Essay 3 Rough Draft

[Adrienne C]

Adrienne C
English 101- Section#0459
Instructor: O’Connell

Outsiders
In his book, Are We Rome? Cullen Murphy artfully presents the topic of
America and Rome’s view of self in Chapter 4, which is fittingly
entitled, “The Outsiders.” Murphy begins this chapter by referencing
the historical Teutoburg Forest event in which 3 legions that had been
commanded by Publius Quinctillus Varus (Roman general under Emperor
Augustus) were tricked by the Germans and suffered a humiliating
defeat in battle, resulting in the death of 30,000 people. Murphy
alludes that this defeat could be the result of the Roman view of
itself as superior and indestructible. Murphy further illustrates this
point by expressing that it was unbelievable to the Romans that they
could be defeated by so called ‘barbarians.’ He states that, “even if
evidence of barbarian technological skill and organizational precocity
had been presented in advance…Roman officials would not have been
receptive.” This type of viewpoint is a bit scary because we can see
how it somewhat parallels America’s view of itself prior to the 911
tragedy. We felt indestructible and superior, and would never have
imagined that we could be attacked, especially within our own borders.
We underestimate others and can get caught up in our own reverie just
like Antony did with Cleopatra, according to Shakespeare’s version of
the tale. Here we have a Roman general renowned for his acumen and
skill in battle, running around with an Egyptian Queen and imbibing
booze, while his wife has started a war and some of his soldiers are
beginning to question his ability as a leader. In this paper, I will
cover the perceptions of America and Rome and show how both nations
harbor views of self that depicts arrogance and superiority, and how
this type of viewpoint can cause harm or even death when left
unchecked.
Murphy rightly points out that, “One notable constant in American
history is our lack of awareness of the rest of the world- or if we
are aware, our indifference as to whether we’ve got the world right.”
Underestimating the power of other nations has been a trap for both
Rome and America. A prime example of this is our increased outsourcing
of jobs to other countries. Rome outsourced some of its military
functions by allowing Egyptian soldiers to act as purveyors and
enforcers of Roman rule. While there were advantages to having an
Egyptian in this type of role, the obvious disadvantages were the
underlying threat treason and mutiny.
In America, there are many who feel that outsourcing is a good
practice, and that American businesses are taking advantage of so
called cheap foreign labor so that they can see an immediate increase
in profits. What may not be considered is that by outsourcing American
jobs, they are increasing another country’s GNP and lowering our own.
Did it ever occur to anyone that we could be helping other countries
amass power and decreasing of own? Are we too busy feeling superior to
even fathom that a 3rd world country could pose an economic or any
other type of threat to America? The answer is possibly yes. The
exportation of jobs is already affecting our ability to groom and
train US professionals for advanced positions. To illustrate this
point, the 110th Congress had issued the Technology Retraining and
Investment Now Act for the 21st Century (Bill #HR 244, Jan 2007) in an
attempt to stimulate U.S. personnel training by offering a tax credit
to corporations and business owners (since they seemed to be motivated
by financial gain). Unfortunately, there were no co-sponsors to get
the bill passed. The lack of positive response to this bill could be
compared to Antony’s behavior when he ignored the messenger who was
sent to tell him of Fulvia’s death. This message should have stirred
him into immediate action, but instead he remained somewhat passive
even though he knew that the welfare of his country was being
threatened.