I see the light come shining
An Agamben Intervention
The sword of Damocles
It is good not to forget the legend of Damocles, which Cicero recounts in his Tusculan Disputes. One day, Damocles, a courtier of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, praised him "for his riches, for the majesty of his power, for the magnificence of his palace". «Damocles – the tyrant replied – since you like this life, I want to give you a taste of it and make you try my fate». He made him sit on a sofa covered with a finely embroidered cloth, placed precious pottery in front of him and placed at his service young men of extraordinary beauty ready to carry out his every command. Damocles thought he was happy, until he noticed that a sharp sword suspended from a horse's hair was hanging over his head from the ceiling. At that point the unwary eulogist renounced riches and power and begged Dionysius to let him go, because he no longer wanted to be happy in that way.
Today we see that the sword suspended over the heads of the tyrants is about to fall, the hair that supports the one suspended over Zelensky's head is now frayed and worn and perhaps, tomorrow, even the one hanging over others, accomplices or enemies of him, may fall. But the lesson of the legend is not just this for us. It is not enough to abstain from the praise that everyone timidly lavishes on tyrants, we must also remember that it is up to us, to the extent of our strength, if not to cut off, at least to scratch and erode the hair that still holds the sword suspended over their heads. The thread that supports it - we must not tire of showing it, if the first to know is the tyrant - is thin and only the consensus and fear of the many prevents it from breaking.
February 21, 2024
Giorgio Agamben
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Yes. And they are censoring and doubling down on tyranny accordingly. Unless people rough’em up big doom.
As one of no PCR test and no jab I don’t circulate really that much. My jabbed friends refuse to believe. One is starting to believe since he now has Parkinson’s disease. The others catch Covid but see no evidence that it is vaccine. I’m starting to wonder if the death wish is civilizational and not enough folks grok.
Yesterday I was thinking about this and sort of laid into Dr. Alexander as playing a game of mis-direction with Malone, and his Trump love etc. I asked if a defector from high echelons in the PRC would be as silent as he is about Mr. Pottinger and his Chinese wife so close to Brix he hired her. Silence.
I said you only focus on symbolism not reality. Voting for the kill box either candidate is misleading and misdirection.
People need to rage. Instead they read, and read more about doom and destruction and do nothing.