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Quote by Ian Buruma

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Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance

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Ian Buruma
Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma is a British writer of Dutch descent, renowned for his profound insights into Asian culture and history. His works cover a range of Asian countries from Japan to Indonesia, and are praised for their unique perspective and critical thinking. more

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“In morals, as in physics, the stream cannot rise higher than its source. Christianity raises men from earth, for it comes from heaven; but human morality creeps, struts, or frets upon the earth's level, without wings to rise. The Knowledge School does not contemplate raising man above himself; it merely aims at disposing of his existing powers and tastes, as is most convenient, or is practicable under circumstances. It finds him, like the victims of the French Tyrant, doubled up in a cage in which he can neither lie, stand, sit, nor kneel, and its highest desire is to find an attitude in which his unrest may be least. Or it finds him like some musical instrument, of great power and compass, but imperfect; from its very structure some keys must ever be out of tune, and its object, when ambition is highest, is to throw the fault of its nature where least it will be observed. It leaves man where it found him—man, and not an Angel—a sinner, not a Saint; but it tries to make him look as much like what he is not as ever it can. The poor indulge in low pleasures; they use bad language, swear loudly and recklessly, laugh at coarse jests, and are rude and boorish. Sir Robert would open on them a wider range of thought and more intellectual objects, by teaching them science; but what warrant will he give us that, if his object could be achieved, what they would gain in decency they would not lose in natural humility and faith? If so, he has exchanged a gross fault for a more subtle one. "Temperance topics" stop drinking; let us suppose it; but will much be gained, if those who give up spirits take to opium? Naturam expellas furcâ, tamen usque recurret, is at least a heathen truth, and universities and libraries which recur to heathenism may reclaim it from the heathen for their motto.”

EthicsMorals
Book:The Tamworth Reading Room. Letters on an Address Delivered by Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P. on the Establishment of a Reading Room at Tamworth. by Catholicus [i.E. J. H. Newman], Etc.
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“From his example in this respect, I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong, and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak. It is now long ago that I learned this lesson from General Armstrong, and resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”

HistoryMoralsBiographyUp From Slavery
Author:Booker T. Washington
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“The internet we know is full of places, languages, territories, and it’s an alternate world in itself. The strange thing is that, deep down, we don’t reinvent anything in this new world. We have this powerful tool, this parallel space that should be ideal, in theory, since it’s completely controlled by us, its creators. And yet it has the same functional faults as the physical world—the real one, you might say. All the social problems of our world exist online: theft, pedophilia, pornography, organized crime, drug trafficking, assassinations… The only difference is that everyone dares to be criminals or morally wrong, at least once, in the cyber world, but even when we do, we’re embarrassed, as if we’re incapable of thinking outside the original format. Humans have created this fantastic space of freedom and made it into a carbon copy of the world system. It’s as if we weren’t creative enough to invent a new moral code that would work online or new representations of ourselves that challenge the ones we’ve always had.”

ValuesInternetIdealsMoralsUtopiaSystems
Book:Nefando
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