Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology is a book
that hasn't even been published and it has already been debunked. The
book is an incomplete rehash of work published years ago by Dr. Rex Curry
(author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets"). http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
The author of "Roman Salute" is Martin Winkler of George Mason University,
and his work has been exposed in the past in a professorial debate challenge
(2006) by Dr. Curry. http://rexcurry.net/pledge-professor-martin-winkler.html
The publisher of Winkler's book is Ohio State University Press (publication
expected in 2009). OSU Press would do better to publish the work of Dr.
Curry.
"Pledge of Allegiance Secrets" by Dr. Curry exposed the the modern
origin of the so-called "Roman salute" from the USA's Pledge of Allegiance
and from the military salute that was used as the first gesture of two
gestures in the pledge. Francis Bellamy (author of the pledge) was not
attempting to do a "Roman salute" nor a "stiff-arm salute" and he never
said such a thing. Bellamy did say that he was attempting to do a military
salute that was then stretched out toward the flag. In practice, that
became the stiff-arm salute because bored children simply extended Bellamy's
initial military salute outward to point at the flag.
The raised-arm salute was used in America well before the creation
of the National Socialist German Workers Party, and before Mussolini
began his political career as a socialist journalist. http://rexcurry.net/fascism=socialism.html
That the pledge's author (Francis Bellamy) was raised in Rome N.Y.,
contributed to the use of the term "Roman salute" in the myth. In that
sense, it WAS a "Roman" salute -from Rome, N.Y.- but not an ancient Roman
salute from Italy. see http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter1a1f.html
and http://rexcurry.net/pledgerome.html
One reason that Winkler failed to make the discoveries that were
made long ago by Dr. Curry is because Winkler writes in a manner that
is unscholarly, unprofessional, misleading and propagandistic. Winkler
writes as if he is unaware of the actual full name of the group that
called itself the "National Socialist German Workers Party." Winkler
writes as if he is unaware that the group did not use the hackneyed shorthand
terms that Winkler seems to exclusively substitute for the actual name
of the horrid group. Has Winkler ever written the actual name of the
group about which he writes? http://rexcurry.net/pledgehoratii.html
Winkler's misleading method with hackneyed shorthand terms was evident
years ago in his abstract for the American Philological Association (APA).
That piece also indicated that Winkler was unaware that the early
Pledge of Allegiace used a stiff-arm salute. http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-martin-winkler.html
During that time, Dr. Curry's work became known to Winkler and worldwide
showing the origin of the stiff-arm salute from the pledge in the United
States. Dr. Curry pointed out the misleading terms in Winkler's APA piece
and Winkler's apparent ignorance of the Pledge's early stiff-arm salute,
and the fact that the Pledge of Allegiance was the origin of the mis-named
"Roman salute" from the Pledge's initial military salute. http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-martin-winkler.html
Winkler's method with misleading slang terms continued years later
in "Gladiator: Film and History." That book also
had revealing omissions by Winkler: No mention of his own earlier faulty
work regarding the "Roman Salute."
Winkler's method with misleading shorthand terms continued
in a poster for Winkler's speech that stated "The Roman Salute: Origin
and Spread of a Fascist Symbol." The poster and Winkler's use of
the word "fascist" in the speech perpetuate ignorance (or a cover-up?)
of the fact that the straight-arm salute adopted by the National Socialist
German Workers Party originated from a National Socialist in the USA (Francis
Bellamy) in 1892. Winkler seems ignorant of (or covering up) the fact that
German National Socialists did not interchange "fascist" for the actual
name of their party. Winkler's bad writing habit perpetuates widespread
ignorance in that regard. See the poster at http://rexcurry.net/socialist-salute3.jpg
and the more accurate version at http://rexcurry.net/socialist-salute.jpg
It is embarrassing that the poster for Winkler's speech shows the
painting "Oath of the Horatii." It is a funny error: As proof of
an "ancient Roman salute" the neo-classical painting (from 1784) was, for
a time, cited on Wikipedia, the glorified anonymous bulletin board where neo-nazis
deliberately post propagandistic lies and delete information about the topics
discussed here. There is where that wackiness began. Believe it or don't,
Wikipedia continues to use "Oath of the Horatii" to imply proof of an "ancient
Roman salute" (It depends upon when Wikipedia is viewed because Wikipedia
changes by the milisecond as people literally do cyber-warfare to maintain
lies there).
