[lbo-talk] Re: Fidel drops in

Brad DeLong delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU
Thu May 8 12:53:57 PDT 2003



>Funniest thing Hitchens ever said:
>
>"I don't call him Fidel because I don't know the guy."
>
>
>-
>> Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 13:37:21 -0400
>> From: Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net>
>> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Fidel drops in
>> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>>
>> > His impromptu speeches probably lasted 5 of the 12
>> hours we met
>> > yesterday, and there's likely to be more today.
>> Trevor and I have
>> > pages and pages of notes. A breathtaking
>> experience, an amazing
>> > leader...
>>
>> It's true that Castro's an intelligent guy.
>> Perceptive as well. But some of
>> the gushing I see on this and other lists is as
>> annoying as it is
>> predictable. The guy likes to hear his own voice,
>> and clearly revels in his
>> celebrity. Why those under him or near him fairly
>> swoon with the vapors when
>> he goes on on on for hours without interruption is
>> beyond me. I don't know
>> if Fidel drinks, but if he does, pheww, clear the
>> room when the buzz takes
>> hold!
>>
> > DP
> >

Well, to paraphrase Adam Smith, it's because there is something in us that dearly loves to be a sub:

"It is the misfortunes of Kings only which afford the proper subjects for tragedy. They resemble, in this respect, the misfortunes of lovers. Those two situations are the chief which interest us upon the theatre; because, in spite of all that reason and experience can tell us to the contrary, the prejudices of the imagination attach to these two states a happiness superior to any other. To disturb, or to put an end to such perfect enjoyment, seems to be the most atrocious of all injuries. The traitor who conspires against the life of his monarch, is thought a greater monster than any other murderer. All the innocent blood that was shed in the civil wars, provoked less indignation than the death of Charles I.

"A stranger to human nature, who saw the indifference of men about the misery of their inferiors, and the regret and indignation which they feel for the misfortunes and sufferings of those above them, would be apt to imagine, that pain must be more agonizing, and the convulsions of death more terrible to persons of higher rank, than to those of meaner stations."

Brad DeLong



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