OCTAVIA BUTLER: "Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward..."

[ConsAreLiars]

I’m going to read a verse or two. And keep in mind these were written early in the 1990s. But I think they apply forever, actually. This first one, I have a character in the books who is, well, someone who is taking the country fascist and who manages to get elected President and, who oddly enough, comes from Texas. And here is one of the things that my character is inspired to write about, this sort of situation. She says:

"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery."

And there’s one other that I thought I should read, because I see it happening so much. I got the idea for it when I heard someone answer a political question with a political slogan. And he didn’t seem to realize that he was quoting somebody. He seemed to have thought that he had a creative thought there. And I wrote this verse:

"Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see. Repetition and pride are the keys to this. To hear and to see even an obvious lie again and again and again, maybe to say it almost by reflex, and then to defend it because we have said it, and at last to embrace it because we’ve defended it."

http://www.democracynow.org/2005/11/11/science_fiction_writer_octavia_butler_ong

[opihimoimoi]

1. 5 STARS....Magnificent Post.... :o) should be required reading .. understanding

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Thank you and the many who Rec'd her wise words, The wiki link is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_E._Butler

[Codeine]

3. I miss her. A fine writer and a kind soul. nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. she was a beautiful person

and her writing was wise and compassiomate

[bermudat]

5. What a surprise to see Octavia Butler's name in a post.

What a great writer. At times like these I think of the book, Parable of the Sower, and wonder if such events could come about.

[riderinthestorm]

6. Truly a sage and venerable seer.

Her sci-fi lit scared the crap outta me. She saw through problems. Actually wrote about hard issues like national identity, gender issues, physical ability (or disability) etc. and what they really meant to a society. Even now her particular breed of sci-fi and human genetics gives me the chills thinking back on reading her a long time ago.

A real visionary. RIP

[ConsAreLiars]

Another voice never heard or amplified by the corporate mass media machne. (nt)

[ConsAreLiars]

7. Another voice never heard or amplified by the corporate mass media machne. (nt)