After Dr. Curry pointed out the silliness at Wackipedia, someone there
back-pedaled into speculation that the Pledge's early stiff-arm salute was
based on the Horatii painting, not caring that Francis Bellamy himself explained
the origin of his salute and it had nothing to do with "Oath of the Horatii"
by the painter Jacques-Louis David. The back-pedaling went farther with
misinterpretation of adlocutio, not caring that Bellamy explained the origin
of his salute and it had nothing to do with misinterpretation of adlocutio.
Bellamy explained that his salute started with a military salute that extended
out toward the flag. Francis Bellamy never used the term "ancient Roman
salute" ever for any reason (the concept "ancient Roman salute" did not
exist during Bellamy's time). Indeed, Jacques-Louis David himself never
referred to "Oath of the Horatii" as an "ancient Roman salute" nor did David
use the term "ancient Roman salute" ever for any reason (the concept "ancient
Roman salute" did not exist during David's time). The "Oath of the Horatii"
shows three people reaching for weapons. http://rexcurry.net/pledgehoratii.html
Winkler seems unaware (or he deliberately ignores) the fact that the term
"Roman salute" came after Francis Bellamy from Rome N.Y., (as shown by Dr.
Curry) and even later than that after the socialist Mussolini adopted America's
mechanical stiff-arm salute in Rome, Italy. The Oxford English Dictionary
supports Dr. Curry's work. http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html
Winkler's misleading method continues in his book "Roman Salute: Cinema,
History, Ideology," including Winkler's misleading hackneyed slang, on
display in the Table of Contents. One example is the title for chapter
3 ("Raised-arm salutes in the United States before fascism: from the Pledge
of allegiance to Ben-Hur on screen") that seems designed to deceive. Winkler
and Wikpedia play word games with the hackneyed term "fascism" in order
to cover-up the National Socialist German Workers Party and its connection
to older American National Socialism and the pledge from the Bellamys. If
the raised arm salutes in the United States existed before "fascism," as
Winkler claims, then they existed during the enormous growth and popularity
of National Socialism touted by the Bellamys, and they influenced the dogma,
symbols and rituals of the National Socialist German Workers Party later
(Winkler's "fascism"). Winkler wants to pretend that America's National
Socialism was not "fascism" so that Winkler can evade the connections.
People who refused to perform the stiff-arm salute and robotic chanting
to the nation's flag were persecuted, prosecutied, expelled, beaten and even
lynched. Eventually, that was happening at the same time in the United States
and in Germany. But it started in the United States in 1892 with the
Bellamys. They wanted government to take over education under their National
Socialism, and eliminate all of the better alternatives, and when the government
granted their wish the government's schools imposed segregation by law and
taught racism as official policy. See the photograph of a segregated class
forced to perform the mechanical chanting and America's straight-arm salute
at http://rexcurry.net/pledge-allegiance-pledge-allegiance.jpg
Winkler's table of contents for another chapter builds upon the widespread
ignorance by using the term "Nazi" instead of the actual name of the German
party.
Winkler writes as if he is unaware that Mussolini was a notorious
socialist journalist when he acquired the nick-name "Il Duce" (the Leader),
and that is also the time when Mussolini learned of America's stiff-arm
national socialist salute. http://rexcurry.net/mussolini.html
and http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter2a1b.html
The above is also why Winkler failed to make another discovery
that was made years ago by Dr. Curry: the symbol used by the German national
socialists, although an ancient symbol, was altered for use by socialists
as overlapping S-letters for their "socialism" (It was turned 45 degrees
to the horizontal and always oriented in the S-letter direction). http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
Winkler writes as if he is unaware that Francis Bellamy and Edward
Bellamy were cohorts in preaching about "Christian socialism," "military
socialism," and "national socialism." The Pledge and the early stiff-arm
salute were part of their efforts toward those goals.
