The Prince(s of Persia), by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture
May 6, 2010 Whitney Farmer 0 Comments
After the car bomb failed, we talked with my little sister in NYC who had been one of many who were evacuated from Times Square. She told us that the smoking SUV had been parked outside the stage door of their theater where she performs and across the street. She didn’t notice the vehicle with the flashing hazard lights when she arrived for work.I bought a 3XL “I heart NY” t-shirt to sleep in when I was there for the show’s premiere from a street vendor on the corner outside the hotel. He was a little bit quieter than the one on a different corner who was shouting at pedestrians to take a piece of the city back to Mayberry when they went home. I went to his kiosk because he was silent and I was feeling thoughtful. I’m not sure if it was the same Vietnam veteran who spotted the bomb and saved all of those lives, but I think it might have been. I remember thinking that he saw everything that was happening on the street and that he wasn’t crazy.
Recently, someone misquoted Machiavelli to me as a justification for bad actions, saying that “..it is better to be feared than to be loved…” When people are weak, we all seem to justify our actions in the same way, whether vulture fund manager, serial killer, or terrorist.
This isn’t what was written of in the masterpiece The Prince. Here is how it reads: “Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.”
That makes more sense to me. It is safer to incite fear. And it is unquestionably easier than inspiring love, respect, admiration, and loyalty. I need to respectfully disagree with Bill Maher who lost a job all those years ago by saying that the 9-11 terrorists were brave. People will do anything until the bitter end to not face the truth of their failings, as individuals, as groups, or as countries. Sometimes martyrdom just requires staying in the chair until the end of the ride.
How many of us in our lives — either personal or professional — have been successful at demanding respect? It’s an accurate cliche to state that respect must be earned. Ordering it never works. People can fake it brilliantly, but that type of an edict — particularly when backed up by frightening actions — causes contempt to settle in to the hearts of those who are violated. Ideally, we pay attention to our own business and let others form their own choices. We walk in our gifts, testing ourselves against the internal plumbline and ruler that lets us know that we are building out our souls in the right direction. Those who we meet on the same spiritual jobsite either will be able to see the good work that we’ve done because they have been working on the same project, or they won’t.
Terrorists can only be reasoned with if they acknowledge their sins. And the most frightening thing in human existence is admitting it when we are wrong. Like terrorists, all of us are tempted to find an external cause for our failures and weaknesses. We hunger to inflict pain when we are hurting.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote of Machiavelli in Book III of Social Contract, making the case against embracing the concepts in The Prince as a new religion of amoral power. Instead, Rousseau said that we had gotten it all wrong, that the difficult times made it necessary for Machiavelli to cloak his criticisms of the political powers in satire: “…Machiavelli was a proper man and a good citizen; but, being attached to the court of the Medici, he could not help veiling his love of liberty in the midst of his country’s oppression. The choice of his detestable hero, Caesar Borgia, clearly enough shows his hidden aim; and the contradiction between the teaching of the Prince and that of the Discourses on Livy and the History of Florence shows that this profound political thinker has so far been studied only by superficial or corrupt readers. The Court of Rome sternly prohibited his book. I can well believe it; for it is that Court it most clearly portrays.”
Perhaps Machiavelli would have been first perplexed and then horrified that his work would become a dog-eared favorite in the personal libraries of Napoleon at his most grasping, Mussolini at his most arrogant, and Stalin at his most murderous. We live in dangerous times, and superficial and corrupt creatures who worship violence have arisen from the lands that had given birth to human civilization, where the wheel and writing where invented, and where it s said “…The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs.”
For my part, I am going to fight to not fall into the same evil as those who wanted to kill my little sister as she arrived at work. They chose to hate her and all of us because it was easier and safer than earning respect. What I am going to choose to do is be grateful to God that He opened the eyes of a silent t-shirt vendor so that he could stop the plans of others who have been blinded by hatred.
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Whitney runs a rock music venue in L.A. She is tired of being shallow.
Whitney runs a rock music venue in L.A. She is tired of being shallow.
R. Maheras
May 6, 2010 - 8:54 am
Amen
Martha Thomases
May 6, 2010 - 9:17 am
Nicely written, Whitney. However, I must argue that being shallow has it’s charms.
And I hope someone tells Sarah Palin that THIS is how real Americans act. We look out for each other.
Vinnie Bartilucci
May 6, 2010 - 10:36 am
There’s a line in Bronx Tale where Chazz’ character is asked if he would rather be loved or feared – he says “Feared. Fear lasts longer.”
Whitney
May 6, 2010 - 1:06 pm
Vinnie –
How true. The weeds that get into a garden don’t need any special care to stay alive and thrive. It’s only what we plant to that gives us beauty and nourishment that we need to cultivate.
Whitney
May 6, 2010 - 1:20 pm
Amazing Martha –
In a couple of days, I’ll probably feel shallow again and we’ll be on the same page. Until then, I’ll have to force myself to put on my eyeliner for work.
From the last part of your posting, I realized that there is something worse than inciting fear: Making a career out of it, and becoming wealthy and famous doing it. I don’t believe that peace at any cost is wise or even moral. War with small provocation or for financial gains definately isn’t.
Whitney
May 6, 2010 - 1:21 pm
R. Maheras –
Yep.
Reg
May 7, 2010 - 7:02 am
Wendy – I wonder if the vendor’s name was Michael. Very grateful for the eyes & actions of the vigilant that once more thwarted the plans of evil men.
Whitney
May 7, 2010 - 7:59 pm
Reg –
Did you know that one of my nicknames at the club is ‘Wendy Bird’ from ‘Peter Pan’ because I take care of Lost Boys? I’m called either that or ‘Warden’.
I get your reference to Michael the Archangel. I know he is assigned to the protection of the Jewish people, and NYC may have more than Israel. Maybe you are on to something…Maybe that’s why he was so quiet to me: The more powerful/the less needs to be said.