Just wanted to share...

E

Esquire M Busterbury

Moderator
A quote that eased my thoughts regarding the state of our nation...


The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two
hundred years.
These nations have progressed through this sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complaceny to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage.
Sir Alex Fraser Tyler: (1742-1813) Scottish jurist and historian

Well, it seems that we're beating the average by almost 50 to a hundred years...and that everything moves in circles. All is as it should be?
 
You know, that thing resurfaces every few weeks, and I always flinch when I see it.

First of all, "Alexander Tyler" does not exist. There was a Scottish historian named Lord Woodhouselee, Alexander Fraser Tytler, but the list you quoted is not to be found anywhere in his books, which are available as full-text documents online.

Also, the average age of the "world's greatest civilizations" is most certainly not 200 years, although the U.S. is conveniently just a bit over 200 years old.

Rome stood for 1,000 years, 500 years of Republic and 500 years of Empire. If you count the Byzantine Empire as an extension of Rome, that goes up to 2,000 years. Ancient Egypt lasted so long that they separate its history into three separate eras, each of which lasted over a thousand years. There are plenty more great civilizations that easily surpass the 200-year mark by factors of five, ten, or more.

In short, the claim in the quote is false.

At any rate, the quote is an urban legend.
 
I've been had! Thank you Marko for clearing that up. Will share no more...
Click to expand...

Oh, I don't know...

Snopes is my "go to" place whenever some new email making claims shows up, but on the whole, the information and comments from that bogus email are pretty much true even though the sources are wrong and the stats are basically true but exaggerated.

Even the conclusion where we are in the evolution of conditions is pretty much spot on.
If this had been initiated by a Democrat, Dan Rather hisownself would have pronounced that it came directly from God and even though the facts were wrong, every element of the piece would be declared absolutely true.

But yes, as you learned from Marko, anytime something like this gets dropped into your email box, the first thing you should do is go to www.snopes.com and get the true story.

Carter
 
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