C. S. Lewis on tyranny

[eleneariel]

Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely expressed for the good of its
victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under
robber barons than under omnipotent busybodies.

~C.S. Lewis

Comments

[ransomedsea.livejournal.com]

"Omnipotent busybodies" just made that quote hilarious. I was all "ohh, deeeep---wha...ahahahahaha!"


Sorry.

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

See why I love the man?

[http://users.livejournal.com/patrick___/]

Sounds like some some of the things Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in the book I'm reading right now (Irony of American History). Communism was particularly ironic this way!

[thetsuruchi.livejournal.com]

Or Gandalf!

"Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good."

Or as Tolkien put it:

"Gandalf as Ring-Lord would have been far worse than Sauron. He would have remained 'righteous', but self-righteous. He would have continued to rule and order things for 'good' and the benefit of his subjects according to his wisdom (which was and would have remained great)."

[http://users.livejournal.com/patrick___/]

Great quote! I had never thought of it that way before. It definitely explains his reaction to Frodo when he tried to give him the ring.

It's interesting to think about how so much of the evil that happens in the world is done by people who truly think they are doing what's best. The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 all thought they were doing God's work. The communists thought they were creating a great egalitarian society. Even the nazis thought what they were doing was best for society. The idea that most evil is done by people who laugh maniacally to themselves as they boast about how evil they are is really something more out of hollywood than reality. :-)

And it's a lesson we should all learn from, since it seems like most of us think we know what's best for others! :-) Far too often we don't recognize our own failings, and how flawed our own views must be (since no one will ever really have a perfect idea of how things should be). It should teach us all a lesson in humility.

BTW, I'm almost done with Irony of American History. I'm going to try and post a review of it once I'm done.

[victoriaeremita.livejournal.com]

C.S. Lewis will always hold a special place in my heart. He is genius!

[ruthette.livejournal.com]

LOVE!

[mattiescottage.livejournal.com]

Very useful thought.

Which book, work, or interview records this one?

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics ... which I have never read. =\

[mattiescottage.livejournal.com]

I would guess that most of us haven't read that one. ;-D Quotations like that, however, may give us reason to consider it.

[greyeyedpixie.livejournal.com]

Too true.
You have to love C.S. Lewis~