“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Glasnost
"Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin."
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"All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome."
Well do I remember the Glory Days when Hope was kindled in the West by the presence of Mikhail Gorbachev who introduced the concept of Glasnost into the interntational conversation.
My cousin K, always an inveterate cynic, joked at the time:
"The next time you take that shortcut across the pasture, be careful not to step in the Glasnost."
It wasn't funny then, and it isn't funny now.
Cynicism, sarcasm, habitual distrust, and ridicule –– the forces that wither the bloom, and stunt the growth of abundant life –– too often function as self-fulfilling prophecies.
"We will make grand concessions in the name of peace, and when we have lulled them into a false sense of security, we will smash them with the mailed fist!" - Soviet War College propaganda, 1970s
3 comments:
Well do I remember the Glory Days when Hope was kindled in the West by the presence of Mikhail Gorbachev who introduced the concept of Glasnost into the interntational conversation.
My cousin K, always an inveterate cynic, joked at the time:
"The next time you take that shortcut across the pasture, be careful not to step in the Glasnost."
It wasn't funny then, and it isn't funny now.
Cynicism, sarcasm, habitual distrust, and ridicule –– the forces that wither the bloom, and stunt the growth of abundant life –– too often function as self-fulfilling prophecies.
"Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin." -Cornelius Tacitus
"We will make grand concessions in the name of peace, and when we have lulled them into a false sense of security, we will smash them with the mailed fist!" - Soviet War College propaganda, 1970s
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