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Barbaric Quotes

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Barbaric Quotes

“We human beings regard ourselves as (or compare ourselves to) animals only when it suits us.”

PeopleHumansPersonsHumorFunnyReligionHumanityHuman BeingsAnimalHumourCivilizationCreaturesHumanJokesSpeciesIgnorantCompareHuman RaceSatireCivilizedAnimalsAphorismPrimitiveJokeVulgarConvenienceConvenientAphorismsHomo SapiensWildBarbarismHeathenBarbaricAphoristAphoristsCreatureUncivilizedAnthropocentrismSavageSuitBarbarianExpedienceNeanderthalCivilizeAnthropocentricBarbarousExpedientBrutishCompare ToLikenLiken ToUncultivated
Author:Mokokoma Mokhonoana
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“Fatally, the term 'barbarian' is the password that opens up the archives of the twentieth century. It refers to the despiser of achievement, the vandal, the status denier, the iconoclast, who refuses to acknowledge any ranking rules or hierarchy. Whoever wishes to understand the twentieth century must always keep the barbaric factor in view. Precisely in more recent modernity, it was and still is typical to allow an alliance between barbarism and success before a large audience, initially more in the form of insensitive imperialism, and today in the costumes of that invasive vulgarity which advances into virtually all areas through the vehicle of popular culture. That the barbaric position in twentieth-century Europe was even considered the way forward among the purveyors of high culture for a time, extending to a messianism of uneducatedness, indeed the utopia of a new beginning on the clean slate of ignorance, illustrates the extent of the civilizatory crisis this continent has gone through in the last century and a half - including the cultural revolution downwards, which runs through the twentieth century in our climes and casts its shadow ahead onto the twenty-first.”

IgnoranceCivilization21st Century20th CenturyVulgarTwentieth CenturyBarbarismVulgarityBarbaricBarbarianIconoclastVandal
Author:Peter Sloterdijk
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“[Said during a debate when his opponent asserted that atheism and belief in evolution lead to Nazism:] Atheism by itself is, of course, not a moral position or a political one of any kind; it simply is the refusal to believe in a supernatural dimension. For you to say of Nazism that it was the implementation of the work of Charles Darwin is a filthy slander, undeserving of you and an insult to this audience. Darwin’s thought was not taught in Germany; Darwinism was so derided in Germany along with every other form of unbelief that all the great modern atheists, Darwin, Einstein and Freud were alike despised by the National Socialist regime. Now, just to take the most notorious of the 20th century totalitarianisms – the most finished example, the most perfected one, the most ruthless and refined one: that of National Socialism, the one that fortunately allowed the escape of all these great atheists, thinkers and many others, to the United States, a country of separation of church and state, that gave them welcome – if it’s an atheistic regime, then how come that in the first chapter of Mein Kampf, that Hitler says that he’s doing God’s work and executing God’s will in destroying the Jewish people? How come the fuhrer oath that every officer of the Party and the Army had to take, making Hitler into a minor god, begins, “I swear in the name of almighty God, my loyalty to the Fuhrer?” How come that on the belt buckle of every Nazi soldier it says Gott mit uns, God on our side? How come that the first treaty made by the Nationalist Socialist dictatorship, the very first is with the Vatican? It’s exchanging political control of Germany for Catholic control of German education. How come that the church has celebrated the birthday of the Fuhrer every year, on that day until democracy put an end to this filthy, quasi-religious, superstitious, barbarous, reactionary system? Again, this is not a difference of emphasis between us. To suggest that there’s something fascistic about me and about my beliefs is something I won't hear said and you shouldn't believe.”

ScienceUnited StatesEvolutionGermanyCatholicismFascismPopeNaziSeparation Of Church And StateNazismSuperstitiousJewishDarwinismHitlerBarbaricMein KampfEinsteinFreudDarwinAdolf HitlerCharles DarwinAlbert EinsteinVaticanSigmund FreudFuhrerFascistic
Author:Christopher Hitchens
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“The great unmentionable evil at the center of our culture is monotheism. From a barbaric Bronze Age text known as the Old Testament, three anti-human religions have evolved -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These are sky-god religions. They are, literally, patriarchal -- God is the Omnipotent Father -- hence the loathing of women for 2,000 years in those countries afflicted by the sky-god and his earthly male delegates.”

YearsHumansCountryGodAgeReligionCultureThreeEvilFatherKnownChristianitySkyAtheismIslamMalesTestamentJudaismOld TestamentLoathingOmnipotentDelegatesBronzeBarbaricMonotheismChristianity And IslamGod Delusion
Book:The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
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“The authority of science promotes and encourages the activity of observing, comparing, measuring and ordering the physical characteristics of human bodies. Cartesian epistemology and classical ideals produced forms of rationality, scientificity and objectivity that, though efficacious in the quest for truth and knowledge, prohibited the intelligibility and legitimacy of black equality. In fact, to "think" such an idea was to be deemed irrational, barbaric or mad.”

