There is, as Thoreau says, a time when honor claims intransigent civil disobedience, even though the punishment for such behavior is jail or the gallows. This thing called democracy perhaps sums up its value in having replaced declared tyrannies, or rather, in having the knowledge of the latter made “democrats” out of many men of valor. So we see that, in practice, tyranny has done nothing but change its name. It is impossible not to think of Kafka when we confront such democracy with the solitary individual. If we think, for example, of the immense oppressive power of the State machine or, more specifically, of the enlightened ones in robes, who enforce whatever they want, we see on the other side a nothing on his knees, tied up and under the double threat of the whip and the gag. Yet now, in a mix of Kafkaesque plot and nuances of Orwell and Huxley, oppression is delivered in packages as affable as they are false. To understand it and accept it willingly is to throw honor and the faculty of thought in the trash.
Tag: behavior
There Is Nothing More Ridiculous Than the Importation of Cultural Garbage…
In the contemporary West, there is nothing more ridiculous than the importation of cultural garbage produced by the United States by countries that, in doing so, humiliate their own tradition. Henry Adams correctly predicted that nothing good could be expected from a rising civilization that has been denied a decent cultural-historical basis. And there it is… All the nonsense conceived in America, with the impressive speed of the digital age, is instantly exported to the rest of the West, which seems to delight in this vexing packaging of an English corrupted by the absence of British tradition. As for Brazil, it is better not to say.
The Political Agitators of Past Eras
It is a remarkable fact that, in order to know who the political agitators of past eras were, we have to resort to works other than those of history. Exceptions to this rule are very rare, and most often apply to the worst examples of the class. Sad fate! And to see that history does not grant a single line, not a single mention to the majority of those who, during their lives, inspired such exalted admiration, directly influencing the so-called public opinion and giving a false impression of importance—which history tries to disprove. From this, only one conclusion can be drawn…
At Some Point in History, the Press Discovered…
At some point in history, the press discovered that it could sell truths—and how much it could profit from doing so. Then, realizing this new potentiality, it took it on with gusto and, over decades, gradually intensifying it as intensifying it proved more and more profitable, it became a tool of systematic manipulation. For a while, nothing seemed able to stand up to it, to diminish its sovereign power; and it deluded itself that it would always be like this. What has happened in the West, then, in a sudden way and notably in Brazil, is something simply delightful to observe: this whole scoundrel empire, this conglomerate of lies, is now targeted by the fury of the very masses it has manipulated and seems doomed to collapse. It is a privilege to notice it in real time! And who could have predicted it? After many years of lying, lying, and lying, to the point of doing it with an astonishing shamelessness, overstepping all limits and insulting the intelligence of those it deceived, it has fomented a very violent reaction against itself that did not warn when it would burst. It is true: it is still too early to risk the final chapters of this story; but, for now, there is no way to contain the stretching of the same smile that lived on Voltaire’s face.