Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Leadership = War ?

Gentle reader,

Having traveled to a few different places in the world (I have worked in the UK, Israel, Italy and the USA and have visited Egypt, Slovenia, France, Mexico and many other countries in Europe) I have noticed one thing. People are, for the most part, decent, sane, helpful, wise, intelligent and above all else, human. People are NOT generally evil.

Of course, you come across the occasional asshole. However, assholes seem to be, more or less, equally distributed across countries, in my observation.

As far as I am concerned then, we have a serious paradox that could be the very key to survival of the human race. The paradox is as follows: given that people are basically civil, how come we have so many wars?

I think the reason comes down to one thing: leaders, whether voted into office or not, are as a general rule pathologically insane. The whole leadership phenomenon (by which I mean, people seem to need a leader) is nothing but a filter that selectively picks people who are predisposed to mischief and destruction. If we could somehow invent a better system of government, that was more in tune to the wishes of the general population, then I postulate that we could eradicate a large fraction of human suffering.

Time for today's quote:

I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
-Voltaire

Until the next time gentle reader I remain,

Your friend,

-Buford Twain

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