Oligarch Quotes

“The surpluses will have to be expended somehow, and trust the oligarchs to find a way. Magnificent roads will be built. There will be great achievements in science, and especially in art. When the oligarchs have completely mastered the people, they will have time to spare for other things. They will become worshippers of beauty. They will become art-lovers. And under their direction and generously rewarded, will toil the artists. The result will be great art; for no longer, as up to yesterday, will the artists pander to the bourgeois taste of the middle class. It will be great art, I tell you, and wonder cities will arise that will make tawdry and cheap the cities of old time. And in these cities will the oligarchs dwell and worship beauty”
― Jack London

“Koch believed that what the famed economist Joseph Schumpeter called "creative destruction" was so critical to the health of the capitalist system that empathy was an obstacle to acceptance of the world that must be brought into being.”
― Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America

“Where do oligarchs come from?
They come from people's shallowness.
When people stop being shallow,
no oligarch shall get to grow,
to spread their life-crushing tentacles.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion

“This prehistoric world has an instinctual affinity to black and white concepts – to binary concepts – and a gigantic blind spot for grey areas. Justice is too grand an exercise to be contained by the primitive dualistic nonsense of violence and nonviolence.

Let me put this into perspective. Bullets are an act of violence, silence is an act of nonviolence – but there is a third option – the option of the slipper. Slippers are more effective in fighting bugs, than bullets – bullets make martyr of the bugs, slippers put them in their place. When the slippers of a nation’s civilians combine, even the mightiest of tyrant is bound to fall – be it a state head, court judge or law enforcement officer.

Whenever a bunch of bugs turn the courts into a cradle of animal masculinity – whenever a bunch of bugs turn the parliament into a cradle of fundamentalism and bigotry – whenever a bunch of bugs turn the police stations into a cradle of badge-bearing barbarism – grab hold of that household bug-repellent you wear on your feet, and put them to some good, wholesome use. Treat the corrupt and bigoted like your children, and do with them as you would your own child when they go astray.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Way of The Slipper (Bug-Repellent Sonnet)

This prehistoric world has an instinctual
affinity to black and white, binary concepts.
Justice is too grand an exercise to be contained
by the binary nonsense of violence and nonviolence.

Bullets are an act of violence, silence
is an act of bookish nonviolence – but there
is a third option – the way of the slipper.
Slippers are more effective in fighting bugs,
than bullets - slippers strip the bugs of
power, while bullets make them martyr.

With all your slippers combined,
the mightiest of tyrant is bound to fall,
be it a state head, court judge or copper,
or oligarchs rendering democracy into jungle.

When people blow their top, billionaires
become bum, and presidents turn tramp.
Fetch the household bug-repellent from
under your feet, and treat the corrupt
and bigoted like your offspring gone bad.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience