“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.”
—Thucydides.
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That reminds me of that book “Bullyocracy” that has got good reviews.
Of course, he was referencing the war between Sparta and Athens, but it is almost as if this important point was used by Machiavelli’s weaponized anthropology to create this kind of system that produces mercenaries that have no hearts or soldiers that follow orders. I am thinking of the Prussian system that the bankers took advantage of many times with the Hessian mercenaries that the Rothschilds used in the Revolutionary War of the USA, funding both sides, or in the heart of Europe with the the Landgrave of Hesse who then tried to hide his vast fortunes from Bonapart. This system is used to make both classes ignorant as pointed out by Socrates , stressing philosophy as a key in education. This is a big problem with “we the people” overcoming this technocratic oppression “they” have planned. Someone once told me that the difference between a soldier and a warrior is that a soldier follows orders while a warrior follow his or her heart.
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Yes, an Individual should be rounded- otherwise they become a “Professional”, and so then life becomes “Just Business”…
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… Aaaahhh yes, Thucydides … recorder of one of the first (if not the first) instances of power politics. See the account of “talks” between Athens and Melos in his The Pelopponesian War. Athens operated much like The Federation (The Feds, a coincidence?) in Star Trek. Of course Kirk outsmarted the Mob bosses in “A Piece of the Action” he had quite a bit of experience (plus overwhelming force via weapons). Truly a deal they couldn’t refuse.
And then there is this interesting exchange in the episode “Whom Gods Destroy”
GARTH: You’ll find that I am magnanimous to my friends and merciless to my enemies, and I want you, both of you, to be my friends.
SPOCK: On what, precisely, is our friendship to be based?
GARTH: Upon the firmest of foundations, Mister Spock. Enlightened self interest. You, Captain, are second only to me as the finest military commander in the galaxy.
KIRK: That’s very flattering. I am primarily an explorer now, Captain Garth.
“… primarily an explorer now” … Come now, Captain Kirk … especially when you need a crystal or two.
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And will the fate of the American empire be the same as of the Athenian Empire? I find that parallel to even greater than that of Rome.
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