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.
Give me mercenaries over SAE’s any day, for so many reasons…
Do have to edit eon’s third and the take on HST…while he was correct as to so many false prophets of God, they do not actually believe in God so it does not follow that they consider themselves as Him, but rather as something like the Wizard of Oz, prior to the big reveal…all-powerful until they are shown and proven to be completely impotent and powerless. But capable and intent on inflicting as much damage as possible in the interim…and there was and is a lot of damage done. Irreversible? I don’t know.
November 2, 2024 at 3:27 pm
JTC
Of course Gates has finally said his quiet part out loud, that we have to have a brand NEW religion to deal with the Artificial Intelligence takeover of the world…talk about your booby prizes.
Now, we must give credit where credit is due. Not only did he bless us mere mortals with his greatness by being born, he did so wearing the “proper” pigmentation.
November 2, 2024 at 9:09 pm
MasterDiver
I thought that was the Nobel Peace Prize, for what he MIGHT do!
Zar Belk!
November 2, 2024 at 8:02 am
Richard
Jeff Bezos’s slogan for for the WaPo is “Democracy dies in darkness”. So why is he turning the light switch off?
We the People don’t trust the news media? Why is that….? Oh yeah, now I remember.
“Whoever controls the media controls everything” and “Our government is now allowed to create propaganda tailored specifically for U.S. public consumption, using any media as it sees fit, while remaining anonymous as the source of the material being reported.” https://www.rcreader.com/commentary/smith-mundt-modernization-act-2012
So while our govt. (Whoever that may be) is busy out shining Pravda, the Real danger is they are persecuting/prosecuting anyone that tries to tell the truth.
16 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
Give me mercenaries over SAE’s any day, for so many reasons…
Do have to edit eon’s third and the take on HST…while he was correct as to so many false prophets of God, they do not actually believe in God so it does not follow that they consider themselves as Him, but rather as something like the Wizard of Oz, prior to the big reveal…all-powerful until they are shown and proven to be completely impotent and powerless. But capable and intent on inflicting as much damage as possible in the interim…and there was and is a lot of damage done. Irreversible? I don’t know.
Of course Gates has finally said his quiet part out loud, that we have to have a brand NEW religion to deal with the Artificial Intelligence takeover of the world…talk about your booby prizes.
https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2024/11/01/creepy-bill-gates-calls-for-a-new-religion-to-guide-humanity-in-the-age-of-ai/
If Bezos wants us to take him seriously, he can start by making the WaPo return the Pulitzer they won for “Russia, Russia, Russia.”
Let ’em keep it…….the Pulitzer is a joke anyway since Barry Sotero got one for little more than being born to begin with!
Now, we must give credit where credit is due. Not only did he bless us mere mortals with his greatness by being born, he did so wearing the “proper” pigmentation.
I thought that was the Nobel Peace Prize, for what he MIGHT do!
Zar Belk!
Jeff Bezos’s slogan for for the WaPo is “Democracy dies in darkness”. So why is he turning the light switch off?
….slogan for the WaPo is “Democracy dies in darkness”.
Slogan? I thought that was their Mission Statement!
We the People don’t trust the news media? Why is that….? Oh yeah, now I remember.
“Whoever controls the media controls everything” and “Our government is now allowed to create propaganda tailored specifically for U.S. public consumption, using any media as it sees fit, while remaining anonymous as the source of the material being reported.” https://www.rcreader.com/commentary/smith-mundt-modernization-act-2012
So while our govt. (Whoever that may be) is busy out shining Pravda, the Real danger is they are persecuting/prosecuting anyone that tries to tell the truth.
Remember:
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
–G. Orwell
Zar Belk!
Referencing an earlier topic on DBD, Chris is either psychic, or government incompetence is that predictable or both:
FEMA failed to respond to more than half the calls it received forvassistance or aid during Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
https://nypost.com/2024/11/02/us-news/fema-understaffed-underfunded-for-next-disaster/
“Your call’s not important to us, leave a message.”
An incompetent elite is at least as old as the last several Bourbon kings of France.