Tyler Durden (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tyler_gone) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2010-02-01 07:09 am
tyler_gone) wrote in fandomhigh2010-02-01 07:09 am
Entry tags:
Build Your Own Philosophy, Period 2, 2/1/10
The board read:
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. -- Niccolo Machiavelli
"Today," Tyler announced from his perch atop his desk as soon as class was assembled and the door was closed, "we're skipping ahead a thousand years. We're talking about Machiavelli." Two books -- a text and an accompanying set of SparkNotes -- were already on each desk. "He was writing in 1513, telling local rulers what they needed to do to keep power. He was also trying to tell people who wanted power how they could get it. This is one of the first books about philosophy to be flat-out practical. Machiavelli isn't looking at what God wants you to do -- he's looking at what you need to do. He's looking at how to be a wolf and not just another dog."
Yeah, Tyler had an ideological crush.
"We'll be spending a couple weeks on this book, so please take it home. Look at it. Read it. Sleep with it under your pillow if you want. Today, we're starting with one question: Do you want people to fear you, or to love you?" He paused and paced across the classroom, wishing for a cool swirly cape like Anakin's.
"We all want to be loved. We're all designed to crave love. To bask in it from the cradle, if we're lucky. Roll around in it. But people will do things out of fear that you could not get them to do out of love. So -- if you want power -- fear's the blunt instrument. Cruelty, even, if you're trying to keep a large group of people like an army on the same path. At least, if you believe Machiavelli."
"What I'm asking today is what you think. Imagine you're in charge of a country. Do you want the people to fear you first, or to love you first?" He grinned. "Automatic detention to anyone who says both. I'm not in a mood for having it both ways."
He meant that, too.
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. -- Niccolo Machiavelli
"Today," Tyler announced from his perch atop his desk as soon as class was assembled and the door was closed, "we're skipping ahead a thousand years. We're talking about Machiavelli." Two books -- a text and an accompanying set of SparkNotes -- were already on each desk. "He was writing in 1513, telling local rulers what they needed to do to keep power. He was also trying to tell people who wanted power how they could get it. This is one of the first books about philosophy to be flat-out practical. Machiavelli isn't looking at what God wants you to do -- he's looking at what you need to do. He's looking at how to be a wolf and not just another dog."
Yeah, Tyler had an ideological crush.
"We'll be spending a couple weeks on this book, so please take it home. Look at it. Read it. Sleep with it under your pillow if you want. Today, we're starting with one question: Do you want people to fear you, or to love you?" He paused and paced across the classroom, wishing for a cool swirly cape like Anakin's.
"We all want to be loved. We're all designed to crave love. To bask in it from the cradle, if we're lucky. Roll around in it. But people will do things out of fear that you could not get them to do out of love. So -- if you want power -- fear's the blunt instrument. Cruelty, even, if you're trying to keep a large group of people like an army on the same path. At least, if you believe Machiavelli."
"What I'm asking today is what you think. Imagine you're in charge of a country. Do you want the people to fear you first, or to love you first?" He grinned. "Automatic detention to anyone who says both. I'm not in a mood for having it both ways."
He meant that, too.
Re: Discussion [2/01]
Re: Discussion [2/01]
“Not just love then,” she said, shrugging a bit and tugging at her hair. “Respect too. You don’t get respect as a ruler if you don’t got any for your subjects, yeah? I mean, sure, sometimes you’re going to make unpopular decisions, every kind of leader does, but the sort of respect or love a good ruler ought to inspire in people is the sort where they go ‘I don’t like this, and here’s why’ and can expect to be listened to. And, if the ruler has reasons, that they’ll say what they can and take the time to explain it their subjects. If you say ‘I’m raising the taxes to fund the war effort to keep our enemies off our borders’ people will be a lot more forgiving than if it’s something like ‘I’m raising the taxes to fund my extravagant parties for funsies’ and stuff.”
A pause.
“I don’t think I’d be a very good ruler,” Ino admitted freely. “Not in the sense of all the time and thinking ‘bout everything ever.”
Re: Discussion [2/01]
"And I think that's why people go to fear," Tyler said. "It's easier to make people afraid of you than to make them love you. Love takes time and following through and not raising taxes to pay for parties. Fear? Fear just takes a couple executions, and people will be to frightened to say anything about your raising taaxes to pay for parties."
Re: Discussion [2/01]
"But fear means you get coup d'etats and stuff and no matter how badass you and your guards are one day they'll fail--especially if a lot of people fear you."