Quote of the week
[T]he moral point of the matter is never reached by calling what happened by the name of ‘genocide’ or by counting the many millions of victims: extermination of whole peoples had happened before in antiquity, as well as in modern colonization. It is reached only when we realize this happened within the frame of a legal order and that the cornerstone of this ‘new law’ consisted of the command ‘Thou shall kill,’ not thy enemy but innocent people who were not even potentially dangerous, and not for any reason of necessity but, on the contrary, even against all military and other utilitarian calculations. … And these deeds were not committed by outlaws, monsters, or raving sadists, but by the most respected members of respectable society.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil
The problem with cronies is that they always have to eat first. Again, ask Hosni Mubarak. No matter how straight your face is when you approve your five-year plans and your growth paths and your job-creation schemes, there’s always another priority. The cronies. They’re the ones who need Transnet to build track to their mines today . They’re the ones who want this person appointed to that position. A quick special meeting before the main meeting. They’re the reason you can never truly throw yourself at any problem, just in case you get in their way. The cronies are a direct tax on the poor. Zuma can’t see it because his only direct experience of money is getting it and not making it. It’s almost not his fault, but I won’t patronise him. He is responsible for his actions and he makes his own choices. – Peter Bruce, in Business Day
