Hi Jayb,

Perhaps because, when you crave 'The Good Society', and you think you have a blueprint for a better world, it's tempting to want it ASAP, and dictatorship seems to be the quick way to get that. No mucking about with all this bourgeois democracy stuff.

But first you have to get rid of all that democracy stuff, so any dictator will do, because then the 'people' will overthrow him and prepare the way for Utopia, and the blueprint can be put into practice. (At least for a few weeks, before reality sets in).

Karl Popper wrote some brilliant articles (and of course, his 'Open Society and its Enemies') precisely on this subject. Check out the volume of his works called 'After the Open Society'.

Cheers,

Joe

Jayb,

By the way, why are bees painted blue ?

why are bees painted blue ?

Cause they're blue collar workers?

Why, Jayb, because the higher they go, the fewer. So one of the Coles Books maintained.

No, I've never understood it either.

BTT:

Killarney,

In the never-ending search for the truth in history, Popper suggests that:

the " .... spirit of co-operation, this attitude: 'I may be wrong and you may be right, and by a common effort we may get nearer to the truth', is what I call the spirit of rationalism. It is an attitude which looks out for the good in any human individual, and which is ready to accept good suggestions as well as criticism from anybody.

"It is the exact opposite of the attitude 'I know, and nobody can tell me anything', that is to say, the attitude of the pig-headed dogmatic, the attitude of contempt of human reason (except, perhaps, of one's own human reason); an attitude which does not feel in need of justifying itself in the face of others, and which neglects criticism; in brief, the attitude of irrationalism."
[Moral Man and Immoral Society, 1940].

We learn (hopefully) from our mistakes; we learn by trial and error. So, there can never be some once-and-for-all blueprint to which everybody must adhere; no State can be allowed to ever claim that sort of power over people. So far, no revolution has stuck to its 'once-and-for-all' principles for more than the first few weeks or months, simply because reality has been constantly changing and throwing up unpredicted problems.

Just some thoughts :)

Joe

I found & brought the full collection of the Coles Books. They are full of 19th Century Moral Lessons. A wonderful read to gain an insight to 19th Century thinking.

My favourite was the Caning Machine with the bad boy hanging over a rail while the Master turned a handle of a wheel with hundreds of canes on it & all the students laughing in the background. I sure that's where they got the models for the Mondo Dolls.