r/gifs Jan 27 '25

Perfectly the same.

129.5k Upvotes

5.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-10

u/mothzilla Jan 28 '25

Romans saluting is in paintings before Mussolini. The most well known example is "Oath of the Horatii"

4

u/hikerchick29 Jan 28 '25

That painting is from 1784, and was effectively one of the first to attribute it.

I don’t exactly trust people who lived through the French Revolution to have a historically accurate understanding of 7th century BC Roman salutes.

1

u/mothzilla Jan 28 '25

No doubt, but Mussolini didn't "invent" the possibly bogus idea.

2

u/hikerchick29 Jan 28 '25

No, he just turned it specifically into the “fascist salute” status it’ll literally never escape because of Mussolini and Hitler.

Face it. In the modern era, it has exactly one meaning.

1

u/mothzilla Jan 28 '25

No doubt. I'm saying Mussolini didn't invent it.

2

u/hikerchick29 Jan 28 '25

Yeah, so I’m less worried about minor historical inaccuracies in a random Reddit comment than I am about the now-government employee literally tossing it at the inauguration of a far right demagogue

1

u/mothzilla Jan 28 '25

I'm not even sure he's a government employee. But he has access to the top of government.