"Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose. The good work which our philological experts have already done in the corruption of human language makes it unnecessary to warn you that they should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning. They won't. It will never occur to them that Democracy is properly the name of a political system, even a system of voting, and that this has only the most remote and tenuous connection with what you are trying to sell them. Nor, of course, must they ever be allowed to raise Aristotle's question: whether "democratic behaviour" means the behaviour that democracies like or the behaviour that will preserve a democracy. For if they did, it could hardly fail to occur to them that these need not be the same.
You are to use the word purely as an incantation; if you like, purely for its selling power. It is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated..."
- Screwtape addressing his audience of Thorns, Shadies, and Gentledevils at the annual dinner of the Tempters' Training College for young Devils.
from Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C.S. Lewis
About Me
- Raphael
- Try everything on the coffee menu at least once. Prefer flying to restaurants. Easily annoyed people that eat apples like a horse. Succeed in business by exhausting failure. Drive fast. Fly low. I'm a chihuahua's pet. Vote your values. Suspect politicians. Enjoy hiking, and enjoying the silent grandeur of creation from the peaks of Shuksan to the island shores. Who, experiencing the depth and beauty of nature, can deny the authority and power of the Creator? The greatest joy in life is knowing God through His Son Jesus Christ.
3 comments:
I have not read the books of C.S. Lewis so this was an interesting little segment. I am sure it's more interesting in context but after reading it a few times and thinking about it I find it very telling for sure.
"democratic behaviour" means the behaviour that democracies like or the behaviour that will preserve a democracy." I am not too political really but I seriously think that is pretty much where we sit right now in many respects -there are a whole lot of people who don't know what we should be preserving or upholding. Since we can't really nail down what democracy is what is the behaviour that will preserve it?? Do we even know what we are trying to preserve? It's definetly not what our founding fathers set out to preserve. That I am quiet sure of.
Maybe someday I'll find someone who likes this kind of reading and who would read these books with me and then I will have to read the whole story. Yes I could read it myself but I think it would be sort of thing I might want to discuss and I talk to myself enough, no sense in furthering that!! LOL I am sort of intrigued now, especially since this was taken from the section at the "Tempter's training college for young devils"! Makes me a little fearful of where we are headed...I think I know already and it's no where good.
Oh, this makes me want to read Screwtape. That's one of his more famous works which I haven't gotten my hands on yet. Have you read "The Case For Christianity"? "The Four Loves"?--my favorites. =)
No, I have never read the Case for Christiantiy. I must get my hands on a copy.
Post a Comment