ThinkingHumansIdeasFactsBodyFormBlackActivityAuthorityIdealsMadCompareCharacteristicsQuestsIrrationalRationalityHuman BodyObservingObjectivityMeasuringLegitimacyEpistemologyBarbaricTruth And Knowledge
Author:Cornel West
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“A political system seeking to function amongst ignorant, illiterate and barbaric people could have marvelous principles but could only succeed in being ignorant, illiterate and barbaric unless one addressed the people one by one and cured the ignorance, illiteracy and barbarism of each citizen.”

PeoplePoliticalPrinciplesIgnoranceCitizensSucceedFunctionSeekingIgnorantMarvelousPolitical SystemsBarbarismIlliterateIlliteracyBarbaricBeing Ignorant
Author:L. Ron Hubbard
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“Taxes are a barbaric remnant of ancient times in which early farmers, tied to the land, no longer able to roam freely, unable to fight back with awkward agricultural tools the way they once could with hunting implements, became victims, first, of itinerant plunderers, then of bandits settling down beside them to become the governments we know today.”

KnowsWayFirstsGovernmentTodayAbleFightingLandTaxesToolsVictimAncientSettlingFarmersHuntingTiedAwkwardSettling DownBarbaricRemnantsAncient TimesBandits
Author:L. Neil Smith
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“Remember, government is not an enlightened organization designed to promote public welfare. It is barbaric, uncivilized force…military and police power put to the service of the insiders who control it. Yes, there are constraints on the way the insiders use their power. There are ‘checks and balances,’ built into the constitution, for example. And there are cultural norms and traditional prohibitions. But eventually, the norms and traditions wear off, like painkillers. And then, the pain of raw government begins again.”

WayUseGovernmentPainRememberExampleBalanceBuiltTraditionOrganizationConstitutionPoliceChecksTraditionalWelfareEnlightenedNormConstraintsProhibitionBegin AgainInsidersBarbaricUncivilizedPainkillersPolice PowerPublic Welfare
Author:Bill Bonner
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“One of the things that I have seen change that warms the cockles of my heart is what is happening in the cosmetics industry. For years, they were doing horrible things to animals in the manufacture of cosmetics, and testing of the most barbaric types; today, if you go into a drugstore and go down the [cosmetics] aisle, look at how many of them say no animal testing. I've talked with people who work in the cosmetics departments, and they tell me, Without that, you can't sell them. And that's wonderful!”

PeopleIfsYearsLooksHeartTodayAnimalWonderfulTypeIndustryMy HeartHappeningsSellsHorribleDepartmentTestingCosmeticsAisleHorrible ThingsBarbaricAnimal TestingCockles
Author:Bob Barker
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“Like all of Latin America, Mexico after independence in 1821 turned its back on a triple heritage: on the Spanish heritage, because we were newly liberated colonies, and on our Indian and black heritages, because we considered them backward and barbaric. We looked towards France, England and the U.S., to become progressive democratic republics.”

AmericaBlackEnglandIndependenceDemocraticFranceIndianLatinProgressiveRepublicHeritageMexicoLiberatedLatin AmericaColonyBarbaricDemocratic Republic
Author:Carlos Fuentes
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“They [the Templars] had read Avicenna, and they were not ignorant, like the Europeans. How could you live alongside a tolerant, mystical, libertine culture for two centuries without succumbing to its allure, particularly when you compared it to Western culture, which was crude, vulgar, barbaric, and Germanic?”

TwoCultureCenturyWesternIgnorantMysticalVulgarCrudeWestern CultureBarbaricAllureLibertineSuccumbingTemplars
Book:Foucault's Pendulum
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“Sometimes we can offer a cure, sometimes only a salve, sometimes not even that. But whatever we can offer, our interventions, and the risks and sacrifices they entail, are justified only if they serve the larger aims of a person's life. When we forget that, the suffering we inflict can be barbaric. When we remember it the good we do can be breathtaking.”

IfsPersonsSometimesRememberSufferingForgetRiskSacrificeOffersAimCuresJustifiedInterventionBarbaricBreathtaking
Book:Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
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“Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric civil war being waged here is the most lethal conflict since World War II and has claimed at least 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake.”

WorldNeedsWarSometimesMightSufferingWishAttentionConflictWar Of The WorldsCivil WarWorld War IiWorld War IEasternEarthquakesCongoHaitiBarbaricTsunami
Author:Nicholas D. Kristof
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“A half century from now, our grandchildren are likely to look back at the era of mass employment in the market with the same sense of utter disbelief as we look upon slavery and serfdom in former times. The very idea that a human being's worth was measured almost exclusively by his or her productive output of goods and services and material wealth will seem primitive, even barbaric, and be regarded as a terrible loss of human value to our progeny living in a highly automated world where much of life is lived on the Collaborative Commons.”

