Re: . 2.7 Million Morons

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Edward Green) wrote:

>On irony:

>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ken Muldrew) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...

>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Edward Green) wrote:

>...

>> >OTOH, irony often goes together with lack of intelligence, because
>> >this condition leads one to strive after goals through antithetical
>> >means.
>> 
>> OTOOH, irony often goes together with exceptional intelligence. I was
>> just reading where Marx believed very strongly that ideas expressed by
>> individuals had no effect on society; a belief that game him complete
>> freedom to write without any thought of the implications. That's got
>> to be one of the cruelest ironies in history.

>Now regarding Marx (digresson): I wonder how much his writing did
>really change history.  I know his writing and follow-ons gave a
>_stamp_ to a large societal movement, but doesn't it seem likely that
>if Marx hadn't written, the same revolutionary forces in Russia would
>have had very similar consequences, and simply found some other theory
>or even no theory to hang their hat on: in the end, or almost in the
>beginning, it was all about power, I'm sure you will agree, not some
>particular political theory: e.g., you crossed Stalin, he had you
>killed -- this needed no particular passage from Marx or Lenin to
>illuminate it!

Yes, an idea will take hold in a society only when the society is
prepared to accept it, and when that happens then the idea will
spontaneously arise in many individuals at about the same time. One
bright person can perhaps move it forward by a few years but not much
more. We just like to view history from the point of view of great
individuals.

>BTW: parallels between Stalin, Hitler, Saddam --

>>From outskirts of power (Georgia, Austria, Tikrit) rather than
>centers.  From peasant/lower-middle-class backgrounds rather than
>privlege.

>Can you think of any more? 

I remember thinking about some parallels between the upbringing of
Hitler and Saddam but I can't recall them at the moment. I don't know
anything about Stalin's childhood.