“I have thought for a long time now that if, some day, the increasing efficiency for the technique of destruction finally causes our species to disappear from the earth, it will not be cruelty that will be responsible for our extinction and still less, of course, the indignation that cruelty awakens and the reprisals and vengeance that it brings upon itself…but the docility, the lack of responsibility of the modern man, his base subservient acceptance of every common decree. The horrors that we have seen, the still greater horrors we shall presently see, are not signs that rebels insubordinate, untamable men are increasing in number throughout the world, but rather that there is a constant increase in the number of obedient, docile men.”
—George Bernanos
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Comments
This is one of the most shocking quotes that I've seen in a long time. It reminds me of a more eloquent version of the (summarized here) “the only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing…”
But this observation is old and new at once… reminding us of something always known and something that should be remembered.
Thanks.