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The most famous incident of book burning is undoubtedly the destruction by fire of the Royal Library of Alexandria situated in present day Egypt. Although there is disagreement over who was really responsible for the fire, most of the blame is laid at the Christians when Roman emperor Theodosios  (by then fully Christianised) decreed in 391 AD the destruction of all pagan temples which included the Library. The Library was contained within the Temple of the Muses and was administered by a priest. The Christian Patriarch Theophilos of Alexandria and his supporters are believed to have duly complied. However, Julius Caesar's conquest of Egypt in 48 BC and the attack of Emporer Aurelian in the 3rd century AD inadvertently destroyed some parts of the library. The claim that the library was destroyed by later invading Muslim armies is not taken seriously. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, intended as a commemoration of the original, was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old Library.

The Library is generally thought to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the reign of the Greek king Ptolemy II of Egypt. According to some sources the Library was initially organized by Demetrius of Phaleron, a student of Aristotle. A famous inscription was carved into the wall above the shelves: The Place of the Cure of the Soul.

The Library was the largest library in the ancient world. Ptolemy II is said to have decided upon 500,000 scrolls as an objective. Regardless of its size, the Library contained a large part of the accrued knowledge of the ancient world. It was an enormous treasure house which made its destruction all the more painful.

Fifteen hundred years later a similar phenomenon is occurring in Greece where a spate of arson attacks on bookstores continues. Just a few weeks ago there was an attack on Pelasgos in Thessaloniki and another attack (apparently there have been over 10 attacks) against Neas Thesis. Neas Thesis stocks classical Greek and Roman texts and secondary literature of classical texts. Last Saturday, the nearby Eleftheri Skepsi (Free Thought), which stocked a similar range of books, was attacked by arsonists.

In addition to these attacks, one of Adonis Georgiadis’s (a member of political party LA.O.S) bookstores (he is also a publisher) previously located in the Exarcheia district of Athens has been targeted and burnt several times by unidentified persons. It has been said that Georgiadis, who sells Greek classics at steep discounts, has been able to bring these books to households that previously only read sports dailies. Georgiades has since moved this bookstore. Nevertheless, a different bookstore of the same publisher was targeted in early 2007, the eighth attack against bookstores of Ekdoseis Georgiadi. Again, these bookstores mostly sell copies of ancient texts by such luminaries such as Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Epictetus and Plotinus.

The arsonists are suspected to be anarchists with links to the radical Left party SYRIZA led by Alekos Alavanos and his pimple faced toy boy Alexis Tsipras. In fact, SYRIZA newspapers such as Avgis (Dawn) have openly condoned the attacks. One of the reasons some people have given for the arson attacks has been that Nea Thesis and Georgiades sell books by controversial Greek author Konstantinos Plevris and some others which are said to incite racial hatred. We should note there have been no reported attacks on Jews and Jewish property caused by the recent publication Plevris’s book on Jews. Georgiades has countered that he sells these books like other Greek bookstores including the large chain store Eleftheroudakis. He has stated he disagrees with their content.

The issue of inciting racial hatred or hate speech is very controversial. For example, there is considerable hate speech in the Torah and Talmud sometimes directed towards Greeks/Romans. There is also considerable hate speech in the Septuagint, New Testament and the Koran. Therefore, should activists also burn down Christian, Jewish and Muslim bookstores just to balance the ledger? There is also considerable hate speech against Greece and the Orthodox Church in SYRIZA affiliated bookstores. Should activists burn those down as well? Indeed, probably one of the most inciteful hate books of all time, Meinkampf written by Adolf Hitler, is stocked by Amazon which can be found here. Should activists burn down Amazon? And the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels, which gruesomely incites violence against the bourgeoise and which indirectly has resulted in the deaths of millions of people around the world is also stocked by Amazon which can be found here.

In addition, if people do not like Plevris’s books, then rather than burn down bookstores that sell his books they should perhaps write books that refute his arguments, that is assuming the attackers and their patrons have the intellectual capability to write complex arguments and refutations. Some other people have even suggested that books on ancient Greece are Fascist in essence. Ignoring how ridiculous these claims are, should activists burn down the classical libraries of Cambridge, Oxford, Sorbonne and Harvard?

Regardless of whether the some of the books "incite racial hatred" or are "Fascist", there is no justification for anti-democratic arson attacks which can potentially degrade civic democratic culture.

As the Greeks had realised in Antiquity the transmission of knowledge and ideas via the written word is one of the cornerstones of the civilised world. The Greeks believed that education or more accurately paideia allows one to partake in the Divine Mind. It is ironic that the anarchists, whose arguments are increasingly incomprehensible, are destroying the very books which may help them to better articulate their position.

