{"id":109730,"date":"2020-12-14T17:07:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T00:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=109730"},"modified":"2020-12-14T17:07:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T00:07:28","slug":"did-nero-really-fiddle-his-reincarnation-clearly-has-been-while-covid-engulfed-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/14\/did-nero-really-fiddle-his-reincarnation-clearly-has-been-while-covid-engulfed-the-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Nero really fiddle? His reincarnation clearly has been while COVID engulfed the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In July of 64 A.D., a great fire ravaged\nRome for six days, destroying 70 percent of the city and leaving half its\npopulation homeless. According to a well-known expression, Rome\u2019s emperor at\nthe time, the decadent and unpopular <\/em>Nero<\/em><\/a>, fiddled while Rome burned.\u201d\nThe expression has a double meaning: Not only did Nero play music while his\npeople suffered, but he was an ineffectual leader in a time of crisis – <\/em>https:\/\/www.history.com\/news<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sounds familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The website noted above states that quote When the Great\nFire broke out, Nero was at his villa at Antium, some 35 miles from Rome.\nThough he immediately returned and began relief measures, people still didn\u2019t\ntrust him. Some even believed he had ordered the fire started, especially after\nhe used land cleared by the fire to build his Golden Palace and its surrounding\npleasure gardens. For one thing, the fiddle didn\u2019t exist in ancient Rome.\nMusic historians believe the viol class of instruments (to which the fiddle\nbelongs) was not developed until the 11th century. If Nero played anything, it\nwould probably have been the cithara, a heavy wooden instrument with four to\nseven strings\u2014but there is still no solid evidence that he played one during\nthe Great Fire. Nero himself blamed the Christians (then an obscure religious sect) for\nthe fire, and had many arrested and executed. But while Nero may have been\nguilty of many things, the story of him fiddling while Rome burned belongs\nfirmly in the category of popular legend rather than established truth\u201d unquote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nof the 12th<\/sup> December COVID 19 has so far killed 296,000 in the USA\nand 15.9 million have contracted the virus. It is reported that 2 people die\nevery minute in the US and that the number of deaths may surpass 500,000 by\nFebruary 2021. The entire World War 2 killed just over 400,000 US soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impotence of President Trump let\nalone in dealing with the COVID pandemic but even recognising there is a\npandemic and a very serious health issue, is beyond question. In the next few\ndays, the number affected will exceed 16 million and the deaths will soar past\n300,000. Neither the sick nor the dying seem to have had any effect on\nPresident Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an\nanalysis published in CNN on the 13th<\/sup> December, Maeve Reston<\/a>,\nsays slashing at Barr (Attorney General) on Twitter this weekend instead\nof focusing on saving American lives amid a deadly surge in coronavirus cases,\nTrump reminded the nation of one of the truisms about the way he has regarded\nhis allies both in business and politics: everyone is expendable if they do not\nfollow his dictates. No matter how loyal an aide has been — and regardless of\nhow many times they put their own reputation on the line to do Trump’s bidding\n— the President has shown no compunction about casting them aside as soon he\nis convinced they are no longer useful as one of his political tools\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\ncontrast, amongst some countries, Australia has taken this health issue very\nseriously from the outset, and has shown remarkable leadership both at Federal\nand State level. For the first time in the history of the Federation, a\nnational cabinet was formed specifically to lead and coordinate the pandemic\ncontainment and treatment strategies, and today, Australia is a country that\nhas drastically contained and virtually eradicated the spread of the virus. It has\nput in place emergency strategies to invoke necessary rules and regulations to\ndeal with any resurgence however big or small that might be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shown\nstrong national leadership in this regard and State Premiers have led the\npandemic management at State level with efficiency and significant\neffectiveness. President Trump has never shown any inclination to lead where\nhis leadership could have prevented deaths, and could have contained the spread\nof the virus. Australian leaders have always acted on advice from health\nprofessionals while President Trump has consistently denigrated his health\nprofessionals. He has virtually usurped his high office for personal benefit\nand nothing else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears that contrary to the story\nthat Nero fiddled while Rome burnt, records seems to show that the Emperor in\nfact returned from his villa at Antium, some 35 miles from Rome when the fire\nbroke out in Rome, and he had immediately begun relief measures. Historical\nrecords acknowledge that he had been a decadent and unpopular Emperor but\nthey also indicate he had returned