Nero Fiddles

Old Gadfly:  Gentlemen, do you recall the Roman emperor, Nero, and his legend: “Nero Fiddled as Rome Burned”?

 

AM (an American combat aviator with an inquiring mind):  Yes, and the metaphor plays out on a grander scale today.

IM (an American citizen with an inquiring mind):   OK, you guys seem to be talking in code.  What’s going on here?

AM:  Nero was the Roman emperor from 54 to 68 AD, and known as a persecutor of Christians and Jews.  Historians (i.e., Tacitus in particular) have concluded that he set fire to Rome to make space for a new palace, and that while Rome burned, he played the fiddle.

Old Gadfly:  So, IM, do you see similar behavior today?

IM:  Absolutely!  The leader of the once most powerful and stabilizing nation of the world fiddles with campaign speeches as the United States is becoming swarmed by chaos and the rest of the world is catching fire.

AM:  Sad . . . so very sad!