Interesting quote
Somebigguy Mon, 10/30/2006 - 8:27am
Here's a quote that someone sent me, seems pretty relevant:
"Beware of the leader who bangs of war in order to whip the citizenry into
a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both
emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war
have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind is
closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry.
Rather, the citizenry infused with fear and blinded by patriotism,
will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and do it gladly so.How do I know? I know for this is what I have done."
- Julius Caesar
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WOW
. . .
Great quote! Don't remember where I got this re Hitler...
Ignore. That's what the vast majority of Germans did in the 1930s as Hitler curtailed civil liberties and launched aggressive wars. I was born in August 1939, a week before Hitler sent German tanks into Poland to start World War II. I have studied that crucial time in some detail. And during the five years I served in Germany I had occasion to ask all manner of people how it could possibly be that, highly educated and cultured as they were, the Germans for the most part could simply ignore. Why was it that the institutional churches, Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran, could not find their voice? Why was it that so few spoke out?
A few did ... and they provide good example for us today. Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke out, plotted against Hitler, and was executed. Also executed was a more obscure but equally courageous professor from the University of Berlin, Albrecht Haushofer.
Like Bonhoeffer, Haushofer was arrested for speaking out. The SS prison guards were required to extract a confession from prisoners before they were hanged or shot, but Haushofer refused. When they removed his body, though, a paper fell out of his pocket. It was his admission of guilt written in the form of a sonnet:
Schuld
...schuldig bin ich Anders als Ihr denkt.
Ich musste früher meine Pflicht erkennen;
Ich musste schärfer Unheil Unheil nennen;
Mein Urteil habe ich zu lang gelenkt...
Ich habe gewarnt,
Aber nicht genug, und klar;
Und heute weiß ich, was ich schuldig war.
Guilt
I am guilty,
But not in the way you think.
I should have earlier recognized my duty;
I should have more sharply called evil evil;
I reined in my judgment too long.
I did warn,
But not enough, and clear;
And today I know what I was guilty of.
Insert "the drums" after
Insert "the drums" after "bangs". Someone copied this wrong and it has spread this way. More literal, less pretty translation:
Beware of the leader, who strikes the war drum in order to transfer the citizens into patriotic glow, patriotism is indeed a double-sided sword. It makes the blood so boldly, like it constricts the intellect. And if the striking of the war drum reached a fiebrige (feverish) height and the blood is cooking and hating, and the intellect is dismissed, the leader doesn't need to reject the citizens rights. The citizens, caught by anxiety and blinded through patriotism, will subordinate all their rights to the leader and this even with happy courage. Why do I know that? I know it because this is what I did. And I am Gajus Julius Cäsar.
It looks like a multilingual translator assumed the German "fiebrige" was also used in English.
Please, we must not for those being imprisoned & tortured in
Guantanamo. People claim they were merely swept-up or turned in to the U.S. military by their enemies for big rewards we were offering! Many could well be innocent goat herders & farmers! Now they will suffer a death sentence unless we stop this insanity!!!
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/gtmo_may_be_final_home_for_many_deta...
I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but...
From what I have researched, this quote is not one from Julius Caesar. I don't have any sources right now, but I had looked into this quote extensively a few years ago and was convinced this quote is no more than 5-10 years old. Kind of an internet hoax from what I can gather. If anyone can prove otherwise, I would like to know.
---From a decon @ my church: "I want to tell you something very serious..very serious, but I don't want you to say 'I told you so'. I want you to forgive me..You were right. I know the truth about 9/11.