<OT> Re: we shall remember them

[kwall@kurtwerks.com]

On Sun, Oct 20, 2002 at 08:17:44PM -0700, Bill Campbell wrote:
> 
> Whatever gave you the idea that something's right just because the majority
> believe it?  It doesn't matter whether it's the U.S.  ``Government'' (Will
> Rogers called D.C. the National Joke Factory), the U.N., or any other group
> of people.  A majority of the people in the U.S. are products of government
> schools, which are much more concerned with turning out docile droids for
> the New World Order than teaching the young to think independently and be
> self sufficient.  A majority of applicants for first-year teaching
> positions in Massachusetts couldn't pass a test in basic math skills.

Indeed. The dominance of majority opinion shades too easily into
herd mentatlity and tyranny of the majority. Or, as Martin Niemoller
expressed it:

    "In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't 
    speak up because I wasn't a Communist.  Then they came for the 
    Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.  Then they 
    came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I 
    wasn't a trade unionist.  Then they came for the Catholics, and 
    I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.  Then they came 
    for me -- and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Kurt
-- 
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the double lock will keep;
May no brick through the window break,
And, no one rob me till I awake.