Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Some wisdom from Douglas Adams

This seems like a good day for some wisdom from Douglas Adams:

"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see...."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've got all the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they don't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"

That's from the start of Chapter 36 of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. It's a great book. All of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books are great. I highly recommend them and other works by Douglas Adams.

So okay, it's not really that bad and the leaders aren't actually lizards (no matter what David Icke might say). However, it's worth noting that the lizards I know wouldn't object to microscopic patterns of charge, magnetism, dye or texture. They might object to some plants, but they probably wouldn't object that violently. Oh, and they certainly don't have wars.

So, make sure you choose one today so the wrong ones don't get in.

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