- A human heart
- Oct 10, 2012
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I know everyone hates Orson Scott Card, including me at this point, but before he went full rear end in a top hat I read a few of his books in the early 90s. In particular, I have always been struck by this exchange at the very opening of Xenocide:
"The inability to move frees me from the obligation to act."
"You who speak languages, you are such liars."
I don't want to give OSC too much of a sloppy blowjob here (not that he wouldn't enjoy it, I'm sure) but goddamn, that is one of those short little things with surprising depth. I'm not saying it's on the level of a great Zen koan, but I think it's pretty interesting.
hell, you could fall into sentences with this much depth
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Feb 7, 2016 01:27
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May 17, 2024 13:49
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- A human heart
- Oct 10, 2012
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So one of my favorite books is Matthew White's The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities. As the title suggests, White goes through history's hundred deadliest events and gives a brief synopsis. At over 500 pages it's a big book with many quotable parts so I tried to limit myself to just five.
“With such sketchy evidence the temptation is to pick whatever scenario supports one's underlying worldview. Do you want to demonstrate that humans are forever at the mercy of nature? Then the Mayans succumbed to drought. Want to teach us to manage our resources better? Then the Mayans carelessly destroyed their environment. Want a backstory for you novel about dreadful supernatural forces? Then the Mayans meddled in occult matters and unleashed demonic forces from the darkening void.” -On the possible causes of the Mayan Collapse.
“Somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, a long time ago, the Chinese wiped out a tribe few people have heard of. Most of history is like this.” - From the opening to the chapter on the Sino-Dzungar War.
“In this case, revisionists seem to forget that the world went to war against Hitler because he was dangerous, not because he was evil. This is an important distinction in international relations. You can do whatever you want inside your own country, but when you start invading your neighbors, the rest of the world gets jumpy. No mater how brutal Stalin may have been to his own people, he was content to stay inside the borders of the Soviet Union. By the time Stalin began grabbing small countries for himself, the West was already committed to the war with Hitler. The choice wasn't between fighting Hitler or Stalin. The choice was to fight Hitler or both of them.” - On World War II revisionism.
“Sometimes mankind has a really bad day, like April 15, 1912. On that day, the mortally wounded ocean liner Titanic sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, taking fifteen hundred passengers to their deaths. Meanwhile, half a world away in Korea, Kim Il-sung was born. Of those two events, the second was probably worse.” - From the opening to the chapter on North Korea.
“This doesn't mean sex is absent from wars. Rape is as much a part of war as killing, looting, and enslavement. Military recruiters have always lured farmboys into the ranks with the promise of adventure, and women traditionally swoon over a man in uniform, but wars don't start over sex. The fighting is always about something else. After all, you can rally mass armies with appeals to patriotism, God, revenge, glory, and greed, but citizens won't flock to the colors to help the president get laid.” - From the analysis on what causes, and doesn't cause, wars.
Those are all very dumb and bad.
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Jun 9, 2016 01:25
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- A human heart
- Oct 10, 2012
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The book and quote that got me into politics. From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
“It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era — the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run... but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant...
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning...
And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply PREVAIL. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark — that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back.”
It still depresses the hell out of me.
Thompson was real stupid
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Jun 11, 2016 02:29
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Feb 7, 2016 01:27
