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https://www.startribune.com/trump-banners-doj-kennedy-center-triumphal-arch-dulles-airport/601862924>
"In the year 1355, Doge Marino Faliero of Venice decided to organize a coup
against his own government.
We don’t really know his motivations for committing treason, although
historians have two major guesses. Maybe he thought he could better rule Venice
as a tyrant rather than as the leader of a remarkable republic. But it might
have been more personal. Faliero had just turned 80 and was, according to our
somewhat messy records of the time, recently married to a much younger and
beautiful woman. She may have taken many lovers, or perhaps that was just a
rumor. Either way, it reportedly enraged Faliero.
With two conspirators, he tried to assemble an armed mob of 800 Venetians. The
plan was to summon the men of the Great Council, Venice’s elected rulers (of
which the Doge was the executive, not the autocrat), then have his mob murder
them all and declare Faliero sole ruler. But the plot leaked, the conspirators
were unmasked and Faliero was executed.
There are certainly odd historical parallels between an 80-year-old leader
attempting to take over a republic because he felt personally insulted and our
current political situation. But it’s what happened next that is so
interesting.
A few years later, the rulers of Venice finished rebuilding and decorating the
Ducal Palace, including a new chamber for the Great Council to meet. They
decorated it with scenes from Venice’s history and a series of portraits for
each of Venice’s leaders.
But over Faliero they just hung a black curtain. And when in the 16th century
the room was redecorated after a fire, Faliero’s portrait was replaced by a
painting of that black curtain, along with the words, “Here is the place of
Marino Faliero, decapitated for his crimes.” Thus, the rulers of Venice pulled
off a peculiar trick, both publicly erasing Faliero’s memory and solidifying
the memory of the preservation of the republic.
It’s a trick, if things go well, that Americans are going to have to learn as
well."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
