My exploitation is the purest charity!
My cruelty is the purest kindness!
My despotism is the truest democracy!
Suffering for me is the greatest joy!
That, I am afraid, is how elites think until their world collapses. And when it collapses:
They thought the revolution that toppled them completely wrong. So did Louis XVI of France, Marie-Antoinette, and their hangers-on. So did Nicholas II of Russia and his flunkies. So did Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (although with less imminent peril to their lives).
My cruelty is the purest kindness!
My despotism is the truest democracy!
Suffering for me is the greatest joy!
That, I am afraid, is how elites think until their world collapses. And when it collapses:
They thought the revolution that toppled them completely wrong. So did Louis XVI of France, Marie-Antoinette, and their hangers-on. So did Nicholas II of Russia and his flunkies. So did Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (although with less imminent peril to their lives).
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.