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Read through the most famous quotes by topic #politic
religion, the most powerful of the elements which have entered into the formation of moral feeling, having almost always been governed either by the ambition of a hierarchy, seeking control over every department of human conduct, or by the spirit of Puritanism. ↗
Conversion and zealotry, just like revelation and apostasy, are flip sides of the same coin, the currency of a political culture having more in common with religion than rational discourse. ↗
#christopher-hitchens #conversion #politics #rationality #reason
The law is so complex and voluminous that no one, not even the most knowledgeable lawyer, can understand it all. Moreover, lawyers and legal scholars have not gone out of their way to make the law accessible to the ordinary person. Just the opposite: Legal professionals, like the priests of some obscure religion, too often try to keep the law mysterious and inaccessible. ↗
وضمن هذا السعي إلي الإمساك بالدولة, فإن دعاة الإسلام السياسي لا يختلفون- من جهتهم- عن غيرهم من الذين عملوا, من جهة أخري, تحت رايات الأيديولوجيات التحديثية( الليبرالية والقومية والاشتراكية وغيرها). وأعني من حيث إنهم جميعا يراوحون تحت مظلة ذات الأطروحة التي لا تري للتغيير سبيلا إلا بتسكين الجوانب التقنية الإجرائية من الحداثة فوق ذات البنيات التقليدية المتوارثة للوعي التي تحتفظ للجمهور بوداعته وهدوئه وطاعته. وفقط فإن الاختلاف بينهما يأتي من نوع المفردات التي يستخدمها كل فريق في سعيه إلي الهيمنة علي المجال العام. إذ فيما ظل دعاة الأيديولوجيات الحداثوية يستخدمون المفردات المتداولة في إطار الأيديولوجيات التي يبشرون بها( من قبيل الحرية والديمقراطية والدستور والاشتراكية والطبقة العاملة والقومية وغيرها); والتي لم يقدروا علي السيطرة بها علي المجال العام لعدم امتلاك الجمهور- المقصود التأثير عليه بها- للتراث المعرفي والتاريخي الذي تقف عليه هذه المفردات, فإن دعاة الإسلام السياسي يستخدمون مفردات تنتمي للرأسمال الرمزي الديني للجمهور للسيطرة علي المجال العام( من قبيل الشريعة والحكم بما أنزل الله وتطبيق الحدود وغيرها); وبما سيجعل من دولة الإسلام السياسي, الدولة التنين فعلا ↗
It is true that some secluded intellectuals in their esoteric circles talk differently. They proclaim the priority of what they call eternal absolute values and feign in their declamations—not in their personal conduct—a disdain of things secular and transitory. But the public ignores such utterances. The main goal of present-day political action is to secure for the respective pressure group memberships the highest material well-being. The only way for a leader to succeed is to instill in people the conviction that his program best serves the attainment of this goal. ↗
Without exception all political parties promise their supporters a higher real income. There is no difference in this respect between nationalists and internationalists and between the supporters of a market economy and the advocates of either socialism or interventionism. If a party asks its supporters to make sacrifices for its cause, it always explains these sacrifices as the necessary temporary means for the attainment of the ultimate goal, the improvement of the material well-being of its members. Each party considers it as an insidious plot against its prestige and its survival if somebody ventures to question the capacity of its projects to make the group members more prosperous. Each party regards with a deadly hatred the economists embarking upon such a critique. ↗
