Power (Brian Katcher)

 

A quote from Douglas Adams:

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it... anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

I'm not sure why this quote keeps running through my mind the past three months or so...

Oh, yeah.

So what are the common tropes for the powerful characters in literature and the arts? What do they have to say about Power?

The Mad Dictator:

 Hard to believe he played the both Hawkeye Pierce and the zany professor in Animal House

President Snow: Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous.

 The Icon:

O'Brein: We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

 The Machine:

HAL: The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.

The Petty Tyrant:

Nurse Ratched: If Mr. McMurphy doesn't want to take his medication orally, I'm sure we can arrange that he can have it some other way. But I don't think that he would like it.

The Soulless Bureaucrat: 

Lumbergh: Hello Peter, whats happening? Ummm, I'm gonna need you to go ahead come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around 9 that would be great, mmmk... oh oh! and I almost forgot ahh, I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday too, kay. We ahh lost some people this week and ah, we sorta need to play catch up.

The Psychopath:

Dr. Lecter: A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.  


So, in summary, we're all doomed.