“We fall into states of illusion - we forget all this. We get caught up in desires, frustrations, political movements, philosophies, religions, the getting of a living, the pain of a body, the pleasure of a body.” StatesPhilosophyBodyPainPoliticalDesireFallForgetPleasureMovementIgnoranceIllusionCaughtFrustrationCaught UpPolitical Movements Author:Frederick Lenz
“Any play that makes an audience think out of the box, that makes connections to life and names our pain and by doing so makes our pain subject to thinking and the process of understanding, is doing something inherently political. By promoting understanding, by putting experience in context, by making connections between the normal and the rational, theatre is an act of anti-terrorism. It stimulates courage and a survival spirit. In that sense of political, there are a lot of serious plays doing their work in the world.” ThinkingWorldPlayPainPoliticalSpiritNamesProcessUnderstandingAudienceSubjectsSeriousNormalSurvivalConnectionsBoxesTerrorismTheatreRationalPromotingAnti Terrorism Author:John Lahr
“Here is an educational bombshell: Take from all of today's industrial nations all their industrial machinery and all their energy-distributing networks, and leave them all their ideologies, all their political leaders, and all their political organizations, and I can tell you that within six months, two billion people will die of starvation, having gone through great pain and deprivation along the way.” PeopleWayI CanTwoWisdomTodayPainPoliticalDiesPoliticsEnergyNationsLeaderEconomyGoneMonthsSixOrganizationEducationalBillionsIdeologyLiberalismSix MonthsMachineryStarvationDeprivationPolitical LeadersBombshells Author:R. Buckminster Fuller
“Life, from beginning to end, is fear. Yes, it is pain, yes, it is desire, but more than anything it is fear; a certain amount rational, an enormous amount irrational. All political cruelties stem from that overwhelming fear. To push back the threatening forces, to offer primitive sacrifices, to give up some in the hope that others will be savedthat is the power struggle. That is the outsidedness of the poor, the feeble, the infantile. That is the outsidedness of Jews. That is the outsidedness of blacks. That is the outsidedness of women.” GivingEndsPainPoliticalDesireCertainPoliticsForceFearPoorStruggleSacrificeAmountOffersGiving UpJewEnormousDiscriminationRationalCrueltyOverwhelmingPrimitiveIrrationalStemThreateningInfantilePower Struggle Author:Vivian Gornick
“I confess to feeling continued ambivalence about political life, aware of its shortcomings and disappointments, but drawn back to it again and again because of its infinite promise. Justice can triumph, wrongs can be righted, and pain can be alleviated, if the right fix is found. The optimistic illusion that one can change the world is difficult to resist, especially when from time to time that illusion is sustained by even a hint of reality. Change does happen in the political process.” IfsWorldDoeFeelingsRealityHappensPainPoliticalFoundPoliticsProcessDifficultJusticePromiseIllusionInfiniteDisappointmentOptimisticTriumphChanging The WorldAgain And AgainHintsShortcomingsPolitical LifeAmbivalence Author:Madeleine M. Kunin
“What does it mean when Republicans and Democrats alike warn us about the 'pain' involved in cutting government spending - in their spending less of our money? For the average citizen, what pain is there in his keeping more of his money to invest it the way he wants? Taxes cost people. Tax cuts do not cost government.” PeopleWayWantMeanDoeGovernmentPainPoliticalPoliticsCuttingCitizensInvolvedRepublicanCostTaxesDemocratAverageSpendingTax CutsGovernment SpendingSpending Less Author:Theodore J. Forstmann
“Masochists are people that have pleasure confused with pain. In a world that has television confused with entertainment, doritoes confused with food, and Dan Quayle confused with a national political leader, masochists are clearly less mixed-up than the rest of us.” PeopleWorldPainPoliticalPleasureLeaderTelevisionEntertainmentConfusedPolitical Leaders Author:P. J. O'Rourke