Undoubtedly, the deep divisions in Cyprus, overwhelmingly wrought by the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, resultant ethnic cleansing of Greek Cypriots, missing persons, expropriated properties in the occupied north, illegal Anatolian settlers and the destruction of Greek secular and Orthodox cultural heritage, are likely to quickly dissipate with the appointment of Australia’s worst foreign affairs minister, Liberal Party member Alexander Downer, as the United Nations special envoy. Greek and Turkish Cypriots are certain to unite in their hatred once they discover what an incompetent and blithering idiot he is. The former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once aptly called him the “idiot son of the aristocracy”. Australian on-line magazine, Crikey has written an excellent summary of Downer’s decidedly less than spectacular political career which can be found here.

Although it is doubtful Downer even knows where the island is located, some believe Downer may be more sympathetic to Greek interests. He hails from Adelaide which has a strong and active Greek community. In addition, Australia’s Greek community dwarfs the Turkish community. However, offsetting factors are that Downer represents a very Anglo electorate in Adelaide. And he was part of the Howard government which was in cahoots with George Bush and the American neoconservatives in their Mesopotamian misadventure. These same neoconservatives tried to subvert the democratic process when Greek Cypriots were asked to vote in a referendum on the criminal Annan Plan. Since then they have also shown scant sympathy to Greek national interests on the island of Cyprus and everywhere else.

In addition, we should not forget Australia’s growing Philoturkism which most acutely manifests itself during ANZAC Day celebrations which commemorates the efforts of the Australian and New Zealand armies at the request of their English overlords at that time to defeat the Turks at Gallipoli during WWI. It was also during this time that the Ottoman Turkish campaign to exterminate the Armenian Christians went into overdrive. Their pogroms against the Greek and Assyrian Christians were also being implemented. One could argue that Australia is too closely associating itself with a criminal regime of history and a modern regime that refuses to concede its past horrors.

More broadly, Stefanos Evripidou from the Cyprus Mail writes that “a number of European leaders have reservations over Downer’s appointment, given his perceived reputation for being strongly opinionated and averse to minute details”. With Downer acting as intoculator it looks like the obstacles for Christofias and Talat will continue to mount.

Vilfredo Pareto, Italian political theorist, economist and sociologist, is mysteriously unread today. Of course, anyone involved in commerce knows his famous “80-20” rule and Pareto’s law concerning income distribution. However, he remains notably absent from most academic sociology reading lists. The below is likely to explain why.

Pareto was born in Paris in 1848 of mixed Italian-French ancestry. He was educated in France and Italy; ultimately completing his degree in engineering at the Istituto Politecnico of Turin. He initially worked as a civil engineer but then became interested in economics and politics. Pareto gave private lectures; increasingly attracted controversy. Pareto then retired from active political life and was appointed Professor of Political Economy at the University of Lausanne in 1893. There he established his reputation as a sociologist. He wrote his monumental Treatise on General Sociology, and two smaller volumes, The Rise and Fall of the Elites and The Transformation of Democracy.

A lifelong opponent of Marxism and liberal egalitarianism, Pareto also published a broadside The Socialist Systems aimed against the Marxist-liberal worldview in 1902. Apparently, Lenin lost many nights sleep after reading it. Not surprisingly, in our age saturated with cultural Marxism, this book has not been published in its entirety in English. This is unfortunate because it provides early insights into the failings of our decadent age. For example, Pareto writes:

"A sign which almost invariably presages the decadence of an aristocracy is the intrusion of humanitarian feelings and of affected sentimentalizing which render the aristocracy incapable of defending its position”

Most of the Greek and European elite (present day aristocracy) who very often work together with pseudo human rights activists such as the one found here (the Robert Mugabe of Greek blogging) have succumbed to this sort of sentimentalising. For example, they will show a picture of a poor Kurdish illegal refugee child stranded in Athens or a refugee detention centre on the north Aegean filled with illegal refugees. Invariably, they are attempting to use shallow sentiment and emotion to replace robust rational argument as the method of decision making on issues of national importance. If anyone disagrees with their sentiments, they are branded names or use more sentiment and emotion, rather than engaging in a sensible but vigorous argument. As Pareto alludes to above sentimentalising makes the aristocracy incapable of defending its position 

But despite the empathy we all have for the plight of illegal immigrants, sentiment and emotion should not override serious strategic analysis of the long term deleterious impact of higher illegal migration. The problem is that sentiments, emotions and feelings are different for everyone – there can be no common ground reached because we all react differently towards issues. Sentiments cannot be proven true or false and/or valid or invalid. They are independent of truth.

