On the record
Attack an interest, in a word, and you arouse passion; arouse passion, especially where property is concerned, and the technique of raison d’état will sooner or later be invoked.
Said by
Harold J. Laski
Source
gutenberg.orgHarold J. Laski: “Attack an interest, in a word, and you arouse passion; arouse passion, especially where property is concerned, and the…”
Editor's note · Context
Laski explains how challenging vested interests can provoke strong emotional responses.
Share
More from Harold J. Laski
Each age makes some idol in its own image and sacrifices upon its altar the freedom of those who refuse it worship.
Each age finds that the incidence of freedom is significant at some special point, and there, once more, the lesson of freedom has to be learned.
Ultimately, that denial is always made upon the same ground: it is insisted that the doctrines or practices attacked are subversive of the civil order.
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.
Other voices in this conversation
