Emperor Assassinations
and Partisan Politics
Janet Kuypers
12/11/19, on the anniversary of the 969 date
Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas
is assassinated by his wife Theophano and her
lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes
I look at the state of politics
in the U.S. government, with
one side busy impeaching
the sitting president, and think
that this has to be pretty bad,
far too partisan. But look into
U.S. history if you think it’s bad
now, when leaders once challenged
each other to duels, & modern
times might not seem so bad.
But if I thought it was bad here,
I had laughed when I read that
one-thousand fifty years ago
today, the Byzantine Emperor
was assassinated by his wife
and her lover, a later Emperor.
So if you thought founders of
the United States challenging
each other to a duel was bad,
that’s nothing — when an
Emperor’s wife actually kills
him with her lover, who is
also the Emperor’s nephew.
You’d think I was writing this
for a soap opera, but no, so
I just want you to remember
that when you hear all of the
partisan political bickering now,
this nonsense we now hear
is really nothing to fear.
You haven’t seen what people
can really do for power...
This is why, like some soap
opera stars who can brush
everything off like it’s nothing,
give it all a little perspective,
and laugh when others freak
when you stop paying any
attention to politics anymore.
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