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grumpyduck

(6,198 posts)
Mon Jan 7, 2019, 01:59 PM Jan 2019

The Great Wall of China didn't work either

I've been wondering about this for a while, and just now finally decided to look it up. And, for you lurkers... I deliberately picked a piece that dates back a few years, before the current administration took over. Wikipedia is just too convenient to sling mud at.

Turns out the Wall didn't work. It was fine at first due to the emperor's armies, but, later on, the armies from the north invaded anyway and "and after several skirmishes the Han emperor had to marry off his daughter to the Xiongnu ruler in order to make peace."

One paragraph in the story stands out:

Another argument is that the Great Wall was nothing more than an ambitious project contrived by a vainglorious emperor. The Great Wall was supposed to show the world China’s superiority, making a clear distinction between civilized people and barbarians.


https://gbtimes.com/failure-great-wall

This article also mentions Hadrian's Wall, and a separate article on it (also from years ago) says:
"In both cases, in addition to any military function, the physical barriers served in the eyes of their builders to reinforce the conceptual divide between civilized and noncivilized. They were part of the ideology of empire. (Ancient Civilizations, 313)"


https://www.ancient.eu/Hadrians_Wall/

And yes, I know, both of these articles were written by Democrats with a crystal ball and an agenda.



6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The Great Wall of China didn't work either (Original Post) grumpyduck Jan 2019 OP
Trump's vanity project will enshrine his name procon Jan 2019 #1
I think it is more like the Berlin Wall. Trump is saying it is to Perrenial Voter Jan 2019 #2
Well, we also have grumpyduck Jan 2019 #4
Trump failed History 101 Blue Owl Jan 2019 #3
Not sure a invading army is the same thing as some unarmed immigrants. n/t EX500rider Jan 2019 #5
Right, grumpyduck Jan 2019 #6

procon

(15,805 posts)
1. Trump's vanity project will enshrine his name
Mon Jan 7, 2019, 02:24 PM
Jan 2019

permanently across America in an ostentatious show of pompous self aggrandizement. It only adds a slap in the face that he's trying to force every citizen to pay for his legacy Memorial wall.

 

Perrenial Voter

(173 posts)
2. I think it is more like the Berlin Wall. Trump is saying it is to
Mon Jan 7, 2019, 03:03 PM
Jan 2019

protect us from immigrants, but once it's built, we'll learn that it's really to keep us from escaping. In China, they have fences around many of the factories, and fences around their "retraining centers," ostensibly to keep people from sneaking in (!). But with "the wall," we won't need prisons to provide slave labor or FEMA to build camps for dissidents because the whole country, or at least large "sacrifice zones," will be a giant prison camp in the service of industrial capitalism. Then our oligarchs will be able to compete with Chinese oligarchs, our factories can return to America, we can return to the gilded age, and America will be great again.

grumpyduck

(6,198 posts)
4. Well, we also have
Mon Jan 7, 2019, 04:13 PM
Jan 2019

the Canada border and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, plus Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and a few other locations that are part of the U.S. that don't require visas to visit and can serve as places to enter or, as you say, escape.

I'm not a politician and certainly not a genius, but it would seem to me that the only way to keep people from either coming or going would be to build a bubble around the mainland and all the other states and territories.

And, again not being a politician or a genius, it would also seem to me that the $5.3 billion, or whatever the figure is now, could be better spent on beefing up the security that's already there, plus proper training and higher salaries for the people who are on the front lines doing the work that the politicians demand.

Not to mention that the $5.3 billion, or whatever it is now, would probably double by the time the wall is built. Not the first time a Fed Gov job went way the hell over budget for the usual reasons.

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