I came across this quote by Borges the other day – “dictatorships breed idiocy”:
“One of the most vocal critics of Peronism was the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. After Perón ascended to the presidency in 1946, Borges spoke before the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE) by saying:
Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking […] Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer. Need I remind readers of Martín Fierro or Don Segundo that individualism is an old Argentine virtue.”
They all self-destruct in the end. Simply a question of how long it takes. Xi Jinping will be no different.
But our system has a working feedback loop. Correcting the idiocies is never as fast as we’d like, but it’s far, far quicker and less painful. Our key advantage is the shorter time constant (apologies for the engineering speak). That also means we never go quite as far off beam as the Russians and Chinese.
But our system has a working feedback loop. Correcting the idiocies is never as fast as we’d like, but it’s far, far quicker and less painful. Our key advantage is the shorter time constant (apologies for the engineering speak). That also means we never go quite as far off beam as the Russians and Chinese.
So rather unfortunately does Parliamentary Democracy as we have witnessed now for many a year!
Perhaps we might learn from the land of William Tell?
Peter B
11 months ago
I came across this quote by Borges the other day – “dictatorships breed idiocy”:
“One of the most vocal critics of Peronism was the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. After Perón ascended to the presidency in 1946, Borges spoke before the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE) by saying:
Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking […] Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer. Need I remind readers of Martín Fierro or Don Segundo that individualism is an old Argentine virtue.”
They all self-destruct in the end. Simply a question of how long it takes. Xi Jinping will be no different.
Dumetrius
11 months ago
So the lesson for Xinnie the Ping is that things will go a bit wobbly fifty years after he’s cremated, or embalmed for display?
Dumetrius
11 months ago
So the lesson for Xinnie the Ping is that things will go a bit wobbly fifty years after he’s cremated, or embalmed for display?
Lisa I
11 months ago
People in many countries couldn’t care less about democracy once their living standards don’t decline too much. Look at the Arab spring countries and Russia for example. Most people there weren’t impressed with democracy and turned back to authoritarianism. They want stability. Different strokes for different folks. Western values aren’t universal.
I’m by no means advocating authoritarianism but I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy. Differences in cultures makes the world a more interesting place. What’s the point in the rest of the world being clones of the US and western Europe.
” I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy.”
Because democracies rarely go to war against each other, whereas dictatorships always try to extinguish them.
” I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy.”
Because democracies rarely go to war against each other, whereas dictatorships always try to extinguish them.
Lisa I
11 months ago
People in many countries couldn’t care less about democracy once their living standards don’t decline too much. Look at the Arab spring countries and Russia for example. Most people there weren’t impressed with democracy and turned back to authoritarianism. They want stability. Different strokes for different folks. Western values aren’t universal.
I’m by no means advocating authoritarianism but I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy. Differences in cultures makes the world a more interesting place. What’s the point in the rest of the world being clones of the US and western Europe.
Last edited 11 months ago by Lisa I
Martin Johnson
11 months ago
This is a very tortured argument. It took a lot more to bring down the Tsarist regime in 1917 than Nicholas I creating a more repressive regime 90 years before.
btw, the prototype police state was not Russia under Nicholas I, but France under Napoleon and his chief of police, Fouche. Not essential to your argument, but getting the basics wrong does not help your credibility.
‘They’ were repeatedly thrashed on the field of battle by Max Hoffman & Co, nothing more need be said.
Martin Johnson
11 months ago
This is a very tortured argument. It took a lot more to bring down the Tsarist regime in 1917 than Nicholas I creating a more repressive regime 90 years before.
btw, the prototype police state was not Russia under Nicholas I, but France under Napoleon and his chief of police, Fouche. Not essential to your argument, but getting the basics wrong does not help your credibility.
Charles Stanhope
11 months ago
“War is the father of all things”*
It took the Imperial German Army about 960 days to destroy Tsar Nicholas II and his Russians hordes during the Great War.**
I daresay the US Navy will be able to improve on that.
(*Heraclitus.)
(** 1st August 1914- 15th March 1917.)
China isn’t Iraq however but has a far stronger national culture and cohesion.
And even in Iraq the Americans also managed to lose the strategic war, first by alienating almost all the major groups in Iraq excluding perhaps the Kurds, and actually strengthening the position of a major geopolitical adversary, Iran. Which takes quite some doing!
I’m pretty pro American by the way, certainly better than the Nazis or Communists!
Sadly most people seem to unwittingly accept the modern mantra that all peoples are of equal ability in everything!
History has a rather different conclusion.
Sadly most people seem to unwittingly accept the modern mantra that all peoples are of equal ability in everything!
History has a rather different conclusion.
China isn’t Iraq however but has a far stronger national culture and cohesion.
And even in Iraq the Americans also managed to lose the strategic war, first by alienating almost all the major groups in Iraq excluding perhaps the Kurds, and actually strengthening the position of a major geopolitical adversary, Iran. Which takes quite some doing!
I’m pretty pro American by the way, certainly better than the Nazis or Communists!
I came across this quote by Borges the other day – “dictatorships breed idiocy”:
“One of the most vocal critics of Peronism was the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. After Perón ascended to the presidency in 1946, Borges spoke before the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE) by saying:
Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking […] Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer. Need I remind readers of Martín Fierro or Don Segundo that individualism is an old Argentine virtue.”
They all self-destruct in the end. Simply a question of how long it takes. Xi Jinping will be no different.
“dictatorships breed idiocy”:
So rather unfortunately does Parliamentary Democracy as we have witnessed now for many a year!
Perhaps we might learn from the land of William Tell?
But our system has a working feedback loop. Correcting the idiocies is never as fast as we’d like, but it’s far, far quicker and less painful. Our key advantage is the shorter time constant (apologies for the engineering speak). That also means we never go quite as far off beam as the Russians and Chinese.
