thread: 2007-03-19 : Tonight we dine
On 2007-03-19, Scarz wrote:
The fact the movie is based on (an obviously fictionalized but fairly accurate) historical episode aside, the reason people make the comparison is because islam does indeed have the numbers, when talking about sheer untrained conscripts, as well as the willingness to use terrible weaponry such as IEDs and targeted media beheadings.
They also have the exact same goal of enslaving other civilizations. Yeah, I know. We Americans are "enslaving other civilizations all the time" because once there's an American presence in town, they set up a McDonalds and a Coke stand, and thats "all the same thing." But I'm talking actual enslavement. The historical King Xerxes really did send out emissaries who asked for "Earth and Water". Nowadays we just get a threat letter from Ahmadinejad every once in a while.
Xerxes demanding the Greeks kneel and accept him as a god, is not really that much different than Al Qaeda demanding Spain be returned to the "Andalusian Caliphate" (and that the citizens of Spain become muslims and renouce earthly law in favor of sharia) or be destroyed, or that tribesmen of the Darfur region kneel to the Janjaweed Mujahideen (who have managed to slay at least 200,000 people since 2003).
Whereas the Spartans have a coalition of only 300 highly trained volunteers and around 3700 others (Greek slaves, and allies from Arcadia, Corinth, Thespiae and Thebes)—the Spartans have technology and tactics (the bronze shield and the phalanx) on their side.
Thats the basis of the comparison. I don't know how accurate it is. The graphic novel actually came out in 1999, and the movie is pretty close to it.
