Vandalism

The Sack of Rome by the Vandals. Painting by Heinrich Leutemann (1824-1904); The Vandals conquered the city of Rome in 455. The name of the tribe is also the origin of words such as "vandalism" (the word took on a meaning of "willful destroyer of what is beautiful"), which is historically wrong (Roman and French propaganda), they spared most of the city's inhabitants and didn't burn down its buildings.

Vandalism is an intentionally performed destruction or disallowed modification of a structure, symbol or any other action that is against the will of the owner or the governing body. The term "vandalism" is used as a synonym for the act of destruction. The former was coined in 1794 by the Frenchman H. Grégoire, Bishop of Blois, in reference to the Jacobin Terror during the French Revolution.

History

This context and use are unjustified, as it attributes a blind rage of destruction to the historical tribe of the Germanic Vandals, which is historically untenable. During the conquest of Rome under King Geiseric in 455, which is considered emblematic of the Vandals' character, they merely seized loot that the Romans had previously confiscated from numerous peoples, including many Germanic tribes. Compared to the plundering that was common at the time, the Vandals acted relatively decently. The idea that they indulged in brutal rampages, especially against works of art—with which the term vandalism is commonly associated—is a long-disproven myth.

The term is originally a racist remark which refers to the Vandals, a now unidentifiable Germanic tribe who sacked Rome in 455, under the leadership of King Geiseric.

History has not been kind to the Vandals. The word "vandal" has become synonymous with destruction, in part because the texts about them were written mainly by Romans and other non-Vandals. [...] It wasn't until after the French Revolution, in the late 18th century, that the name "Vandals" became widely associated with destruction, Stephen Kershaw, who holds a doctorate in classics, wrote in his book "The Enemies of Rome: The Barbarian Rebellion Against the Roman Empire" (Pegasus Books, 2020). Kershaw noted that the French abbot Henri Grégoire de Blois used the term "Vandalisme" to describe the destruction of artwork during and after the French Revolution, in reference to the "barbarian" sacking of the "civilized" ancient Rome. The word "vandalism" then became widely used to describe acts of damage and destruction.

An example is Swastika vandalism, which strangely is often done by leftists as well as Jews and just as often blamed on "rightists". Jews also vandalize religious institutions of other faiths.

Palestine

During the ceasefire in the 2014 Gaza Holocaust, Palestinians returning to their home found that the Israeli Jews vandalized it with racial slurs and threw feces everywhere. Israel also did the same thing in 2009: not only was feces thrown everywhere--on the floors, walls, photocopier--they also threw paint all over paintings, permanently ruining them. Israelis also would hold Palestinians hostage and refuse to let them use the toilet and make them go in containers and this went on for weeks. The Israelis then kept it in the fridge and used it to combine with their own urine and feces to vandalize the home. The Israelis especially targeted clean clothes, washers, and dryers to cover with urine and feces. The IDF would interrogate these hostages and use them as human shields.

Wiki vandalism

This refers to users inserting nonsense, obscenity etc. into pages on a wiki or remove contents of pages.

See also

• Swastika vandalism