... in a savage land ... it would be scandalous to eat without having loudly called out thrice whether there is not somebody wanting to share the food. All that a respectable citizen has to do now is to pay the poor tax and to let the starving starve. The ... theory which maintains that men can, and must, seek their own happiness in disregard of other people's wants is now triumphant all round in law, in science, in religion. It is the religion of the day.
-Petr Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, 1902
Well, that was 113 years ago. We need a minor elision to bring the second sentence up to date: "All that a respectable citizen has to do now is...let the starving starve."
Tony Benn - 10-minute history lesson (video).
ah yes==seek your own happiness.
ReplyDeleteI still think the Declaration of Independence would have been less troublesome if it said, "life, liberty and the pursuit of virtue" instead of "happiness." Kropotkin seems to be making the argument that a powerful centralized government leads people to emphasize individual liberty and happiness, etc. (without regard for one's fellow citizens), as opposed to decentralized village life, where it's more "we're all in this together," which I thought was kind of intriguing.
DeleteNot quite the same topic--Have you ever read "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by
ReplyDeleteRobert Newton Peck? Emma is including it in her project on banned books
and I borrowed it---about a Shaker family.
No. Banned books are OK, but I like overlooked and forgotten ones - more surprises.
DeleteWell, I suspect this one fits those last categories.
Delete