It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.” Joseph Heller, Catch-22
#Trump #Writing #josephheller #uspolitics #Politics
@lillyfinch one of the best novels in the last 100 years. “[They] agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.”
@IgnatiusJReilly one must try…more reason to educate the young….so they do question….true believers of anything can’t be moved.

@lillyfinch
Perfect!

I've often thought that what the press and pundits call cleverness in villains they like to "normalize" is nothing but audacity. The villains don't do things normal people are too dumb to conceive, but things the normal people have too much character to conceive.