From a reader deep in the belly of the Beast:
I am a teacher at a public school in [REDACTED]. During our first professional day this year our faculty was introduced to a new administrative mandate from the state bureaucracy. At the conclusion of the presentation we were permitted to comment. I asked the presenter if she thought the educational bureaucracy was insane, evil, or both. My comment elicited a few chuckles from my colleagues. She responded that she thought the new procedures would make her a more accountable teacher. I rejoined that it would make of me a revolutionary. Once again my colleagues chuckled. Teachers are some of the worst sheeple on the planet.
I later approached a colleague who is a close ideological ally. “Well, [REDACTED], which is it?” As is frequently the case with him, he was quick to hit the mark. “If they’re insane, it makes logical sense to accommodate them. If they are evil, then we are morally obliged to fight them.” Spot on. He is good like that.
I tried to suppress my thoughts for the rest of the week, but the realization wouldn’t let go. I had become a reluctant revolutionary. Or rather, to be more accurate, the state had made me a revolutionary. The idea sickens me. I didn’t ask for this. I have never aspired to this sort of vocation or anything like it. It’s one of the last things I would ever wish upon myself. But here I stand.
The comment you posted this morning from the German president about something being wrong with the people brought to me another sudden realization. Leaders as a class have never studied the antecedents of revolution. If they had, they would keep on their desks a handy checklist and refer to it often. But they truly are clueless. Revolutions are not a form of spontaneous combustion. I am reminded of the final words of Madame Ceausescu as she was put up against the wall: “You can’t do this; I treated you like my children.” Clueless to the bitter end.
Or, as Aristotle put it, some people cannot be convinced by information. Never forget that. They genuinely believe they are our masters. I expect events will eventually convince them otherwise.