In contrast, using rational argumentation we can attempt to reach a position which can be mutually agreeable and applied uniformly. The argument can be proven valid or invalid. Of course, sentiment and emotion are part of decision making; particularly in deriving presuppositions and assumptions, but they should not be the only factor.

In addition, sentiment and emotion should be applied more evenly. For example, we often hear about the plight of illegal immigrants and refugees, but we rarely hear about the dangers to national culture. Usually, this is because our sentiments and emotions are more easily aroused for the immediate problems with a human face rather than for problems which will come to fruition in 10 or 20 years time which have more serious consequences. This inability to connect emotionally to problems in the long term future also stops us from developing long term solutions for illegal immigrants themselves. We place all of our energies in housing and feeding illegal immigrants today rather than developing plans to help them stay in their country with their family and community and contribute positively to the development of their nation.

Pareto has a propensity to see things how they really are. He also has this to say:

"When a living creature loses the sentiments which, in given circumstances are necessary to it in order to maintain the struggle for life, this is a certain sign of degeneration, for the absence of these sentiments will, sooner or later, entail the extinction of the species. The living creature which shrinks from giving blow for blow and from shedding its adversary's blood thereby puts itself at the mercy of this adversary”

The ideological foundations of the Greek elite’s rapprochement with long time adversary Turkey, despite the complete lack of reciprocity by Turkey and the machinations of the United States, provides a perfect example of the sentimentalising softness alluded to by Pareto. The Greek elite continue to assume that the Turks will make reference to the same humanistic sentiments as they do resulting in a Utopia of hand holding across the Aegean and Asia Minor. However, reality continues to prove them wrong, and with time, the opportunities for gaining any strategic advantage continue to diminish.

But this complete ignorance of reality is not surprising. The Greek elite have swallowed wholeheartedly or have been bludgeoned by concepts of “soft power” and disciplines such as conflict resolution and peace studies which impede the identification of the looming problems ahead.

Pareto goes on:

"Any elite which is not prepared to join in battle to defend its position is in full decadence, and all that is left to it is to give way to another elite having the virile qualities it lacks. It is pure day-dreaming to imagine that the humanitarian principles it may have proclaimed will be applied to it: its vanquishers will stun it with the implacable cry, 'Vae Victis.'

All over Europe and Greece the elites happily go about their business believing that their values are equally respected by the hordes of people entering their countries. They are oblivious to the fact that their own sentimentalising assumptions are not the ones held by the hordes. Inevitably, they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

“The knife of the guillotine was being sharpened in the shadows when, at the end of the eighteenth century, the ruling classes in France were engrossed in developing their 'sensibility.' This idle and frivolous society, living like a parasite off the country, discoursed at its elegant supper parties of delivering the world from superstition, all unsuspecting that it was itself going to be crushed."

It is no wonder Pareto is not on academic sociology reading lists.

Probably the most covered song in the Mediterranean region over the last 15 years has been Balamos (Greek) or Song of the Gypsy or Naci en Alamo (Spanish). A beautiful lyrical hymn dedicated to the Gypsies. Apparently, there are over 20 cover versions of this song.

Its most famous rendition is the one sung by young Spaniard, Remedios Silva Pisa for French director Tony Gaitlif’s cinematic effort, Vengo. The song featured during the opening credits which can be heard here. The song also featured during an important scene in the movie which can be seen here. The singer Remedios Silva Pisa was plucked out of obscurity when she was only 16.

Another notable cover version of this song was made by Israeli singer, Yasmin Levy which can be heard here. And another version can be heard here by Talya G.A. Solan performing live with the Israeli Ethnic Ensemble. There have also been dance remixes of her version of the song. As far as we can tell there has also been Turkish, Italian and Arabic cover versions of this song.

The Greeks have also covered this song extensively. Paschalis Terzis can be seen performing the song live here. Whilst the brilliant clarinet player Vassilis Saleas can be seen performing the song here. Finally, we have the truly abominable hip hop influenced version by Greek Fame Story contestant, Foteini performing it here.

Actually, the Greeks have an affinity with this song because the song and lyrics were originally written by a Greek, Dionysis Tsaknis in 1986, and sung by George Katsaris. Here is a rendition that is relatively close to the original by Yiannis Koutras. Unfortunately, the idiotic Thanos Mikroutsikos also features in this version.

One of the better Greek renditions was by Eleni Vitali. She has some Gypsy background. The exceptional Manolis Lidakis has also covered the song on his recent Strictly Laika CD. And of course, George Dalaras also covered the song. In fact, George Dalaras has covered every song that has ever been written since the beginning of time.

