According To Experts Evil Wins When Good People Do Nothing

Yesterday I blogged about the fact that Before Facebook I Had No Idea How Scarily Stupid The Racists Are.

Some of the reaction to that blogging got me thinking that while bigoted racists are a vile disgusting sub-set of humanity, those who collaborate with bigoted racists may be even worse.

I think that to be a bigot and a racist you have to be at the low end of the IQ scale.

I have known no intelligent, educated people who were blatantly bigoted and racist.

I have known some intelligent, educated people who collaborate with racist bigots, rationalizing doing so in ways which make no sense to me.

Thinking about this had me thinking of that quote one hears fairly frequently about evil people. To get the quote right I started to enter into the Google search window "For Evil to...."  and then Google filled in the rest.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

That's the quote I was looking for. What I did not know before looking for this quote was its origin and its many variations.

It is the Irish statesman and philosopher, Edmund Burke who, in 1770, is credited with first expressing this truism, writing, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

Edmund Burke's original is more poetic in the way the idea is expressed, than its later permutations.

Almost a century later, in 1867, British political theorist John Stuart Mill gave a speech in which part of what he said was, "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."

And then, again almost a century later, in 1961, an American president named John F. Kennedy, in a speech to the Canadian Parliament, credited Edmund Burke for the quotation, but used the modern version, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

As for Albert Einstein, and the version of the Burke quote that particular genius is quoted as uttering above, that is not a version which Einstein is thought to have said. What Einstein is believed to have actually said, in a tribute to Pablo Casals, was, "The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it."

So, what lesson do we glean from this history lesson?

DO  NOT TOLERATE RACIST BIGOTS AND THE HATE SPEAK THEY SPEW.

Einstein's Generation Of Idiots Propagandizing False Hitler Quotes

Yesterday, Betty Jo Bouvier sent me an amusing email that had a series of photos of people using their smart phones, rather than doing some human, in person, social interacting, in places like restaurants, museums, theaters, trains, sporting events, at the beach, and other places.

These photos of people smart phoning was followed by the Albert Einstein quote about our current generation of idiots, apparently made so by technology.

Albert Einstein is widely believed to have been a genius. But, I really don't think an idiot can figure out how to use a smart phone. I can't even figure out how to send a text message.

I thought this Einstein quote might be bogus, and so I Googled to see if it had been Snope-isized. Nope, Einstein did say words to this effect, but the exact words quoted somewhat vary, though the meaning remains the same.

And then on Facebook I have been seeing Hitler references regarding the recent gun ban brouhaha. I sort of knew without Googling that these quotes were bogus, due to the sort of obvious historical inaccuracy. But, I Googled anyway.

From the Propaganda Professor, in an article titled The Myth of Hitler's Gun Ban we learn.....

Whenever a politician, or anyone else, starts talking about regulating guns, it’s a safe bet that someone will bring up how Hitler supposedly outlawed guns in Germany, which supposedly enabled him to do all the mischief he did.  As we’ve noted before, Adolf is a staple reference among propagandists. It’s become an automatic response to compare anyone you don’t like to Der Fuhrer, on the grounds that since he was evil incarnate, everything he ever said or did must also be evil. People have even been known to suggest that since he was a vegetarian, vegetarians are evil. It’s not surprising, then, that you often see this quote pop up:

“This year will go down in history! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!”  –Adolf Hitler, 1935

Trouble is, Hitler never made such a speech in 1935. Nor is there any record that he ever spoke these particular words at all.  This little “speech” was obviously written for him, many years after his death, by someone who wanted you to believe that gun registration is Hitler-evil.

And the truth is that no gun law was passed in Germany in 1935. There was no need for one, since a gun registration program was already in effect in Germany; it was enacted in 1928, five years before Hitler’s ascendancy.  But that law did not “outlaw” guns, it just restricted their possession to individuals who were considered law-abiding citizens, and who had a reason to own one. And there’s no reason to consider that law particularly significant, either; the NAZIs didn’t seize control of their own country with gunpowder. They used a much more potent weapon: propaganda.

Using propaganda to try and take control of a country. Why, that sure could not possibly happen in America...

Marilyn Einstein From Alma The Songbird Of The Texas Gulf Coast

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently headquartered in Port Aransas, soon to possibly be singing and playing her guitar on America's Got Talent, sends me, regularly, interesting emails. I long ago learned to open all incoming Alma email. Alma has a highly evolved sense of humor and a highly honed eye for what is interesting.

Like the picture you're looking at here. It looks like Albert Einstein, you know, the really famous, really smart guy who told President Roosevelt that it might behoove America to build an atom bomb.

Now, if you stand up and start backing away from your monitor, while keeping your eyes on Albert Einstein, you will see him gradually morph into another really famous, really smart, American icon, Marilyn Monroe.

I've no clue how this optical delusion works, but I thought it was cool and felt compelled to share.

Some Genius: Albert Einstein Wanted Socialism To Eliminate The Evils Of Capitalism

There are way too many people, saying way too much, way too often, that the Health Care Reform Bill will ruin the Republic and turn the U.S. into a Socialist State.

It makes my head hurt.

My Uncle Albert liked the idea of Socialism. He seemed to understand what Socialism actually is. In 1949 Albert Einstein had the following to say about Socialism. Does this sound like he's describing the bill that the House passed on Sunday?

"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate (the) grave evils (of capitalism), namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow-men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society."

Uncle Albert was a pretty smart guy. He escaped Nazi Germany to come to America.

Canada has Universal Health Care. The last time I visited Canada it did not seem all that much different than America, sort of like America Lite, with an annoying tendency to end every sentence with "eh".

The bill that passed on Sunday does not change the American Health system into a government run, owned and controlled operation.

I'm of the opinion that it would not be a bad thing if somehow a way was found to provide Americans Universal Health Care. I saw a little girl, about 9, last week at Wal-Mart, with a very bad club foot. This is a treatable condition. Anyone seen any 9 year old Canadian kid with a bad club foot?

I don't get how people can rail against this Health Care Reform bill as being a big, bad, socialist thing.

These same people don't seem to be upset by our public school system, which is a socialized school system.

Or with our public road system, which is a socialized road system.

Or with our military, which is a socialized defense system.

Or with NASA, which is a socialized space system.

Or when a state or the federal government builds a dam.

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples where the government does something that benefits everyone.

The presidents prior to, I think, Andrew Jackson, believed it was not the government's business to build roads or canals.

Would America of 2010 be better off if the government did not act for the collective good? If the government left it to private business to build roads, levees, schools, libraries, dams, power plants or space vehicles?

Anyway, those who are all in worry mode that all is lost and we are sliding down a slippery slope towards a Socialist non-Utopia, read the Wikipedia article about Socialism to get an idea what the word actually means.