Poet Wislawa Szymborska, on Dictators and Tyrants

REVERENCE

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Dedicated to informing readers about human rights issues on an international and local level, Reverence is a weekly updated blog that will consolidate news as well as feature first-hand accounts of events. By reducing ignorance in matters of equality and justice, we may become inspired to eliminate the oppression that defines the lives of many.

"... as long as one of us is not free, none of us is free." - Malalai Joya, Activist What do you want to see written about? Submit a post

February 3, 2012

fictionthatmatters:

“All sorts of torturers, dictators, fanatics, and demagogues struggling for power by way of a few loudly shouted slogans also enjoy their jobs, and they too perform their duties with inventive fervor. Well, yes, but they “know.” They know, and whatever they know is enough for them once and for all. They don’t want to find out about anything else, since that might diminish their arguments’ force. And any knowledge that doesn’t lead to new questions quickly dies out: it fails to maintain the temperature required for sustaining life. In the most extreme cases, cases well known from ancient and modern history, it even poses a lethal threat to society.”