Trial & Error I suppose you might say.
1649 & 1688 were good examples.
Our idiots have nicer shoes and better suits!
Trial & Error I suppose you might say.
1649 & 1688 were good examples.
Our idiots have nicer shoes and better suits!
But our system has a working feedback loop. Correcting the idiocies is never as fast as we’d like, but it’s far, far quicker and less painful. Our key advantage is the shorter time constant (apologies for the engineering speak). That also means we never go quite as far off beam as the Russians and Chinese.
“dictatorships breed idiocy”:
So rather unfortunately does Parliamentary Democracy as we have witnessed now for many a year!
Perhaps we might learn from the land of William Tell?
I came across this quote by Borges the other day – “dictatorships breed idiocy”:
“One of the most vocal critics of Peronism was the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. After Perón ascended to the presidency in 1946, Borges spoke before the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE) by saying:
Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking […] Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer. Need I remind readers of Martín Fierro or Don Segundo that individualism is an old Argentine virtue.”
They all self-destruct in the end. Simply a question of how long it takes. Xi Jinping will be no different.
So the lesson for Xinnie the Ping is that things will go a bit wobbly fifty years after he’s cremated, or embalmed for display?
So the lesson for Xinnie the Ping is that things will go a bit wobbly fifty years after he’s cremated, or embalmed for display?
People in many countries couldn’t care less about democracy once their living standards don’t decline too much. Look at the Arab spring countries and Russia for example. Most people there weren’t impressed with democracy and turned back to authoritarianism. They want stability. Different strokes for different folks. Western values aren’t universal.
I’m by no means advocating authoritarianism but I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy. Differences in cultures makes the world a more interesting place. What’s the point in the rest of the world being clones of the US and western Europe.
” I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy.”
Because democracies rarely go to war against each other, whereas dictatorships always try to extinguish them.
” I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy.”
Because democracies rarely go to war against each other, whereas dictatorships always try to extinguish them.
People in many countries couldn’t care less about democracy once their living standards don’t decline too much. Look at the Arab spring countries and Russia for example. Most people there weren’t impressed with democracy and turned back to authoritarianism. They want stability. Different strokes for different folks. Western values aren’t universal.
I’m by no means advocating authoritarianism but I don’t understand why some governments want to export liberal democracy. Differences in cultures makes the world a more interesting place. What’s the point in the rest of the world being clones of the US and western Europe.
This is a very tortured argument. It took a lot more to bring down the Tsarist regime in 1917 than Nicholas I creating a more repressive regime 90 years before.
btw, the prototype police state was not Russia under Nicholas I, but France under Napoleon and his chief of police, Fouche. Not essential to your argument, but getting the basics wrong does not help your credibility.
‘They’ were repeatedly thrashed on the field of battle by Max Hoffman & Co, nothing more need be said.
‘They’ were repeatedly thrashed on the field of battle by Max Hoffman & Co, nothing more need be said.
This is a very tortured argument. It took a lot more to bring down the Tsarist regime in 1917 than Nicholas I creating a more repressive regime 90 years before.
btw, the prototype police state was not Russia under Nicholas I, but France under Napoleon and his chief of police, Fouche. Not essential to your argument, but getting the basics wrong does not help your credibility.
“War is the father of all things”*
It took the Imperial German Army about 960 days to destroy Tsar Nicholas II and his Russians hordes during the Great War.**
I daresay the US Navy will be able to improve on that.
(*Heraclitus.)
(** 1st August 1914- 15th March 1917.)
Heraclitus had a point, which was lost on Saddam Hussein who forecast the “mother of all battles”. That worked out well…
A most ridiculous piece of bombast not heard since the days of Mussolini, yet our lickspittle Press lapped it up.
Anyone with an iota of knowledge of Iraq would have predicted that ‘they’ would ‘run away’ in droves, as they surely did.
China isn’t Iraq however but has a far stronger national culture and cohesion.
And even in Iraq the Americans also managed to lose the strategic war, first by alienating almost all the major groups in Iraq excluding perhaps the Kurds, and actually strengthening the position of a major geopolitical adversary, Iran. Which takes quite some doing!
I’m pretty pro American by the way, certainly better than the Nazis or Communists!
Perhaps so. But so very few had the “iota of knowledge” about Iraq ! That’s my excuse anyway.
Sadly most people seem to unwittingly accept the modern mantra that all peoples are of equal ability in everything!
History has a rather different conclusion.
Sadly most people seem to unwittingly accept the modern mantra that all peoples are of equal ability in everything!
History has a rather different conclusion.
China isn’t Iraq however but has a far stronger national culture and cohesion.
And even in Iraq the Americans also managed to lose the strategic war, first by alienating almost all the major groups in Iraq excluding perhaps the Kurds, and actually strengthening the position of a major geopolitical adversary, Iran. Which takes quite some doing!
I’m pretty pro American by the way, certainly better than the Nazis or Communists!
Perhaps so. But so very few had the “iota of knowledge” about Iraq ! That’s my excuse anyway.
A most ridiculous piece of bombast not heard since the days of Mussolini, yet our lickspittle Press lapped it up.
Anyone with an iota of knowledge of Iraq would have predicted that ‘they’ would ‘run away’ in droves, as they surely did.
Heraclitus had a point, which was lost on Saddam Hussein who forecast the “mother of all battles”. That worked out well…
“War is the father of all things”*
It took the Imperial German Army about 960 days to destroy Tsar Nicholas II and his Russians hordes during the Great War.**
I daresay the US Navy will be able to improve on that.
(*Heraclitus.)
(** 1st August 1914- 15th March 1917.)
Factual error or typo in the article. Nicholas I died in 1855, not 1825.