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From: Anonymous on 4 Aug 2010 09:26 In article <k9SdnZcV-MeW7sXRnZ2dnUVZ_tSdnZ2d(a)earthlink.com>, HeyBub <heybub(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote: >Howard Brazee wrote: [snip] >> When we get the politicians we want, we deserve what we get. > >Lawrence J. Peter (discoverer of the "Peter Principle") once said: "I have >been studying governments, man and boy, for over forty years. I have yet to >discover whether we are being led by well-meaning fools or by really bright >people who are just putting us on." > >My rendition: "In a suitably advanced society, it is impossible to tell >whether a government action is motivated by malice or incompetence." I was taught 'never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence'; a cursory bit of research reveals: From http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_J._Hanlon : --begin quoted text In The Sorrows of Young Werther (ed. note: 1774) Goethe declared: "Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent occurrence." In his story Logic of Empire (1941) Heinlein declares: "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity". He calls this the "devil theory" of sociology. --end quoted text DD
From: Anonymous on 4 Aug 2010 09:32 In article <drsg56t14bj5hu69tmga5o9ohr0ma4rle9(a)4ax.com>, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: [snip] >Trolls are another example of people who play roles until that role is >them. From http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363.txt : --begin quoted text: 146. He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. (Nietzsche, 'Beyond Good and Evil', tr. Helen Zimmern) --end quoted text DD
From: Howard Brazee on 4 Aug 2010 11:44 On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 13:32:14 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf(a)panix.com () wrote: >--begin quoted text: > >146. He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become >a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze >into thee. > >(Nietzsche, 'Beyond Good and Evil', tr. Helen Zimmern) > >--end quoted text > >DD Very good. Of course I'm* not subject to that, I'm careful. * For a very large value of "I". -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison
From: Howard Brazee on 4 Aug 2010 11:52 On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 13:26:26 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf(a)panix.com () wrote: >I was taught 'never attribute to malice that which can be explained by >incompetence'; Me too. I'm a big believer in incompetence, and I believe that most all villains think they're the good guys, or at least they are right to respond to their injustices. Someone can, say decide to start an unwinnable war to protect us - if it doesn't protect us and also costs us dearly, then it is incompetence to blame. Trouble is, the victims aren't any better off being destroyed by incompetence. Our society has a value where we don't punish people as much who either didn't mean to do their crime or who commit their crime in a state of high passion. That doesn't protect the rest of us though. Consider, who is the bigger danger to you - the guy who committed a crime in road rage, or the guy who killed his spouse for the insurance money? -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison
From: HeyBub on 4 Aug 2010 12:32
Howard Brazee wrote: > On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 13:26:26 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf(a)panix.com () wrote: > >> I was taught 'never attribute to malice that which can be explained >> by incompetence'; > > Me too. I'm a big believer in incompetence, and I believe that most > all villains think they're the good guys, or at least they are right > to respond to their injustices. Someone can, say decide to start an > unwinnable war to protect us - if it doesn't protect us and also costs > us dearly, then it is incompetence to blame. > If you're talking about the "War on Terror," the actual goal (and one which a politican cannot say) is "We are not in this war to win it because it is unwinnable. Our goal is not to lose." |