Dying Like Animals/Quotes

To speak of certain government and establishment institutions as 'the system' is to speak correctly . . . They are sustained by structural relationships even when they have lost all other meaning and purpose. People arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight to five without question because the structure demands it be that way. There's no villain, no 'mean guy' who wants them to live meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is meaningless.

—Robert M. Pirsig

Men, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

—Charles Mackay

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

—Albert Einstein

Jana marulo jatre marulo.
Translation:

Is it that the people are stupid, or is the crowd stupid?

—Kannada Proverb ^[1]

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

—Martin Niemller, German Theologist, 1943

Watch the buggers dance,
Watch 'em 'til they drop,
Keep your wits about you and you stand on top!
Masters of the land
Always get our share

Clear away the barricades and we're still there!

—The Thenardiers at the end of Les Misérables as they express the Fox mentality

The government wouldn't lie to us!

—Some naive girl about to get nuked, Alien vs. Predator 2

Isn't this just great!?! While you waste my time, Earth gets one step closer to being taken over! That's my problem right there! My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!

—Dib, Invader Zim

"Evil prevails when good men fail to act." Since they always fail to act, it's easier just to say, "Evil prevails."

—User:Stong Radd, trying to explain just what the hell Yuri Orlov was getting at in Lord of War

Look at these people
Amazing how sheep will

Show up for the slaughter

—unattributed

No one condemning
You lined up like lemmings

You lead to the water

—Dr Horrible, Slipping

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↑ As any social psychologist could tell you, the answer is "the crowd's a moron." Look up "deindividuation" on Google sometime.

[1] As any social psychologist could tell you, the answer is "the crowd's a moron." Look up "deindividuation" on Google sometime.

[1]