...very little has been said about actual life under communism, about living beings, not slogans and theories. Theories against practice...I don't give a damn about theories. I do give a good deal about human beings...
...the individual against the collective. That problem interests me above all others in my writing...The plot of my novel is entirely fictitious. The background and circumstances which make the plot possible are entirely true.
The apparent enthusiasm for the manual worker, for the afflicted and for social justice; serves as a mask to facilitate the refusal of all obligations, such as courtesy, truthfulness, and above all, respect or esteem for superior individuals...[In regard to] Dictatorship, we have seen only too well how they flatter the mass-man, by trampling on everything that appeared to be above the common level.
Everything accepted on faith or someone else's authority is only a warmed over spiritual hash.
...the means have become the end...
If all of life has been brought down to flattering the mob, if those who can please the mob are the only ones to succeed - why should anyone feel any high aspirations and cherish any ideals?...
Instead of preaching more collectivism, men must realize that it is precisely collectivism, in its logical consequences - a subtle, unnamed, unofficial, but still all-powerful collectivism - that is the cause of mankind's tragedy...since collective ethics are claimed to be necessary for collective economics - take a look, gentlemen, we have those ethics already. We have them and we don't like them; it is not a pretty picture.
The first cornerstone of his convictions is equality... all possess intrinsic value by the mere fact of having been born in the shape of men...
this talk is on a grand scale, staggering, magnificent, its bromides well hidden under the latest scientific terms, the whole worked out on a formula of saying things that sound profound until one stops to think of what exactly they mean and finds they mean nothing... beliefs are important to them only as a means to an end... he is not bothered by his inconsistencies, by the vagueness and illogic of his convictions. They are efficient and effective to assure the ends he is seeking...
Once the equality of men is established, the advantages to his type are obvious... assure him of superiority...
The liberals and humanitarians are now faced with a choice: either admit that their are differences among men more profound and irrefutable than those of money or aristocratic birth, and therefore fight for the rights and freedom of the best among men, rights and freedom which the average men do not want, do not understand and cannot use or protect, and stop the damnable preoccupation with the "poor" as such, the poor who have no distinction beyond their poverty; or - deny these ideals... bring mankind down to the level of the masses...
It's the aggressive, imperious expressions that are awful - on these people who are supposed to stand for equality, freedom, kindness, justice, etc...
All artistic creation has a philosophy. The first condition of creation.
How to Wash a Trucker Hat the Right Way
2 years ago
4 comments:
I think this is my favorite:
"...the means have become the end..."
We have violated international law, using as a form of "enhanced interrogation" a technique that we ourselves decried as a war crime in the wake of World War II.
In dealing with Jose Padilla, we took a U.S. citizen into custody on U.S. soil, and denied him his Constitutional rights.
If they can do these things to accused terrorists, they can do these things to you -- all they have to do is accuse you of being a terrorist, and say you are an illegal enemy combatant.
America has always been defined by what we stand for -- "truth, justice and the American way". If America no longer stands for "truth, justice and the American way", then we have ceased to be a special nation on God's earth; to which nation should the world look for these things?
In destroying what is right with America, these people in Washington are destroying America, and they are far more devastating than Osama bin Laden could ever hope to be in his wildest dreams about eternity in the arms of virgins.
It is precisely our means that define us -- they are our end, and they are how we will be judged.
This is a subject that I have to confess is still not concrete for me. I have no sympathy for terrorists who murder civilians. However, when the government is defining the term terrorist, we are set up for abuses of power. We saw it with the Patriot act, and I fear we will see it with Obama. The wolf has merely exchanged his red sheep suit for blue.
It is our job as citizens to stand up and demand that our government respect our rights and limit its own scope. It is a mighty challenge these days.
Then it sounds like it is concrete for you -- certainly more so than for most Americans.
Too many Americans have been dumbed down, so they don't understand the ramifications of their choices; beyond "dumbed down", they are unwise, and that's just the way the corporate syndicates and their political puppets want us. Off we are led, like sheep to the slaughter, demanding what we have been programmed to ask for.
The liberals and humanitarians are now faced with a choice: either admit that their are differences among men more profound and irrefutable than those of money or aristocratic birth, and therefore fight for the rights and freedom of the best among men, rights and freedom which the average men do not want, do not understand and cannot use or protect, and stop the damnable preoccupation with the "poor" as such, the poor who have no distinction beyond their poverty; or - deny these ideals... bring mankind down to the level of the masses...
Exactly. That's the real choice we face. The problem as I see it is that I begin to see there are conservatives or even right-leaning people that are not interested in making that choice, so others are going to do it for them...
Regards
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