There is a fairly credible theory that the Roman Empire began to "degenerate" because its leaders were eating from plates and dishes (gold/silver) that were heavily laced with LEAD, as was their coinage, after the time of Christ. The reason lead was being added (metal adulteration) was because precious metal was in short supply. Scraping of such plates with utensils while cooking/serving/eating would guarantee consumption of lead by people like Nero and Caligula - -
It is interesting that so many products coming from China for the use by our children and grandchildren are laced with lead. The Chinese are NOT stupid people. On the contrary, they have deeply understood the use of metals for all kinds of things for 5-7,000 years. It was the Chinese who were often used in the old West to refine gold with the use of arsenic, for instance. Our dependence on trade goods from China may have given them an avenue to attack our younger generations. The Chinese are very patient people. To assume they would NEVER think of such a long range project would show just stupid we might really be -
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Lead was used in the water pipes and may have contributed to the general decline; however, the emperors GWG named lived 400 years prior to the fall of the western empire so using them as an example doesn't support his point.
With regards to the second point... GWG needs to stop seeing things that aren't there.
That would actually be kind of interesting. Coat everything you ship over to another country in a solution that is 0.1% lead. Mix it in with the paint and any plastics (where applicable, of course). Someone who would do such a thing would be playing a very long game indeed, but it would probably eventually work.
Of course, that's the hallmark of a good conspiracy theory. Just plausible enough that you could see someone doing it. With some of the things our own government has been putting money into lately, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried it, either on us or on another country.
Given that the Roman Empire finally collapsed in 1453, or 1461 if you date it from the fall of Trebizond, and that the lead poisoning theory was abandoned by any historian with any knowledge of the period about 50 years ago, I'd say "greywolfghost" is talking out of his or her arse.
The lead theory doesn't hold up. For a start, most poeple probably would have eaten off trencher of wood. And as for the water supply,the lead pipes, fairly soon after their installation would have been coated with limescale. Rome's water supply carries a lot of that even to the present time.
While not completely dismissing the idea that lead may have had some effect, it would have been on the upper levels of Roman society where metal was used. That excludes most people. Moreover, Caligula and Nero were concerned, they headed the social pyramid. There would have been no question of them eating off anything but the purest gold. Besides, they live at the time of the Empire's height. It was still expanding.
The Empire's demise in the West (it continued until 1453 in the East!)was due to many factors, possibly in the main to economic factors. It would have lasted, in an altered form it the Lombards and other invading tribes had clung to Roman law and administration. This is what earlier (so called) Barbarian such as the various Gothic tribes had done. The later ones came in such numbers that the military needs simply became too much for the economy to bear and the state imploded. On top of this the incoming tribes held to their own law and customs.
As to China attacking your young. The remedy is in your own hands. If you really believe this, then you simply don't buy Chinese goods. Market forces will do the rest.
GWG's conspiracy theory doesn't explain why China's domestic market is even more contaminated by sub-standard or counterfeit goods.
No, wait, don't tell me... they are simultaneously poisoning themselves with lead to create a mask of plausible deniability if their plot was ever discovered.
Ve-e-ry clever! It looks exactly like the work of a few overly greedy or careless people and nothing like a premeditated plot to undermine the western world. Just like they planned!
Of course, if China really wanted to undermine the west, all they need do is get themselves into the WTO and use their huge wealth of manpower and resources to undercut domestic manufacturing world-wide. The resulting massive trade-surplus would allow them to leverage their vast economic power to influence allies and enemies alike.
Good thing nothing like that is happening!
"To assume they would NEVER think of such a long range project would show just stupid we might really be -"
Or, indeed, how stupid you definitely are.
IT's interesting that American industry put lead in gasoline for 40 years and poisoned a whole generation. When liberals tried to pass laws prohibiting putting this poison in the air conservatives complained that liberals were trying to destroy America.
Conservatives are very determined people. To assume they wouldn't sink to poisoning Americans in order to attack traditional American values would show how naive Americans might be.
If this is all directed at the West, then in which country is the Three Gorges Dam?
By the way, what happened to last week's eternal verity, namely, that homosexuality caused the fall of the Roman Empire? Maybe gay metalsmiths made all of those plates.
And to think, I thought it was the gays who brought Rome to it's knees! But, no, alas, they had the godless Chinese to blame!
"The Chinese are NOT stupid people"
Are these the same Chinese who thought that pure Mercury had curative and life-extending properties and fed it to anyone who could afford it?
Historical reivison for jeebus.
This said, assuming that China has safe product laws in place, they don't. This assuming American business or goverment has no responsibility in product safety when it comes to imports. They do!
Thank the Republicans for that situation "left on their own without goverment interference, business will do the right thing". Mindstaggerling Naive.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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