Listening to Dr. Patrick Wyman's "The Fall of Rome" podcast (Ep2). In describing the 'barbarians', he reminds us that the homogenization of this diverse group is foolish and often leads to horribly wrong conclusions.
This reminds me of conversations recently about illegal immigration in this country. Is it wrong to group all illegal immigrants into one category? Of course it is. Each individual cannot represent the whole, nor the whole the individual.
Similarly, the same could be said for the European colonization of the Americas. No individual's act caused the death of thousands of native indians. Just as you cannot place blame at the feet of a single band of barbarians for the destruction of the Roman Empire, you cannot blame any one group for the decimation of the american indians.
So it is equally wrong to blame all illegal immigrants for the despicable actions of some.
But in saying that, it was still the barbarians who sacked Rome.
The Fall of Rome Podcast By Patrick Wyman
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