The way in which, in War and Peace, Tolstoy repeatedly scorns the “military genius” who left Russia destroyed, and all his vile admirers, is an overwhelming demonstration of his nobility and moral high-mindedness. The disservice historians do by idolizing murderous madmen, slaves to the most abject ambitions who made human flesh the springboard for their petty desires, presenting them as superior creatures and models of virtue, is worthy of total repulsion. Such historians, mediocre bootlickers, often find the admirable in perverts responsible for astonishing carnages, and narrate it with the pomp of a patriotism clothed in honor—but they are the same ones who, in life, sell honor for public praise and beg on their knees for acceptance.
Tag: history
An Evolutionary Process Where the False Perishes
If historically there is, as Thomas Carlyle says, an evolutionary process where the false repeatedly perishes, one must conclude that society is bound to erect and overthrow lies. Otherwise we must ask: why does something equally false always overlap with the overthrown falsehood? Or even: how many more millennia will it take for mankind to get rid of this evil cycle? On a collective level, any outline of a solution seems impossible.
Thomas Carlyle on Mohammed
Thomas Carlyle’s essay on Mohammed is remarkable. First, for the superior prose: how impressive to follow him handling the English language! It is a vivid prose, full of expressive images, intelligent and syntactically varied. Then, for Carlyle’s ability to see what others cannot see, for his courage to confront the current, rejecting blind logic and seeking to understand what lies behind and beyond the lines of Mohammed. Very beautiful, very beautiful… it is a pleasant essay to read. In any case, I think I still prefer to sit at Voltaire’s table.
The Passport to Glory
It is possible to conjecture a formula on how to achieve glory after death. I sum it up in two topics:
I — The more belligerent, aggressive, impetuous and agitated the person is in life, the better will be remembered by the inhabitants of his country, and consequently the greater the glory will be to him.
II — The more judicious, serene, conciliatory, and peaceful the person in life, the greater the chance that his memory will be quickly forgotten, and consequently the lower the glory will be to him.
Observations:
Acts of prudence almost never mark history. Rather, mark the acts of bravery or false bravery.
As for artists and intellectuals, serious study does not usually bear fruit, when it is infinitely easier to stick the name in the pages of history by committing a great transgression rather than the difficult labor of producing works of universal value.
Finally, I dare to develop a roadmap that we believe is the simplest way to achieve glory:
1st — Join any political party of any ideology.
2nd — Achieve the leadership of this party, submitting to all that is necessary for this (history hardly remembers the means by which a leadership position is attained).
3rd — Militate, militate in all environments, shed hatred for the tongue and fingers in order to get as many partisans as possible (buying them also works).
4th — Produce any sort of social rebellion, preferably involving armed conflict and, if possible, deaths (the more deaths, the better; the longer the rebellion sustains itself, also the better).
5th — Disseminate, in the meantime or shortly before, a pamphlet (and better camouflaged in artistic work) containing any sort of political and social ideas.
These steps, I believe, are more than enough to consecrate a memory forever, regardless of its effects, premises, or the character of whom will execute them.
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