There is a fundamental difference between the Polish experience of the state and the Russian experience. In the Polish experience, the state was always a foreign power. So, to hate the state was a patriotic act.
Ryszard KapuscinskiRead
There is a lack of critical assessment of the past. But you have to understand that the current ruling elite is actually the old ruling elite. So they are incapable of a self-critical approach to the past.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the inability of the current elite to evaluate the past critically due to their historical ties.
Ryszard Kapuscinski's quote highlights the idea that those in power today often come from a lineage of power that hinders their ability to reflect critically on past actions. The old ruling elite might be too invested in maintaining their narrative and influence to engage in an honest appraisal of historical events, suggesting a cycle of unaccountability that persists through generations.
Themes
EliteHistoryCritical AssessmentPowerSelf-Criticism
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on political science, one could use this quote to illustrate the challenges of accountability among leaders.
More from Ryszard Kapuscinski
All quotes →Photographing expresses human desire to preserve passing time. It is like a man struggling with time that elapses, and in general - a desire to preserve oneself.
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A journey, after all, neither begins in the instant we set out, nor ends when we have reached our door step once again. It starts much earlier and is really never over, because the film of memory continues running on inside of us long after we have come to a physical standstill. Indeed, there exists something like a contagion of travel, and the disease is essentially incurable.
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There aren't many such enthusiasts born. The average person is not especially curious about the world. He is alive, and being somehow obliged to deal with this condition, feels the less effort it requires, the better. Whereas learning about the world is labor, and a great all-consuming one at that. Most people develop quite antithetical talents, in fact - to look without seeing, to listen without hearing, mainly to preserve onself within oneself.
Ryszard KapuscinskiRead
The Cold War in Africa is one of the darkest, most disgraceful pages in contemporary history, and everybody ought to be ashamed.
Ryszard KapuscinskiRead
A population weakened and exhausted by battling against so many obstacles - whose needs are never satisfied and desires never fulfilled - is vulnerable to manipulation and regimentation. The struggle for survival is, above all, an exercise that is hugely time-consuming, absorbing and debilitating. If you create these ''anti-conditions,'' your rule is guaranteed for a hundred years.
Ryszard KapuscinskiRead
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