I think there's a basic schism in humanity: the desire to control other people versus the wish to let them be free. Almost all of us have a lot of both.
Somebody (extremely rare) who is all the way to the second one is a saint. Somebody who is all the way to the first one (also very rare) is a psychotic.
You don't get to be a dictator without a strong desire to control people, so this explains to us why all dictators apparently are psychotic.
12 comments:
As well as psychotic saints - like Joan of Arc who was a control freak as well.
For that matter most saints I studied were control freaks they all could have been dictators had circumstances changed.
And it could have been St Adolph of Berlin, or St Joseph of Moscow - what a thin line.
If you're a member of certain fundamentalist sects, then Jeanne d'Arc is just a psychotic and not a saint at all ...
Jerry said...
"And it could have been St Adolph of Berlin, or St Joseph of Moscow"
LOL. The names DO sound nice, don't they?
To contradict (not!) Final Identity, I know for a fact that many psychotic dictators are considered by their zealots as nothing less than saints. [Look at Pinochet, Kim-Jong-Il... Human ego is boundless.]
There are many enthusiastically-admired leaders in Lebanon, so saints naturally abound in my homeland. 0:-)
Now, if only the Vatican would acknowledge them BEFORE they're dearly departed! (In some holy gunfight against another saint's heartwashed disciples, most probably.)
Ironic, isn't it? People like Mother Teresa, of Father Pierre from France, who were forever humble and loving and helping others, won't be canonized as promptly as media superstar John-Paul². I feel like Gandhi (even though not even a Christian!) would be a better candidate to sanctity, with his now famous example of non-violence (very Jesus-like!). St Mohandas, that would definitely be popular in Mumbai...
I don't know Jeanne d'Arc that well, but some official "living saints" I know in person are definitely more rigid than bohemian crystal construction beams. So I'm not treading anywhere NEAR that thin line, for fear it might be a trip-wire rigged to a landmine.
I hate perfection in all its forms, anyway! Not evolving means being dead, and when you're "at the top" the only possible way to move is down.
I don't climb mountains either, obviously. :-)
As you guys probably realize, I was not talking about the saints the catholic church canonizes. Who gives a shit?
"Ironic, isn't it? People like Mother Teresa, of Father Pierre from France, who were forever humble and loving and helping others, won't be canonized as promptly as media superstar John-Paul"
Yeah, but the real saints don't care. They don't have the ego to stroke.
As you guys probably realize, I was not talking about the saints the catholic church canonizes. Who gives a shit?
I don't. Only those misguided fools believing in that religious carnival called the catholic church where you can sin like the devil and be a drunk six days a week and then pray it all away on Sunday.
Yeah right, and I walk on water too. Not. Only Christ did and only HE can forgive sins, NO ONE ELSE.
Who gives a shit?
Bush the Iraq baby-butcher in Washup-ting USA. He wants to control the world's oil. Next will be Iran, than Arabia.
But by the time he finishes with Iran he'll be out of office, unless they give him another illegal third term. He gives a shit.
Control is his ultimate character. Nobody can stop him or have the balls to try. He rules with a fist of iron like his cousins, Hitler and Stalin, though he speaks like a third grader.
heartwashed?
WTF?
I hate perfection in all its forms, anyway!
Than you must hate God. Foolish words to toy around with Lebanese lady. Perfection will rule the world one day, but I seriously doubt anytime soon.
Eolake,
Good points. :-)
No Make-up Needed,
See right above. :-)
We'll never know for sure how we behaved and were forgiven until Judgement Day. Too many conflicting earthly criteriae and codes anyway. Even inside a single church! And they all seem to convince a more or less large nomber of pious people, so...
Fallen Darkness,
I've mentioned this issue to my brother, who's currently visiting from the USA. It would seem that an impeachment of Bush is out of the agenda, simply because his term is near-over anyway now. Sheer pragmatism...
It is for the American people to decide, anyway. And it seems not only are they smarter than often believed outside the US, they're wising up too. Next year will tell. Hopefully. (As my mom would say: "If we're still alive by then.")
Regarding the way he rules, I think you're forgetting the Pinocchio Syndrome. Just because he's the President, doesn't mean he does all the thinking and decides all the blunders. That would be too forgiving an attitude toward the Karl Roves and affiliates gang.
Anon,
"Heartwashed" was, of course, a pun on the concept of brainwashing. And also a private joke: some time ago, the bitterly rival factions in Lebanon claimed to want only peace, unity and national reconciliation. They started much-hyped all-smiling meetings, and coined the term "heartwasing", meaning to cleanse theirs of any negative attitudes and angry thoughts. We (the people) had quite a good laugh when we heard it. The washing, as expected, soon ended up back in the mud. Mud-slinging all around.
Dear Queen Blade, (hey, cool name)
First, I meant perfection as a purely human, earthly concept. Do YOU claim to know exactly what God's Mystery is? I don't.
Perfection, maybe. But definitely not "human-like" perfect. By essence, WE cannot be perfect. And I meant to say that the human view of earthly perfection (which has nothing to do with God, obviously) is an atrocity. Perfect means frozen, forbidden to ever change again, evolve, or even move. Life is motion, change, and those ever so precious little imperfections. Is a baby imperfect because he/she is much less intelligent than an adult (and not yet potty-trained)? Is an amputee imperfect because their body is forever incomplete? Is a cocaine-stoned, physically worshiped skeletic fashion model honestly perfect in body? You tell me.
I just meant that the human idea of "perfection", applied to us, is a dangerous man-made totalitarism, that unpleasantly reminds me of such crap as nazi "racial purity and perfection" nonsense or the Apartheid. Such a dogma is very dangerous very fast.
So ease up, queenie, chill, no offense to your religious beliefs there. :-)
Oh, and second, I'm no lady, sis. Seriously, I mean it. Why? Because I'm male. :-)
There too, no offense taken whatsoever, it's a common quiproquo in these parts. I'm perfectly peaceful and serene. ;-)
Just because he's the President, doesn't mean he does all the thinking and decides all the blunders.
True. But, he could stop the madness with the stroke of a pen. Of course he can only spell the word, O I L.
Our nightmare continues. Georgie shits on the lawn and the world and nobody seems to care anymore.
Harry "POT" Head said...
"Of course he can only spell the word, O I L.
Our nightmare continues."
I think that would spell O N C.
What he can spell probably stands for "Our Incompetence Lingers".
Or "Our Insanity Laughs"...
(I think I missed out on a great gossiper career! I'm gifted for verbal nastiness.)
Well, sometimes, dictatorship works, especially when it is quite hard to control people.
Post a Comment