Ideas
Making Them Wait
Inspiration from Friedrich Nietzsche’s aphorisms
Today I found a small book in the house, and I made up my mind to read it.
The book was thin, only 55 pages, but very dense in thoughts.
The book’s author is Friedrich Nietzsche, and the title is Aphorisms on Love and Hate.
The dark cover reflects what I knew from earlier and what ideas I have on this German philosopher who lived from 1844 to 1900.
Friedrich Nietzsche held a pessimistic view on modern society and culture, and his thoughts on “Übermensch” have falsely been taken as arguments for the Nazi ideology.
I’ve not been a big fan of Nietzsche, but I admit I felt little attracted by his philosophy at the time when I studied the French existentialists.
Although Nietzsche has famously been misrepresented as a predecessor to Nazism, he criticized anti-Semitism, pan-Germanism and, to a lesser extent, nationalism.
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His views stand against the concept of popular culture. He believed the press and mass culture led to conformity and brought about mediocrity. Nietzsche saw a lack of intellectual progress, leading to the decline of the human species. According to Nietzsche, individuals needed to overcome this form of mass culture. He believed some people were able to become superior individuals through the use of will power. By rising above mass culture, society would produce higher, brighter and healthier human beings. (Wikipedia)
I think that Nietzsche in many ways formulates provoking truths about human behavior, and in today’s world I find in particular this quote interesting and appropriate:
“Making them wait. A sure way to provoke people and to put evil thoughts into their heads is to make them wait a long time. This gives rise to immorality.”
The strategy to make people wait and to get power over people through making people waiting is often seen today. To keep them waiting is a well-known ruling technique for gaining power over people. Together with the absence of truth in communication, this technique is a way of seducing and manipulating people that often proves to be successful.
Speaking the truth instead of lying and practicing honesty in the political discourse is today absent in some powerful leaders. The world suffers and struggles in times like these with a moral deficiency at the highest political level.
The world community should not accept all these lies, all this manipulation from political leaders who promise and lie to their people.