The above is also why Winkler failed to make another discovery
that was made years ago by Dr. Curry: Francis Bellamy (who grew up in
Rome, N.Y., authored the "Pledge of Allegiance," and was the origin of the
stiff-arm salute used in the early Pledge) and Edward Bellamy (Francis'
cousin and the author of "Looking Backward") were notorious national socialsts
in America who advocated "military socialism" and an "industrial army" and
they influenced the National Socialist German Workers Party and its dogma,
symbols and rituals. The Bellamys advocated a government takeover of education,
and when the government granted their wish, government schools imposed segregation
by law and taught racism as official policy. People who refused to perform
the stiff-arm salute and robotic chanting to the nations flag were persecuted.
That happened in the U.S. before it happened in Germany (and elsewhere)
and it even outlasted German National Socialism. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
The above is also why Winkler failed to make another discovery
that was made years ago by Dr. Curry: the stiff-arm salute developed from
the Pledge because the Bellamy dogma of "military socialism" caused Francis
Bellamy to begin the Pledge with a military salute that was then extended
out toward the flag, as a gesture to the flag. In practice, annoyed students,
forced into robotic ritualism, simply extended the military salute outward
with the palm remaining down. Thus, the straight-arm salute developed as
an extended military salute from the Pledge of Allegiance. http://rexcurry.net/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-flag.jpg
Imagine something that did not happen: Beginning in 1892, teachers in government
schools in the United States began each day by holding up a picture of someone
with a raised arm and the teacher would raise his arm and instruct all students
to do the same. What would Winkler have said about the influence of that
behavior in the United States and worldwide? Winkler would have a lot to
say about it. Now consider something that actually did happen: Beginning
in 1892, teachers in government schools in the United States began each day
by chanting robotically with one arm raised toward the flag and they instructed
all students to do the same. What does Winkler have to say about the influence
of that behavior in the United States and worldwide? Winkler does not have
much to say about it.
Winkler's book "Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology" overlooks
and misleads regarding the "history and ideology" part in the title.
Winkler missed the one actual analogy between "ancient Rome" and the origin
of the stiff-arm salute in the Pedge of Allegiance: authoritarianism (then
and now), militarism, oppressive taxation and the decline of a once-great
society.
Winkler overlooked the "big picture" that Dr. Curry uncovered years
ago: How the pledge, the salute and the socialist dogma behind it caused
the current massive spending and debt in America, domestic military socialism,
nazi-style numbering of babies with lifetime tracking (the "social security"
ponzi scam) and the police state in the United States that continues
to grow today, along with government schools that have mechanical chanting
every day for twelve years of each child's life (only the misnamed "Roman
salute" has changed).
Winkler overlooked another big picture that Dr. Curry uncovered
years ago: How the pledge, the salute and the socialist dogma behind it
influenced totalitarianism worldwide, including the National Socialist
German Workers Party and its dogma, symbols and rituals. http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-metropolitan-museum-of-art.html
The raised-arm salute was the most popular symbol of the National
Socialist German Workers Party and related political ideologies in the
twentieth century.
The salute is said to have derived from an ancient Roman custom,
but Dr. Curry showed that it is a myth. Although modern historians
and others employ it as a matter of course, the term “Roman salute”
is a misnomer. http://rexcurry.net/pledge-allegiance-pledge-allegiance.jpg
The myth grew from the pledge and the resulting popular culture
of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that was misunderstood
to deal with ancient Rome: historical plays and films. Three decades of
the Pledge of Allegiance (from 1892) was chiefly responsible for the wide
familiarity of Europeans and Americans with forms of the raised-arm salute
and made it readily available for political purposes. From America's pledge,
the gesture entered the visual culture of stage and screen from after
1892 to the 1920s and beyond.
The continuing growth of socialism (and of the Pledge) makes
an examination of all its facets desirable, especially when the true
origins of a symbol as potent as the salute and the history of its dissemination
are barely known to classicists and historians of ancient Rome on the
one hand, and to scholars of modern European history, on the other.
Thus Dr. Curry's work appeals to classicists and historians, including
film historians, and will be of interest to readers beyond the academy.