WorldHumansLooksIdeasSeemsLife IsValuesWealthHuman BeingsLossHalfCenturyMaterialsTerribleMassSlaveryEmploymentFormerErasLook UpProductiveGoodsPrimitiveGrandchildrenDisbeliefOutputHuman ValuesBarbaricGoods And ServicesMaterial WealthProgeny
Book:The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism
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“We reject techniques like torture regardless of whether they're effective or ineffective because they are barbaric and harmful on a broad scale. It's the same thing with cyber warfare. We should never be attacking hospitals. We should never be taking down power plants unless that is absolutely necessary to ensure our continued existence as a free people.”

PeopleShouldExistencePlantTechniqueScalesTortureRejectsHospitalsBroadsWarfareAttackingCyberBarbaricPower PlantsCyber Warfare
Author:Edward Snowden
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“Deep thinkers who look everywhere for the mysterious causes of poverty, ignorance, crime and war need look no further than their own mirrors. We are all born into this world poor and ignorant, and with thoroughly selfish and barbaric impulses. Those of us who turn out any other way do so largely through the efforts of others, who civilized us before we got big enough to do too much damage to the world or ourselves.”

WorldWayNeedsLooksWarEnoughBigsTurnsCausesBornPoorEffortPovertyToo MuchCrimeThis WorldIgnoranceMirrorsSelfishIgnorantMysteriousImpulseDamageCivilizedThinkerBarbaricCauses Of PovertyDeep Thinker
Book:Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays
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“Architecture is, to a certain extent, a sensual gratification. It addresses itself to the eye, and affords the best scope for the parade of barbaric pomp and splendour. It is the form in which the revenues of a semi-civilized people are most likely to be lavished. The most gaudy and ostentatious specimens of it, and sometimes the most stupendous, have been reared by such hands. It is one of the first steps in the great march of civilization.”

PeopleFirstsHas BeensSometimesHandsEyeFormCertainStepsCivilizationArchitectureSensualAddressesMarchCivilizedFirst StepsRevenueScopeGratificationParadesBarbaricSplendourGaudyOstentatious
Book:History of the Conquest of México
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“I was raised in a religious home. It was unreasonable enforced religion that turned me off it. It was a joyless, unpleasant, stupid, barbaric thing when I was a child and I've never gotten over that feeling. If you're talking about religion it's one thing; I don't hold Jewish religion with any more seriousness than I would any other.”

IfsChildrenFeelingsHomeReligiousTalkingOne ThingStupidRaisedSeriousnessUnreasonableBarbaricJewish Religion
Author:Woody Allen
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“It takes a disciplined imagination to acknowledge that the less personal savageries of bombs, missiles, artillery and heavy weapons are, to those blown to smithereens, also barbaric. The main horror of what the coalition is doing is not a matter of the occasional soldier who, in the heat of battle, commits a war crime, but the steady destruction rained on cities, villages, the Iraqi people. This violence is wreaked calmly, from a distance, within the rules of engagement. The war itself is the American war crime.”

PeopleWarMatterPoliticalImaginationCitiesViolenceCrimeHorrorBattleWeaponsDestructionDistanceSoldierHeavyCommitAcknowledgeHeatBombsVillageEngagementSteadyOccasionalMissilesCoalitionsSavageryBarbaricWar CrimesArtilleryAmerican WarRules Of Engagement
Author:James Carroll
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“Consider the wave of revulsion that floods the average person when he or she hears of the practice of human sacrifice by the Aztecs and other so-called primitive peoples. How savage and barbaric such practices seem. But when a Christian or Jew comes across human sacrifice in the Bible (see Jephthah's immolation of his daughter in Judges 11:30-40), is he or she repulsed?”

HumansPersonsSeemsChristianReligiousPracticeSacrificeJudgingDaughterBibleAverageWaveJewPrimitiveFloodSavagesAverage PersonBarbaricRevulsion
Author:Steve Allen
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“As Bartok put it so succinctly: "Competitions are for horses." Nothing could be more barbaric that the practice or ranking artists as though they were divers or figure skaters....What one suspects is that the appetite for dividing the world into winners and losers, anointed and anonymous, is so compulsive that it feeds with special, vindictive hunger on the most elusive and ephemeral of subjects. For if music can be reduced to games of power and success, then innocence-love without profit-can be dealt a crushing blow.”

IfsWorldArtistGamesPracticeSpecialSubjectsFiguresHorseCompetitionHungerProfitBlowInnocenceWinnerCrushSuspectsLoserAppetiteElusiveEphemeralDividingBarbaricRankingSkaterVindictiveWinner And LoserBartok
Author:Russell Sherman
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