#armed prophets

[faejilly]

Hey, so thanks to @alexanderlightweight linking @saeths armed prophets & @beatperfume adding #jailbait murder baby Alec is so important I'm re-reading Machiavellian and I feel the need to share Asmodeus' first impression of Alec:

EVER! BEEN! IN!

🤩🥰🤣

[geopolicraticus]

I had the pleasure of participating in another episode of The Unseen Podcast as I happened to be available at the moment that the recording happened to occur at a different time that is usually the case -- a series of historical accidents. And when I joined the podcast I did not realize that the recording had already started, so I kept waiting for the real thing to begin without realizing that our informal chat was the real thing. Oh well. It is officially billed as “unscripted, uncensored” and it certainly is that. Usually I make some kind of effort to organize my thoughts and have at least one idea ready with a coherent exposition, but not today.

In the course of the conversation about The Elders I mentioned Machiavelli’s distinction between armed and unarmed prophets (perhaps this sounded a little cynical). Here is the passage from Machiavelli to which I referred (and which I previously cited in Armed Prophets of Revolution):

“It is necessary, therefore, if we desire to discuss this matter thoroughly, to inquire whether these innovators can rely on themselves or have to depend on others: that is to say, whether, to consummate their enterprise, have they to use prayers or can they use force? In the first instance they always succeed badly, and never compass anything; but when they can rely on themselves and use force, then they are rarely endangered. Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered, and the unarmed ones have been destroyed. Besides the reasons mentioned, the nature of the people is variable, and whilst it is easy to persuade them, it is difficult to fix them in that persuasion. And thus it is necessary to take such measures that, when they believe no longer, it may be possible to make them believe by force.” (Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter VI)

When Machiavelli wrote his classic (and admirably short) treatise on statecraft he was hard-headedly pragmatic, realistic, and naturalistic at a time when social and political thought was subject to the medieval equivalent of political correctness. Machiavelli cut through the daintiness of political discussion and got down to the nitty gritty. As a result, he was treated as the devil incarnate for at least a hundred years after he died, and perhaps longer. 

Do we need another Machiavelli today, now that public social and political debates are more and more captive to the narrative of the technocratic elite? Whom do you trust? Machiavelli or The Elders? 

[humaneramblings]

Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.

Niccolo Machiavelli