Recognized this immediately. It's the passage from The Gulag Archipelago that has stuck with me the most for 35 years. It is the perfect summary of life in a totalitarian dictatorship.
Not where were are today but certainly worth recalling today.
So true. I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, with jaw dropped. Such vacuous human rituals in a place that isn’t truly free, where lies lay in wait like a copperhead to snare you for not being enthusiastic enough about having your free will stomped out. “The punishments will continue until morale improves.” At least we have a long history of quasi-freedom, for some anyway, which causes hope to occasionally stir in our tired hearts, and we remember we’re human and anything is possible if we work at it.
Interesting, Radley. Interesting. In particular, I noted the statue of Lenin in Ukraine's national colors. I have friends who are Ukrainian.
Here's a quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that I especially like: ""The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart". Is this a prelude?
FOOTNOTE (added later): Gospel of Mark: Evil lives in the hearts of men (abridged).
::checks the presidium::
Bezos still applauding
Zuckerberg still applauding
Musk still applauding
Tim Mellon still applauding
Linda McMahon still applauding
Miriam Adelson still applauding
Bill Koch still applauding
Ernst still applauding
Graham still applauding
Orban still applauding
Le Pen still applauding
Farage still applauding
(etc)
Recognized this immediately. It's the passage from The Gulag Archipelago that has stuck with me the most for 35 years. It is the perfect summary of life in a totalitarian dictatorship.
Not where were are today but certainly worth recalling today.
Brilliant.
So true. I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, with jaw dropped. Such vacuous human rituals in a place that isn’t truly free, where lies lay in wait like a copperhead to snare you for not being enthusiastic enough about having your free will stomped out. “The punishments will continue until morale improves.” At least we have a long history of quasi-freedom, for some anyway, which causes hope to occasionally stir in our tired hearts, and we remember we’re human and anything is possible if we work at it.
Interesting, Radley. Interesting. In particular, I noted the statue of Lenin in Ukraine's national colors. I have friends who are Ukrainian.
Here's a quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that I especially like: ""The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart". Is this a prelude?
FOOTNOTE (added later): Gospel of Mark: Evil lives in the hearts of men (abridged).
Salutary images, every one. Thank you.
AMEN!
Where the US is headed.