It would have been unfashionable to be different; and once more Boyne marvelled at the incurable simplicity of the corrupt. "Blessed are the pure in heart," he thought, "for they have so many more things to talk about. . ."
Edith Wharton – The Children (1928)
Interesting quote this. Wharton is writing of the corrupt nature of fashionable society. It is corrupt, educated, cosmopolitan, articulate yet curiously simple in its absolute need to fashionable.
We see a somewhat similar type of corrupt yet fashionable simplicity in modern politics. It is desperately unfashionable to be politically different so maybe we could modify Wharton’s words –
It would have been unfashionable to be politically different; and once more Sceptic marvelled at the incurable simplicity of the politically corrupt. "Blessed are the pure in heart," he thought, "for they have so many more possibilities to talk about. . ."
4 comments:
I think it's the desire to be accepted (and therefore, in these rapidly-changing times, to be fashionable) which is the root cause of corruption. As we evolved, being one of the group was far more of an asset than speaking the truth. It's only when societies establish some measure of civility and freedom from violence that truth-telling becomes a possibility. Politicians are able to tell lies because they know that nobody is going to kill them. At worst, someone is going to try to make them look stupid or corrupt, and most politicians don't care about these things.
Sam - which may help explain why political life attracts people who don't care about looking stupid or corrupt. It leans towards the thick-skinned narcissist. Our party-based adversarial system may make that tendency worse than it could be too.
I see that all the political establishment, all the Mainstream Media and all the Medical Establishment have decided that Matt Hancock is the "Big Boay" as in
"It wissnae me sur. A big boay done it, an' he run away. "
Phew! Thank goodness he was caught on camera bum-fondling, in an extremely secure, your secrets are safe with us, area.
And then the cherry on top, went on to "Star" in "I'm a has-been, get me a book deal."
Expect many more invertebrates to crawl out from under the paving slab and state:- "It was him. He led me astray. I knew at the time there was something dodgy about this Covid, Vaccine, Booster, Global (whatever we call it this week), Ukraine corruption ( delete as apropriate.)stuff. But because of him I kept schtum. Give me my pension."
Doonhamer - yes it seems to be one of the basic arts of politics, don't be the patsy. As you say, thank goodness he was caught on camera bum-fondling. Interesting that he has now shoved wanting to be a TV star onto an even lower rung than politics.
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