Mexico adopted socialist flag salutes that originated in the United
States (from 1892). The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis)
also adopted the U.S. flag gesture after it had been used in the USA
for decades. http://rexcurry.net/bellamy-edward-emiliano-zapata-mexico-socialism.html
**********************
In the past, RexCurry.net challenged Professor Martin
Winkler of George Mason University to debate the origin
of the "Roman Salute" myth, and the spread of the socialist gesture
/ symbol. http://rexcurry.net/pledge-professor-martin-winkler.html
As the nation's leading authority on the
pledge of allegiance and on the "Roman Salute," Dr. Rex Curry
made the historic discovery that the salute of the National Socialist
German Workers' Party (Nazis) originated from the military salute
in the USA, and from the original flag pledge (as written by a socialist),
and not from ancient Rome. http://rexcurry.net/pledgesalute.html
The debate was prompted by many factors, including a poster
for Professor Winkler's speech that stated "The Roman Salute:
Origin and Spread of a Fascist Symbol." The poster and the speech's
use of the word "fascist" perpetuate ignorance of the fact that
the straight-arm salute was popularized by a socialist in the USA,
Francis Bellamy. See http://rexcurry.net/socialist-salute3.jpg
and the more accurate version at http://rexcurry.net/socialist-salute.jpg
The poster announces a speech that might
also have perpetuated widespread ignorance of the fact that
the word "Nazi" means "National Socialist German Workers' Party."
The debate was also prompted by Professor
Winkler's book "Gladiator" which also perpetuates similar ignorance
and myths. Winkler's book index lists only the hackneyed
terms "Nazi, Nazism....see also Fascism" again perpetuating ignorance
about the socialist origins of the salute, and about the National
Socialist German Workers' Party. The book appears to never use the
actual name of the horrid party but seems to deliberately repeat
the hackneyed shorthand.
The book's tired stereotypes perpetuate the
myth that the National Socialist German Workers' Party slaughtered
the most people. Here is one sample quote "The Fascist
and Nazi movements exploited this fear of the uncontrolled masses
to impose their own leaders." The book does not explain the relationship
of the National Socialist German Workers Party to other socialist movements.
The book never indicts the other socialist movements and their leaders
in the socialist inquisitions of the Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust
was a part): ~60 million killed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;
~50 million by the Peoples' Republic of China; and ~20 million by
the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
Another glaring puzzle in "Gladiator" is
that Winkler never mentions his own "Roman Salute" work. That
might be because, before the book was published, RexCurry.net
had already begun commenting on Professor Winkler's failure to
address the straight-arm salute's origin from a socialist in the
USA who wrote the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Those facts
don't fit in with the book's hackneyed perpetuation of ignorance
about the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
In Professor Winklers' early work on the
"Roman" salute myth, the professor traced the myth to early
fictional representations in movies, but Winkler appeared to
be unaware that the original pledge of allegiance predated all
of the movies and used a straight-armed salute (from 1892).
Even when Mussolini adopted the gesture, he was a well-known socialist
journalist in Italy.
The true origins of this salute can be traced back to the Pledge of Allegiance
in the United States. The Pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy
(a self-proclaimed National Socialist who promoted "military socialism"
and an "industrial army"). Francis was cousin to Edward Bellamy, another
American national socialist and the author of the book "Looking Backward."
Dr. Curry showed how the Pledge originally began with a military
salute that was then extended out toward the flag. In practice the second
part of the early American pledge gesture was performed palm down. Thus,
the mis-named "Roman salute" developed from an extended military salute
in the USA's Pledge of Allegiance. http://rexcurry.net/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-flag.jpg
Mexico adopted socialist flag salutes that originated in the United
States (from 1892). The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis)
also adopted the U.S. flag gesture after it had been used in the USA for
decades. http://rexcurry.net/bellamy-edward-emiliano-zapata-mexico-socialism.html
It was not an ancient Roman salute. The "ancient Roman salute" is
a myth, as shown by Dr. Rex Curry (author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets"). http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
The Pledge of Allegiance in the USA originally began with a classic
military salute (to the forehead) that was then extended out toward the
flag. The initial military salute was sometimes performed from the chest.
In practice, the 2nd gesture was performed palm down because children
simply extended the military gesture outward.
The Pledge was written by a National Socialist who wanted military
socialism in the USA, Mexico, Germany and worldwide.
Swastikas that symbolize overlapping S-letters
for Socialism
