Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Fifteen years before Santayana was born the largest sub national economy in the world and United States' most prosperous state California became what was then called the American State of California. Two of United States' most prosperous areas California and New York on either side of the country thrived because of excellent opportunities offered to migrants. In today's day and age when everything travels very fast, does the wall serve any purpose?
There were walls built in history that met interesting fate and serve as reminders of teh quest of teh powerful to keep the poor away.
The first one that I could find about actually belonged to one of the earliest civilizations - the Akkadians. The Wall of Amurru was a wall built starting 2034 BC . This was a 180 Km wall in an era of sparse resources to stop the people crossing from the North who were going through a drought from coming south. The outcome was pointless and money was lost and eventually it helped to bring Amorites to power and eventually led to the powerful kingdom of Hammurabhi
The Chinese started a thousand years after that to built some small fortifications eventually to be propped by the founder of the Qin Dynasty - Qin Shi Huang . Funnily enough, he is allegedly said to have burned books and buried 460 Confucian scholars. Little did the wall that goes upto 5000 miles stop the coming of someone from the North named Temüjin - better known to the world as Genghis Khan. The failure could not be more stark when his grandson Kublai Khan captured the whole of China and started the Yuan dynasty. The Mings took over after the shortlived Yuans nd even then, all reinforcements on the wall collectively was a drain on exchequer. A completely lost cause and a historic monumen!.
There have been walls and more walls through history to stop immigration - from Amorites to the recent ones in Berlin. The objectives have remained similar, the outcomes the same.
Arguably the most powerful person in the world today is again hellbent on building yet another wall costing billions of dollars and sweat and egos - perhaps as has been the case for a cause when the Akkadians thought of a similar idea four millenia in the past.
Ironically, it is to defend the most powerful country from immigrants from a country from whom it got its most prosperous state. Funnily enough California's economy today is almost thrice the size of Mexico. Thankfully there was no wall in 1848.
Maybe a few centuries down the line, the wall, if built, will be remembered and visited like the many walls all through history - for tourists and memorabilia hunters.
The Walls have been built built - the purpose AWOL.
Ironically a Spanish American had to quote...
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Hopefully one son of an American immigrant will put his ego second to the cause and let the world move on.
So said George Santayana - interestingly an American man of letters - a Spanish citizen who was bred in the United States. He lived in the United States from the age of 8 to 48 graduating in Harvard and later teaching some American masters of literature including TS Eliot, Robert Frost and the person who coined the term cold war Walter Lippmann
There were walls built in history that met interesting fate and serve as reminders of teh quest of teh powerful to keep the poor away.
The first one that I could find about actually belonged to one of the earliest civilizations - the Akkadians. The Wall of Amurru was a wall built starting 2034 BC . This was a 180 Km wall in an era of sparse resources to stop the people crossing from the North who were going through a drought from coming south. The outcome was pointless and money was lost and eventually it helped to bring Amorites to power and eventually led to the powerful kingdom of Hammurabhi
The Chinese started a thousand years after that to built some small fortifications eventually to be propped by the founder of the Qin Dynasty - Qin Shi Huang . Funnily enough, he is allegedly said to have burned books and buried 460 Confucian scholars. Little did the wall that goes upto 5000 miles stop the coming of someone from the North named Temüjin - better known to the world as Genghis Khan. The failure could not be more stark when his grandson Kublai Khan captured the whole of China and started the Yuan dynasty. The Mings took over after the shortlived Yuans nd even then, all reinforcements on the wall collectively was a drain on exchequer. A completely lost cause and a historic monumen!.
There have been walls and more walls through history to stop immigration - from Amorites to the recent ones in Berlin. The objectives have remained similar, the outcomes the same.
Arguably the most powerful person in the world today is again hellbent on building yet another wall costing billions of dollars and sweat and egos - perhaps as has been the case for a cause when the Akkadians thought of a similar idea four millenia in the past.
Ironically, it is to defend the most powerful country from immigrants from a country from whom it got its most prosperous state. Funnily enough California's economy today is almost thrice the size of Mexico. Thankfully there was no wall in 1848.
Maybe a few centuries down the line, the wall, if built, will be remembered and visited like the many walls all through history - for tourists and memorabilia hunters.
The Walls have been built built - the purpose AWOL.
Ironically a Spanish American had to quote...
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Hopefully one son of an American immigrant will put his ego second to the cause and let the world move on.
