Half of the Harm in This World

Image credit.

You can't fool all the people all the time.

In "Intellectuals and Society" Thomas Sowell quotes T.S. Eliot:

Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.

(p.184, Intellectuals and Society, 2011, Basic Books)

Sowell comments - rather charitably:

In many ways, on a whole range of issues, the revealed preference of intellectuals is to gain moral authority -- or, vicariously, political power -- or both, over the rest of society. The desires or interests of the ostensible beneficiaries of that authority or power -- whether the poor, minorities, or criminals in prison -- are seldom allowed to outweigh the more fundamental issue of gaining and maintaining the moral hegemony of the anointed.

(p.183)

 

The source.

Consult the first two of the below links to see if I am right in saying: Richard Epstein, the gentlemen, and the lady interviewed in the above video clip share essentially the same assessment of Obama:

See also Unpacking a Presidential Sentence, A Ship with the Engine Off, The Healer - America's Telocratic President, Obama and His Mother.

Comments

[Ed Stevens]

I've never been a particular fan of T.S. Eliot's work, but I do like this particular quote. Theodore Dalrymple uses the same quote in attempting to explain "why people adopt theories that conflict with the most minimal honest reflection." Describing "the endless struggle to look well in the eyes of their fellow intellectuals and the fear of losing caste", Dalrymple then adds a flourish from Orwell - "We have sunk to a depth in which re-statement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men."

Equally pertinent is Sowell's observation about "gaining and maintaining the moral hegemony of the anointed."

One would be hard put to find more appropriate statements to characterize most politicians - especially the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Thanks for sharing them.

[Georg Thomas]

Ed,

I share your reserved reception of T.S. Eliot's work - I had to acquaint myself with him somewhat.

The first college I attended in England was named after him; a wonderful building constructed to serve as a prison, only to be used as one of the red-brick universities that popped up all over the UK in the 60s.

It's nice to live in a prison that isn't a prison and that you can leave anytime you wish, especially if you have a preference for small, cell-like rooms, as I do.

Theodore Dalrymple spent a large part of his life in prison, as a doctor. He and his most charming wife were the first people I met when I arrived at Bodrum, Turkey, in September 2012. Norman Stone (the historian of the World Wars) and the three of us spent the most genial, warm summer evening together.

[Ed Stevens]

You've met Dalrymple!!??

Wow ... color me simultaneously impressed and envious!

He has long been one of my "When I grow up, I want to be ..." candidates. One of the few (like Buckley) who seem to talk (and think) in paragraphs, or even chapters.