Aesthetically, traditional negative Gypsy stereotypes in art and literature such as the Bizet’s racy Carmen, colourful gypsy caravans, flamenco dancers, wild gypsy music, the sinister fortune-teller, the thief or the work-shy vagabond have in some cases become positive stereotypes in recent times. There is even a fashion trend called Gypsy Chic. However, maybe there is something deeper going on here which is making Balamos or Naci en Alamo such a popular song. Perhaps it is just European guilt culture. Or perhaps it is something else. For example,  the verses of the song are interesting in that they recognise the singer has no place, no fatherland. Alarmingly, the singer also has no hope:

“I have no place, I have no hope,

No fatherland will miss me”

As for the chorus it is kind of untranslatable, being sung in some apparent Greek Romany dialect.

Maybe globalisation and increased mobility has made us Gypsies of some sort; with the song becoming something of a cult anthem for  our increasingly deracinated ontology. Even that doyen of globalisation, The Economist, featured a set of articles somewhat related to the gypsy fetish alluded to above on what they call the “New Nomadism” or Homo Mobilis or even more ridiculous Techno-Bedouins. It can be found here. Fortunately, the special feature mentions the potential dangers of nomadism such as the degradation of language, communication and human relationships.

Undoubtedly, civilisation began and was fostered when nomads settled in one fixed location and created Kulturvolk. Physical and mental place is essential to identity formation. Without place we cannot orientate ourselves to somewhere or from somewhere because that somewhere is everywhere and nowhere. We end up in confusion. More concretely, why would anyone relate to squalid living conditions, high rates of crime, low educational attainment, alcohol and drug abuse and misogyny.

The shallowness of Hollywood and the general retreat of the American psyche from Truth - an inability to see things how they really are, but rather the way they want things to be - is best exemplified by the distortion of the tragic heroic man in the western High Noon.

Directed by Fred Zinnemann in 1952, High Noon begins with Will Kane played by Gary Cooper, the longtime Marshal of Hadleyville, Kansas, having just married Quaker Amy played by Grace Kelly. Following their marriage Kane has decided to turn in his badge, and is preparing to leave the town and become a storekeeper. Shortly after, the people of Hadleyville learn that Frank Miller, a criminal Kane had previously brought to justice - but recently pardoned - is due to arrive on the train at noon. Miller had vowed to get revenge on Kane. Miller has also assembled three gang members. Hoping to defuse the situation the worried townspeople encourage Kane to leave.

Kane and his newlywed do leave the town but Kane suddenly has a crisis of conscience and turns back. He reclaims his badge and tries to get help. But no one is willing to get involved. Then his wife threatens to leave on the train with or without him but he refuses to give in.

In many respects High Noon resembles (and was probably inspired) by a certain section of the Iliad written by Homer. Andromache, the Trojan warrior Hector’s wife, realises that he is fated to fight the great Achaean warrior Achilles. Andromache understandably wants to hold Hector back from the battle to keep him in her secure world with their child. However, Hector will have none of it. Hector says he would not be able to face his people if he refused to fight,  seek glory and immortality. Like all good warriors Hector must do what he must.

However, this is where the similarities between High Noon the Iliad end.

In High Noon, Kane faces the gang alone. He guns down two of Miller's men; although, he is also wounded. Amy returns when she hears the sound of gunfire. She then overrides her pacifist religious beliefs and kills the third gunman. Miller then takes her hostage and offers to trade her for Kane. Kane agrees but Amy scratches Miller freeing herself. Kane then shoots and kills Miller. Kane then leaves town with his wife happily ever after.

In contrast to High Noon, Hector goes to meet Achilles, is slaughtered in a tumultuous battle and is horribly dragged around until Priam, Hector’s father and the King of Troy, comes to take the corpse for a proper burial. The crucial point is that Hector’s death is the whole point; whereas Kane does not die. He is even reconciled with Amy.

The heroic life is a constant pursuit of arete - an almost untranslatable word meaning virtue, excellence, power, courage and nobility. However, the Greek readers of Homer, rather than American viewers of High Noon, are left pondering the dilemma of the hero and their heroic code - a code which gives the hero wealth and status - but tragically leads him to death. There is a necessary tension in the Iliad  between the battle and the welfare of Hector’s family. More broadly heroic self assertion is in conflict with wider society. This tension represents one of the main tragic themes in epic poetry. However, this tension is neutralised in High Noon, helping to turn a profound statement of tragedy, into a trite fairy tale.

Although, there were increasing signs of Tragedy in later films, and even Westerns, in the 1960’s and 1970’s; American films have largely reflected the psyche of the average American or the psyche of the average American has been reflected in film. Nonetheless, they have been largely unable to comprehend the insights of Greek tragedy.

This in itself is an American Tragedy.