Read the following quote, then read my quick thoughts and question afterward.
What is our aim?
It is the use of the constitution for the benefit of the people.
Who is likely to oppose us?
The rich and the corrupt.
What methods will they employ?
Slander and hypocrisy.
What factors will encourage the use of such means?
The ignorance of the sans-culottes (the radical left-wing partisans of the lower classes; typically urban labourers).
It is the use of the constitution for the benefit of the people.
Who is likely to oppose us?
The rich and the corrupt.
What methods will they employ?
Slander and hypocrisy.
What factors will encourage the use of such means?
The ignorance of the sans-culottes (the radical left-wing partisans of the lower classes; typically urban labourers).
The people therefore must be instructed.
What are the obstacles to their enlightenment?
The paid journalists who mislead the people every day by shameless distortions.
What conclusion follows?
That we ought to proscribe these writers as the most dangerous enemies of the country and to circulate an abundance of good literature.
The people- what other obstacle is there to their instruction?
Their destitution.
When will the people be educated?
When they have enough bread to eat, when the rich and the government stop bribing treacherous pens and rogues to deceive them and instead identify their own interests with those of the people.
When will this be?
Never.
What are the obstacles to their enlightenment?
The paid journalists who mislead the people every day by shameless distortions.
What conclusion follows?
That we ought to proscribe these writers as the most dangerous enemies of the country and to circulate an abundance of good literature.
The people- what other obstacle is there to their instruction?
Their destitution.
When will the people be educated?
When they have enough bread to eat, when the rich and the government stop bribing treacherous pens and rogues to deceive them and instead identify their own interests with those of the people.
When will this be?
Never.
Maximilien Robespierre
While this is from some of his private writings that have been surmised to be from a depressed period of his, I ask myself the question if that is the case. Or what if he realized that the only way for the French Revolution to be successful was for it to never end? To put it into a modern phase, "to bring fundamental change..." Read on the French Revolution and the Committee of Public Safety and compare it to what is going on today.
Again I link to the excellent program the BBC did on this:
No comments:
Post a Comment