Damn! That book (see previous post) is forcing me to think. What would you do if your country was captured, so to speak, by a criminal magalomaniac who had wooed the majority of your fellow countrymen to his support and won a free and fair election? Bear in mind that his true criminality did not begin to show itself until after he had won the election. It is also important that you imagine such a thing happening now - today - and that therefore you have no idea what the future holds or where this man will lead you and your country?
What would you do?
He might threaten all sorts of extreme actions but, hey, who believes anything a politician on the make says? And anyway, your country is at this very moment a complete economic disaster brought about, you believe (not without reason), by the current crop of useless politicians who have allowed themselves to be bullied by foreign governments.
What would you do?
You have a good job in government and this allows you to see the damage your country and your countrymen are suffering. You have a family including young children who are depending on you as you, in turn, depend on a steady job and income. All your friends and aquaintances are extolling the breath of fresh political air your new leader, despite his somewhat florid style of speech, is promising to breath into your nation.
What would you do?
The future for your country looks bleak but as time goes on under the new man's leadership things definitely look better and prospects for the future are improving almost month by month. True, his government has pulled one or two strokes which are not, strictly-speaking, absolutely proper in an old-fashioned sense but the indubitable fact is that the shambles of previous governments have been swept away and things are really beginning to work again.
What would you do?
A few years later the country has been transformed. It is now a prosperous and efficient economy with the population hard at work and earning good money. Your armed forces have been reconstructed and are now fit for purpose. Your nation is once again a power in global politics whose views are eagerly sought by others on various international matters. True, there have been some unfortunate internal policy mistakes made by the government which have gone against your sense of natural justice, but there is no doubt that the country has prospered, as indeed have you and your family.
What would you do?
Now your country is being threatened. All the media are full of the dangers surrounding your nation. Your leader, who has worked such enormous miracles, constantly warns you that neighbouring powers are determined to set your beloved homeland back to where it was, a second-rate, economic basket-case. All your new-found prosperity might be taken away. From the record of his achievements, your leader is obviously a shrewd, if ruthless, operator who knows and understands the world. Do you know any better? Can you see into the future? Could you commit treason?
What would you do?
Well, in somewhat simplified terms I have made the point, I think. That was very much the dilemma facing the likes of Gen. von Manstein and millions of other Germans during the 1930s. Some, a very rare few, did see the reality and the likely outcome and took steps. Alas, for some of them the steps were towards an even worse outcome, and here I refer to the very brave but foolish Germans who joined the 'Red Orchestra' spy network which fed tremendously useful intelligence to the Russians - and which Stalin ignored!
So, what would you do?
"What would you do if your country was captured, so to speak, by a criminal magalomaniac who had wooed the majority of your fellow countrymen to his support and won a free and fair election? Bear in mind that his true criminality did not begin to show itself until after he had won the election."
Wikipedia:
"Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)[1] is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007."
Posted by: Whyaxye | Saturday, 18 February 2012 at 11:28
Top of the Class, W, and a scholarship to boot.
Posted by: dearieme | Saturday, 18 February 2012 at 12:41
Oh God, there goes my last chance of a knighthood!
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 18 February 2012 at 13:04
I'd go and live in Bali.
Posted by: Andra | Saturday, 18 February 2012 at 23:35
AS always, Andra, pithy and to the point!
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 19 February 2012 at 09:23