A Quote to Ponder
From J. S. Mill.
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, June 24, 2022
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10 comments
My previous post sparked the following quote from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty:
“It is a piece of idle sentimentality that truth, merely as truth, has any inherent power denied to error, of prevailing against the dungeon and the stake.”
Indeed, truth does not have any inherent power over the minds of humanity, and certainly not over the actions of the powerful.
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Ouch. My thoughts aren’t always this gloomy on Friday, but today …
I just wish that we weren’t running ahead, tugging on the leash on the way to the abattoir.
But insofar as “truth” is equivalent to “reality”, the universe always gets the final vote.
Even against the minds of humanity or the goals of the powerful.
(Of course, that doesn’t help the poor sods sent to the dungeon or the stake in the meantime…)
@JohnSF:
Exactly.
@JohnSF:
@Steven L. Taylor:
The snarky voice in my head is saying, “my, what a cheerful topic,” while the rest of me is saying, “shut up, the grownups are talking. Go eat your froot loops and watch the tele.”
No, seriously. Steven, thanks for co-hosting this group, and John, thanks for reminding me that we’re not all crazy. In trouble, but not crazy.
Indeed. It’s the just world fallacy.
I sometimes wish George W. Bush would die. Not so much out of malice, although he did do horrible damage to the world, but because, even if only for only a few minutes, it would feel good to believe justice somehow prevails.
@gVOR08: ” it would feel good to believe justice somehow prevails.”
He’s going to die rich, respected, and surrounded by a loving family. I’m not seeing a lot of justice there.
I vaguely recall a quote that a Smith & Wesson beats four aces.
@JohnSF:
Yes, reality has a way of catching up to BS. Perhaps the best recent dramatic portrayal of that can found in HBO’s Chernobyl series, but woe to those who think the Dark Side has no power.
@dazedandconfused:
Yep.
As I posted in another thread; a quote from my late father:
Or, heard somewhere 🙂
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”
@gVOR08: The arc of the moral universe may well bend toward justice, but most of us who might hold that as a long-term view are disqualified from having opinions by believing in an imaginary sky daddy and being hypocrites. As things are now, it’s pretty depressing.