Thought is inside the mouth. — Tristan Tzara
Facts beget further and more facts, necessitating more questions. Facts don’t end at the point of their discovery — they cause the seeker to ponder and hunt the unseen. Champions of freedom encourage curiosity, scrutiny, even adventure. It’s only the ideology of the fascist to make what’s hidden — and also far away — seem unsavory, evil. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for his ideas about the universe that flew in the face of the state-enforced religious order. It’s like the modern ideology of the nativist, the bigot, evident in so many recent demands that indicate a fear-instilling, hegemonic plan. ‘Tighten U.S. borders’ is a most incessant platform, for fear of what’s outside, when facts reveal that dangers within U.S. borders are perhaps more insidious, unchecked. I’ve been wondering how cities, as I know some of them in America anyway, are connected to the ancient Greek polis, and to what and how is this related to the Roman civilization that followed, and sure enough, fell. How is American football related to the mock sea battle that Nero so adored?