“The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects - his laziness, incompetence, improvidence, or stupidity.”
― Henry Hazlitt
4 comments:
Being a failure is subconsciously humiliating enough without Henry reminding us of the realities.
Never a truer word.
Perhaps it's not humiliating enough, if the response to being a failure is to go on and expouse a political philosophy that enslaves and kills millions. On the other hand, it's perhaps the humiliation that contributes to the desire to enslave and kill. Either way, I don't thing Hazlitt intended this as a message to those who enslave and kill, but a warning to the rest of us who might be duped by them.
Unfortunately the real world is far more complex and far less meritocratic than Hazlitt would have us believe. Donald Trump is a perfect example.
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