Something intriguing.

[jebon]

"The world is run by one million evil men, ten million stupid men, and a hundred million cowards. The evil men are the power -the rich men and the politicians, and the fanatics of religion - whose decisions rule the world, and set it on its course of greed and destruction. The are only one million of them, the truly evil men, in the whole world. The very rich and the very powerful, whose decisions really count -they only number one million. The stupid men, who number ten million, are the soldiers and policemen who enforce the rule of the evil men. They are the standing armies of twelve key countries, and the police forces of those and twenty more. In total, there are only ten million of them with any real power or consequence. They are often brave, I'm sure, but they are stupid, too, because they give their lives for governments and causes that use their flesh and blood as mere chess pieces. Those governments always betray them or let them down or abandon them, in the long run. Nations neglect no men more shamefully that the heroes of their wars."And the hundred million cowards, they are the bureaucrats and paper shufflers and pen-pen pushers who permit the rule of the evil men, and look the other way. They are the head of this department, and the secretary of that committee, and the president of the other associations. They are managers, and officials, and mayors and officers of the court. They always defend themselves by saying that they are just following orders, or just doing their job, and it's nothing personal, and if THEY don't do it, someone else surely will. They are the hundred million cowards who know what is going on, but say nothing, while they sign the paper that puts one man before a firing squad, or condemns one million men to the slower death of a famine."
A quote that I think is rather profound and accurate. Not necessarily the stupid part, but the rest is a pretty good summation of our world. I would to love to hear thoughts on this. This quote is from SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts and can be found on page 349, the first page of chapter seventeen.

Comments

[herlander_refugee]

I always take a jaundiced view when a civilian pronounces that military men and women are stupid. It neglects to notice that these military are like other humans with families to feed---they need a job that pays the bills. Some are doubtless stupid, others make the best out of a complex and often bad set of circumstances. Likewise, the bureaucrats are ordinary men and women doing their best in difficult situations. And no, I assure you they do not "know what is going on" in any more than their own postage stamp portion of the world at large.

Solutions that demonize other human beings with such ease are not solutions, but to my mind the facile verbage of the movie critic vis a vis the actors and directors. These facile mouths do not DO, they merely criticize those IN the trenches.

So far as I am concerned, they are like the bitching constituent who never votes, but gripes anyway.

[jebon]

I agree with you completely. I just thought that this was an interesting passage in the book I'm currently reading, and I wanted to hear others opinions on it. I personally don't believe that most people are evil, stupid or cowardly. So, I thought this might strike up an interesting debate. Thank you for being so honest in your opinion. That is exactly what I wanted. : )

[herlander_refugee]

LOL...I am always honest. Sadly, it would appeal to so many, for oh...if ONLY it were so simple, right?

But this is the precise sort of statement made in places like Cambodia by people like the Kymer Rouge. And when they killed their thousands of evil, stupid, and lazy people...life was only impoverished and more miserable.

[jebon]

Also this quote pertains to India not the U.S.A., so things are much different over there, and this may be more accurate in that culture.

[jebon]

This kind of "philosophical" statement can indeed make many things worse for many people. I'm a big fan of philosophy, but sometimes it goes to extreme's, and cause and effect are not always factored in when the statement is made broadly to many people. This book I'm reading is a very good book so far (in my opinion), but a lot of things in it make you pause and think, WTF? Of course their culture is completely different from ours, so I expect that some things will take me off guard and maybe even offend me. I am not one to judge to quickly though, it's their culture, and it may be different, but I don't think I have the right or the experience to judge the different nuances that they may have. But being such an avid reader I will read things that make me uncomfortable at times. Even if I don't always agree with the message, it's always good to hear and consider the opposition. That's just my opinion, but when you know what their thought process is, you are better prepared for such things as debate.