to Rome to begin relief measures, and this does\nseem to give him some amount of kudos for his leadership during the time of the\ncrisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so with President Trump. He has not\ntaken any leadership and allowed the pandemic to go unchecked giving no regard\nto the sick and the dying. If this is not decadence, what is? While President Trump\ncannot be ascribed the same description as has been to Nero, his self-centeredness,\nlack of leadership in dealing with the pandemic and his performance since the\nUS election brings him close to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump has behaved like someone hiding his head in the sand, like an\nOstrich, <\/em>foolishly ignoring the problem in hand hoping it will\nmagically vanish. While the ostrich story is a myth, the simile with President\nTrump is certainly not. 16 million people with over 300,000 dead, and a deeply\ndivided country is the reality and the real Ostrich has occupied the White\nhouse for almost the last 4 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the COVID pandemic has wrought havoc in the US, the\noccupier of the White House has wrought havoc in the country since the election\nin November. 74 million voters have demonstrated their own disdain of others by\nsupporting a contemporary Nero. At least the mythical Ostrich hid his head in\nthe sand as he sensed trouble, and wishing it would go away. 74 million voters\ndid not even believe there was any trouble and did not hide their heads in the\nsand but openly supported one who had his head in the sand! Their oblivion to\ntrouble came about because they were in a stupor having swallowed plenty of\nTwitter dupe dished out by the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One could wish one doesn\u2019t care a hoot who becomes the\nPresident of the US, but unfortunately one cannot. The occupier of the White\nHouse does influence world events positively and negatively, and in fact is\nresponsible for creating many such events. While some events have been and are\nbeneficial to the rest of the world, there are many others that have not been\nso. Benefits will outweigh the negatives depending on the person who occupies the\nWhite House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has divided the US domestically, and internationally,\nhe has emboldened leaders in China, Russia, India, Turkey, Syria, Iran etc.\nThis might not be a bad thing as too much power in any one individual or one\ncountry has been counterproductive to a stable world order as has been\nwitnessed for decades. In this regard, Trump may have done a favour for the\nrest of the world by walking away from globalisation that he inherited. The\ntrouble with his stance is the fact that he did not offer any other credible\nalternative for his own country, and the rest of the world, and preferred to\nleave disorder and disarray to what he withdrew from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lessons for the US and the rest of the world that\ncould be learnt from the Trump phenomenon. In the longer term, the world should\nwean itself from the US economically as it is their economic power that gives\nthem political and military power in the international stage. This is not to\nsay the balance should shift to China. That could be worse. In fact, no single\ncountry should be economically dominant over others, and economic partnerships\nshould counter such dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politically, the US nor any other country should engage in\nexporting democratic governance and champion human rights unless their own\ncredentials qualifies them to do so. The disorder in the Middle East, the\npartiality shown to a country like Saudi Arabia which is neither democratic or\nan upholder of human rights, to Israel which has denied human rights to\nPalestinians and disregarded all international conventions and UN resolutions\non Palestine, and the interventions for democratic\u201d governance and human\nrights in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Egypt etc., have all shown the shallowness and\nduplicity of US policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenges that are before President Biden and Vice\nPresident Harris on the 20th<\/sup> of January 2021 are substantial and\nperhaps unprecedented. Responding to the ever spreading pandemic and unifying a\ndeeply divided country and lifting it from its economic morass are their\nbiggest domestic challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internationally, working with all other powers, including the\naspiring super power China and other powers and regional powers to chart a\ncourse for the world in key areas such as the economy, climate change, health\nand wellbeing of everyone in the world, and hopefully, descaling the race for\nmilitary might and diverting resources for the wellbeing of the global village\nshould be uppermost in their list of challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vacuous leadership of Donald Trump has made these\nchallenges even harder to meet  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale In July of 64 A.D., a great fire ravaged Rome for six days, destroying 70 percent of the city and leaving half its population homeless. According to a well-known expression, Rome\u2019s emperor at the time, the decadent and unpopular Nero, fiddled while Rome burned.\u201d The expression has a double meaning: Not only did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}