclusions from them. What you are supposed to do is to write a tale of the Romans becoming decadent and somehow gorging themselves on sweets until they’re too fat to fight. Or of spending too much time in debaucherous orgies to do anything else. Or getting drunk beyond all reason. Or suddenly being struck with an unsubstantiated lead poisoning epidemic due to lead piping they already used long before. Or somehow losing all will to fight because they are now too squamish. Never, ever, look at it’s actual socioeconomic evolution. It’s much less interesting than a tale of success being followed by decadence leading to decline. Specially not if you can use it to project your own opinions to them without much backing up.
你看，你做錯(cuò)了。當(dāng)你要解釋西羅馬帝國(guó)的命運(yùn)時(shí)，你不應(yīng)該根據(jù)第一手或第二手資料，看看實(shí)際發(fā)生了什么，并試圖從中得出結(jié)論。
你應(yīng)該做的是寫(xiě)一個(gè)羅馬人變得頹廢的故事，然后不知怎么地狂吃甜食，直到他們胖得無(wú)法戰(zhàn)斗?；蛘呋ㄌ嗟臅r(shí)間在放蕩的狂歡上而不做其他事情。或者莫名其妙地喝醉?；蛘咭?yàn)樗麄兒芫靡郧熬陀眠^(guò)的鉛管道而突然受到未經(jīng)證實(shí)的鉛中毒流行病的襲擊?；蛘卟恢喂适チ藨?zhàn)斗的意志，因?yàn)樗麄儸F(xiàn)在太嬌弱了。
永遠(yuǎn)不要去看它實(shí)際的社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)演變。這遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有成功之后的頹廢導(dǎo)致衰落的故事有趣。
特別是，如果你可以用它來(lái)向他們表達(dá)你自己的觀點(diǎn)而不需要很多支持的話（那就更有趣了）。