You have fully persuaded me not to read any of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, not that I was ever tempted to. I would, however, take some issue with your suggestion that Lenin dreamed of becoming a dictator of a large country. If he had indeed read Karl Marx, he would have come across the observation that the dictatorship of the proletariat envisioned by Marx was a transitional stage to socialism that would eventuate in the abolition of the state as such. In other words, if he had dreamed of being a dictator he could not have been a Communist revolutionary. What Lenin turned out to be was a born leader, and Russia a country desperately in need of one in 1917. As for Jesus, he would indeed have been better off as a Quaker in Philadelphia, but alas, he was born a Jew in a rebellious Roman province. Whether he dreamed of being the Son of God is a point best left to experts.
Very funny! Yes, the Patron Saint of the Obvious. I have been waiting for someone to step forward from the crowd and nail it! Congratulations.
The spread of ideas, however, that never should have spread very far but which did spread much too far is still interesting and important to know to attempt to halt them.
So many counterproductive ideas, ideologies, in our recent times, now finally losing steam, but so destructive for 5 to 10 years, that we all ought to have been able to stop. Some have to run their counterproductive course.
Amusing about you and Pete; his brother Charlie, married a friend of mine from Penn.
From reader Robert Zaller:
You have fully persuaded me not to read any of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, not that I was ever tempted to. I would, however, take some issue with your suggestion that Lenin dreamed of becoming a dictator of a large country. If he had indeed read Karl Marx, he would have come across the observation that the dictatorship of the proletariat envisioned by Marx was a transitional stage to socialism that would eventuate in the abolition of the state as such. In other words, if he had dreamed of being a dictator he could not have been a Communist revolutionary. What Lenin turned out to be was a born leader, and Russia a country desperately in need of one in 1917. As for Jesus, he would indeed have been better off as a Quaker in Philadelphia, but alas, he was born a Jew in a rebellious Roman province. Whether he dreamed of being the Son of God is a point best left to experts.
I enjoyed your musings about Gladwell...More interesting than if you were a fan!
Very funny! Yes, the Patron Saint of the Obvious. I have been waiting for someone to step forward from the crowd and nail it! Congratulations.
The spread of ideas, however, that never should have spread very far but which did spread much too far is still interesting and important to know to attempt to halt them.
So many counterproductive ideas, ideologies, in our recent times, now finally losing steam, but so destructive for 5 to 10 years, that we all ought to have been able to stop. Some have to run their counterproductive course.
Amusing about you and Pete; his brother Charlie, married a friend of mine from Penn.