Re: OT - Your Comments on the recent
Re: OT - Your Comments on the recent
- Subject: Re: OT - Your Comments on the recent
- From: Malcolm Fitzgerald <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 15:00:40 +1000
At 12:49 AM -0300 17/9/01, Bill Briggs wrote:
At 8:29 PM -0700 16/09/01, Ed Stockly wrote:
>>Peter B.>>In the end, I fear that Walt Kelly's words (paraphrased) are too
true: "The enemy is us."
The full quote: "We have met the enemy and 'they' is us."
This famous quote from Walt Kelly is often misused, misunderstood or
paraphrased in ways that that completely alter its original meaning or
intent.
Famous or not, it came earlier from someone else, only in a
slightly different form. Before PoGo ever hit the press, Gandhi was
observed to say that "the only devils alive in the world are the
ones inside of us, and we should spend our time defeating them".
That may not be verbatim, but I've got the text here in the
bookshelf and it's not far off. And quite possibly he took them from
a more ancient source.
Enemy is; like freedom, democracy and innocence to name a few other
carpetbag concepts; easy to use but hard to be precise about. When
these words are used frequently and volubly it is usually a signal
that the speaker intends to allow prejudice and passion to take the
lead in whatever follows. Here are a few takes on the idea of an
enemy:
pragmatic:
The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which
side he's on.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22
civic:
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy
from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a
precedent that will reach to himself."
-- Thomas Paine (1737-1809), British-born American writer,
Revolutionary leader, "Common Sense"
patriotic:
O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!
Othello
dramatic:
Robespierre replied softly, 'the question is to know where is the
enemy.' 'He is out there, and I have hunted him,' said Danton. 'He is
within, and I am watching him,' said Robespierre.
Victor Hugo, "Ninety-three"
academic:
A man with his belly full of the classics is an enemy of the human race.
Henry Miller (1891 - 1980), Tropic of Cancer 1934
--
Malcolm Fitzgerald
ph: 02 9130 6124 email@hidden