Self-anointed elites’ are the most dangerous kind.
What Machiavelli said of mercenaries also applies to them.
….for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy.
The worst sort are those who consider themselves morally superior and deride any who disagree with them as bigoted, racist, possessing “false consciousness”, and etc.
Once they reach this point, they can tell themselves that anything they do is “for the greater good”. As Heinlein said, someone with that mindset can cheat at solitaire with a clear conscience. (It would be a disaster for everybody if they lost- in their not-so-humble opinion.)
Hence, this;
Eon’s Laws
Third Law
Hunter S. Thompson once observed that “entire empires have been done in by vengeful freaks claiming a special relationship with God”.
He forgot the even greater number of polities destroyed by even more vengeful freaks who believed that they, themselves, were God.
2 Comments
Ah, but they said a “certain” elite, certain meaning of their own choice.
They think that conveys exclusivity.
Even Bezos knows it is in fact *the* most terrible indictment.
Self-anointed elites’ are the most dangerous kind.
What Machiavelli said of mercenaries also applies to them.
The worst sort are those who consider themselves morally superior and deride any who disagree with them as bigoted, racist, possessing “false consciousness”, and etc.
Once they reach this point, they can tell themselves that anything they do is “for the greater good”. As Heinlein said, someone with that mindset can cheat at solitaire with a clear conscience. (It would be a disaster for everybody if they lost- in their not-so-humble opinion.)
Hence, this;
Eon’s Laws
Third Law
Hunter S. Thompson once observed that “entire empires have been done in by vengeful freaks claiming a special relationship with God”.
He forgot the even greater number of polities destroyed by even more vengeful freaks who believed that they, themselves, were God.
clear ether
eon