Justice. — I'd rather let myself be robbed than be surrounded by scarecrows — that is my taste. And in any case it is a matter of taste — nothing more!
The purpose of punishment. — The purpose of punishment is to improve the one who punishes; that is the last resort of the apologists for punishment.
Aside. — Parliamentarianism, i.e. the public permission to choose between five basic political opinions, flatters and wins the favour of all those who like to appear independent and individualistic and would like to fight for their opinions. In the end, however, it is irrelevant whether the herd is commanded to have one opinion or permitted to have five. Whoever deviates from the five public opinions and steps aside will always have the whole herd against him.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882.
Apparently, Nietzsche was lucky enough to live in a time when our masters allowed us the illusion of choice between five alternatives; now, a selection of only two is deemed adequate. How the slave becomes accustomed to his lot!
2 comments:
I was amused when this entry hit my RSS feed because I thought "Goodness, Horus has taken to writing like Zarathustra."
And lo, he was quoting Fred.
Actually, in the early days, I was explicitly inspired by / mimicking (insofar as that's possible) his style. Alas, no longer - though perhaps for the best.
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