« This is why so many teachers smoke... | Sheep people make me mad... »
August 30, 2004Sound like anything we've seen lately?
From Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living, published in 1937:
Knowing then our human frailties, we have the more reason to hate the despicable wretch who in demagogue fashion makes use of our human foibles to hound us into another world war; who inculcates hatred, of which we already have too much; who glorifies self-aggrandizement and self-interest, of which there is no lack; who appeals to our animal bigotry and racial prejudice; who deletes the fifth commandment in the training of youth and encourages killing and war as noble, as if we were not already warlike enough creature; and who whips up and stirs our mortal passions, as if we were not already very near the beast….The gracious spirit of wisdom is tired down to a beast or a demon in us, which by this time we have come to understand is nothing but our animal heritage, or rather it ties this demon down by an old and worn leash and holds it but in temporary submission. At any time the leash may snap, and the demon be unleashed, and amidst hosannas the car of Juggernaut will ride roughshod over us, just to remind us once more how terribly near the savage we have been all this time, and how superficial is our civilization. Civilization will then be turned into a magnificent stage, on which Moors will kill Christians and Christians kill Moors…
Posted by patrick at August 30, 2004 09:33 PM
CommentsPost a comment