Why Nero Fiddled
We’ve probably all heard that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
We use it as an analogy for political and business leaders.
While their business (or country) is falling apart, they do little or nothing about it.
It’s as if they don’t care. Like they want to see everything in ruin.
So, we say they are like Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
We think they are stupid or careless or incompetent.
While their business crashes, they do nothing. They play golf.
They fiddle while Rome burns.
But, few people remember (or know) why Nero was fiddling while Rome burned.
It wasn’t because he was incompetent.
It wasn’t because he was stupid.
It wasn’t because he was just nuts.
Okay, he might have been crazy, but that’s not why he was apparently fiddling while Rome burned.
You see, he had a plan.
He wanted Rome to burn.
He had a new Rome in mind that he wanted to build.
So, the old Rome had to be destroyed so the new Rome could be built.
So, Nero wanted Rome to burn.
Burn, baby, burn! is possibly the chorus to the song he was fiddling.
So, yes, Nero may have been crazy, but at least he had a plan.
He wasn’t fiddling because he was crazy. He was fiddling because he was seeing his plan begin to come to fruition.
So, ponder that the next time you want to compare someone to Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Are they really just thoughtless, or do they have an ulterior plan?
Also, there weren’t fiddles in Nero’s age. If anything, he played a lyre. Think on that too.
a) I think you’re giving politicians waaaaay too much credit for having a master plan here.
b) The problem with this approach is that you’re playing with fire. Literally. Things you don’t mean to burn will be fried to a crisp, innocent people will be hurt and it may jump and spread out of control. So it’s a pretty inefficient and dangerous approach to building a new city on the hill.
Not to mention, it ticks off all the historic preservation folks.
Not sure where you thought I was giving politicians too much credit for having a plan? Was merely suggesting that people consider why Nero was purportedly fiddling before using the analogy.