James Baldwin: “A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless”- The Fire Next Time.
“The people who settled the country had a fatal flaw. They could recognize a man when they saw one. They knew he wasn’t…anything else but a man; but since they were Christian, and since they had already decided that they came here to establish a free country, the only way to justify the role this chattel was playing in one’s life was to say that he was not a man. For if he wasn’t, then no crime had been committed. That lie is the basis of our present trouble.” From “The White Problem,” published in Robert A. Goodwin’s edited volume 100 Years of Emancipation.
It’s not humanity. It’s humans with power privilege and positions. Much of the global south and the US is for fair wages, and against corruption and genocide. In Aaron Bushnell words, “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal”.
And one more Mencken classic: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
My favourite!
James Baldwin: “A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless”- The Fire Next Time.
“The people who settled the country had a fatal flaw. They could recognize a man when they saw one. They knew he wasn’t…anything else but a man; but since they were Christian, and since they had already decided that they came here to establish a free country, the only way to justify the role this chattel was playing in one’s life was to say that he was not a man. For if he wasn’t, then no crime had been committed. That lie is the basis of our present trouble.” From “The White Problem,” published in Robert A. Goodwin’s edited volume 100 Years of Emancipation.
My biggest struggle with humanity is cowardice when the odds are in our favour.
It’s not humanity. It’s humans with power privilege and positions. Much of the global south and the US is for fair wages, and against corruption and genocide. In Aaron Bushnell words, “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal”.
Carlin is the best.
Don't forget H.L. Mencken's definition: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
The Master!
Yep, that quote goes with that cowardice I mentioned. And laziness is part of cowardice.
And one more Mencken classic: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
There have never been more devils in our world, or so we're told.
And so many Hitler 2.0s too apparently. Requires constant coups, bombings and invasions. Or so we're told...
It is absolutely necessary to hurt people to help them. The shit the Media peddles in fancy words.
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery
Biden sent me the same memo.