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And, the topic is one which interests me, and now you've set me in motion, so...
Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Reign of Terror, was an admirer of both Rousseau and Montesquieu. Robespierre fascinates me. He considered all political authority to be derived from the consent of the people, and believed, and apparently practiced, the principle that a man ought always to be guided by his consideration of right and wrong, and what was best for all, and not by personal interests. He was widely known as "The Incorruptible", with apparently no irony at all. His political opponents, who eventually felt they had no choice but to kill him if they themselves were to survive, conceded this of him. He instituted a system that recognized almost no value to the individual human life, yet I'd have to argue that his intentions were good. He was in many respects an examplar of the principles of the Age of Reason. He dreamed of a France where popular democracy was unquestioned, and people lived according to their consciences, and if people who might impede that revolutionary change had to die to enable it, well...
Pol Pot, who turned Cambodia into a genocidal hellscape from the Dark Ages, had similar ambitions. He wanted to reshape society into an agrarian socialist paradise. He got surprisingly far in moving his country toward collectivist agrarianism, although at the expense of depopulating the cities and killing most of the educated and middle classes; and also in decentralizing government, albeit at the price of an anarchic rule of the strongest and the most ruthless practiced at village level. Too bad as well for those who believed in his dream, but needed medicine to survive, or were just old or weak.
Adolf Hitler, V.I. Lenin and his colleagues, Mao Tse-Tung, Fidel and Raoul Castro*, and a whole long list of others - what made them terrible wasn't a shared political philosophy. They didn't really have one. What made them terrible was their desire to pursue their vision of a perfect society, at all costs. I don't see a bit of that in Ian Brady. He was just an evil man who liked to hurt people, and talk big.
*Fun Fact - I have a friend whose parents were friends and neighbors of Raoul. They eventually fled Cuba in horror - it was no longer a place where ordinary people's dreams counted for anything. Also, I met Harry Benson, who met Leni Riefenstahl, who was Hitler's buddy. I have both Commie and Nazi cooties by association!
Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Reign of Terror, was an admirer of both Rousseau and Montesquieu. Robespierre fascinates me. He considered all political authority to be derived from the consent of the people, and believed, and apparently practiced, the principle that a man ought always to be guided by his consideration of right and wrong, and what was best for all, and not by personal interests. He was widely known as "The Incorruptible", with apparently no irony at all. His political opponents, who eventually felt they had no choice but to kill him if they themselves were to survive, conceded this of him. He instituted a system that recognized almost no value to the individual human life, yet I'd have to argue that his intentions were good. He was in many respects an examplar of the principles of the Age of Reason. He dreamed of a France where popular democracy was unquestioned, and people lived according to their consciences, and if people who might impede that revolutionary change had to die to enable it, well...
Pol Pot, who turned Cambodia into a genocidal hellscape from the Dark Ages, had similar ambitions. He wanted to reshape society into an agrarian socialist paradise. He got surprisingly far in moving his country toward collectivist agrarianism, although at the expense of depopulating the cities and killing most of the educated and middle classes; and also in decentralizing government, albeit at the price of an anarchic rule of the strongest and the most ruthless practiced at village level. Too bad as well for those who believed in his dream, but needed medicine to survive, or were just old or weak.
Adolf Hitler, V.I. Lenin and his colleagues, Mao Tse-Tung, Fidel and Raoul Castro*, and a whole long list of others - what made them terrible wasn't a shared political philosophy. They didn't really have one. What made them terrible was their desire to pursue their vision of a perfect society, at all costs. I don't see a bit of that in Ian Brady. He was just an evil man who liked to hurt people, and talk big.
*Fun Fact - I have a friend whose parents were friends and neighbors of Raoul. They eventually fled Cuba in horror - it was no longer a place where ordinary people's dreams counted for anything. Also, I met Harry Benson, who met Leni Riefenstahl, who was Hitler's buddy. I have both Commie and Nazi cooties by association!
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