[The following was written and published before the publication of
Martin Winkler's book]
Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology
is a book that hasn't even been published and it has already been
debunked. In regard to the stiff-arm salute in the early Pledge of Allegiance
to the United States flag, the book is an incomplete rehash of discoveries
published years ago by Dr. Rex Curry (author of "Pledge of Allegiance
Secrets"). Dr. Curry showed that the Pledge was the origin of the "ancient
Roman salute" myth, and that the Pledge was the origin of the Nazi salute
(and ritualized robotic chanting to flags by Nazis). Winkler's book leaves
its readers with the impression that such thoughts have never even entered
Winkler's head, and that Winkler has never even heard of Dr. Curry's discoveries
(Winkler HAS heard about them and long before he wrote his book). 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 "il saluto romano" 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 (with James B. Upham) 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 covering-up 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 prefers to substitute for the
actual name of the horrid group. How often has Winkler ever written
the actual name of the group about which he writes? http://rexcurry.net/pledgehoratii.html
Evading the term "National Socialist German Workers Party" helps Winkler
evade the national socialist dogma touted by Francis Bellamy and Edward Bellamy
(Francis' cousin and cohort). Winkler evades any discussion of the influence
of the Bellamys upon the National Socialist German Workers Party and its
dogma, symbols and rituals. Winkler never mentions Edward Bellamy in the
book "Roman Salute." Has Winkler ever written the actual names of the groups
that Francis Bellamy supported (national socialism, military socialism, Christian
socialism)?
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 millisecond 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 never asks the question "what is the oldest example of 'Oath of
the Horatii' used to explain the Roman salute?" Why does Winkler fail to ask
that obvious question? That is the question Dr. Curry asked and answered.
Does an old example not exist? Is the oldest source the wikipedia effort
to cover-up Dr. Curry's work?
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. Winkler
has written a book about the "Roman Salute" in which Winkler never examines
the etymology of the phrase about which Winkler wrote. Winkler never asks
the question "when was the term 'Roman salute' first used?" That is the question
Dr. Curry asked and answered. The Oxford English Dictionary supports Dr.
Curry's work. http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html
It is odd that Winkler asks Dr. Curry's question for the term "passo
romano" (Roman step), although Winkler does not ask Dr. Curry's question
for the term "Roman salute." Here are the two questions: (1) when was the
term "passo romano" first used?; (2) when was the term "Roman salute" first
used? Winkler only answers the "passo romano" question and Winkler's answer
is similar to the answer that Dr. Curry has already given: they are of recent
development, and decades later than the Pledge of Allegiance. Winkler writes
"Mussolini introduced [the Roman step] in 1938, after being 'greatly impressed
by the [national socialist] parades he had witnessed" on his state visit
to Berlin the year before. [citation omitted]. At that time Italian-German
relations were so close as to make the origin of the new step obvious to
all Italians. Nevertheless it, too, was officially propogated as a Roman
custom and accordingly called the passo romano ("Roman step").
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.
Martin Winkler continues and expands the long tradition in the United
States of covering-up the Pledge's putrid past.
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 (with James B. Upham) 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
A book review in the "Bryn Mawr Classical Review" supports Dr. Rex
Curry's comments about Martin M. Winkler's book "The Roman Salute: Cinema,
History, Ideology." The review was written by Michelle Borg, University
of Sydney, and in criticizing Winkler she states:
"The author [Winkler] first turns to the early form of the Pledge of
Allegiance, which originally included an entirely similar gesture to the
one that came to be used by Fascists and Nazis. This uncomfortable association
is not explored in depth; Winkler simply asserts that the gesture had no
political or historical connotations in the United States." http://www.bmcreview.org/2009/08/20090845.html
Winkler's work was debunked before it was published (see the work of
the symbologist Dr. Rex Curry, author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets").
Comments have noted some of that with this criticism: "The author [Winkler]
first turns to the early form of the Pledge of Allegiance, which originally
included an entirely similar gesture to the one that came to be used by
Fascists and Nazis. This uncomfortable association is not explored in depth;
Winkler simply asserts that the gesture had no political or historical connotations
in the United States." Winkler simply will not address the work that preceded
him by Dr. Curry. The Pledge was the origin of the so-called "Roman
salute" and it was the origin of the salute adopted later by socialists
in Germany and Italy. The Pledge was written (1892) by Francis Bellamy,
cousin and cohort of Edward Bellamy, both self-proclaimed national socialists
in the USA. Bellamy explained the origin of his gesture: It began with a
military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. It was also
the origin of the Olympic salute. Winkler cannot bear to discuss that because
Dr. Curry has long ago explained it all. That is why Winkler evades the
national socialist dogma of Germany and Italy, and insteads uses the unscholarly
and misleading slang "Nazi" instead of the actual name of the group "National
Socialist German Workers Party." He also evades the fact that Mussolini was
a self-proclaimed national socialist when Mussolini learned of the stiff-armed
salute, which originated in the USA's Pledge. There has been an outstanding
debate challenge against Winkler (in which Dr. Curry has prevailed by Winkler's
default spanning years in which Winkler has lost/conceded) and Winkler is
just not going to face the issues. He will perpetuate ignorance about the
topic and not inform people.
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
