One of
Nietzsche's best prophecies, from
Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1:11,
The New Idol. He gives a "confusion of language of good and evil" as the
sign of the false, lying nature of the State.
The People, he says, have a
language of "good and evil", it is what
governs them; their law is their
concept of
right and wrong. The State, on other hand, is a great
liar, and its greatest lie is its claiming to
be the People...or in our time, to be "the will of the People".
Nietzche points out that in every place where
a People still exists, the
State is seen as a great evil, a
lie and a
sin against laws and customs. This is true today--go check out a
tribe in Africa and see what they think of
government. The State is
created for the
superfluous; thus under State rule
many are born and
few can really LIVE. This is much better seen in
America than
Africa; sure, we have a lower death-rate, but ninety percent of our populace are--
sadly--pretty much worthless.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is, unfortunately,
filled with great wisdom that, thanks to our
average of a 7th-grade reading level, most people are immune to. No amount of
paraphrasing can have the
impact of a quote, I think; but a quote is full of
thuses and
thees and
yeas and
loads of confusing commas. (Though
thanks go to
r4v5 for pointing me to the
Kaufmann translation, which is a bit more
readable.)
Neitzsche's description of the State as the
idoltry of the
superfluous, that which
offers everything in exchange for obedience and thus
purchases our virtue, making us
richer outwardly but
poorer inside, is I think
extremely applicable today. It speaks
directly to the
spiritual and mental poverty of the
suburban masses teeming around our
quote-unquote-richer continents,
consuming like mad and yet
emptier every day. Or as The Man Himself says, "They
devour one another, and
cannot even
digest themselves."
And
how can we argue that the giant,
malformed States we all live under do not
warp our
soul's definitions of good and bad? That
America has not undone more
tradition, more
family, more
simple love and charity than all the wars and
demons the world has ever seen? "It
is a lie!"
Zarathustra cries; "Creators were they who created Peoples, and
hung a
faith and a love over them; thus they
served life." I may not be Nietsche or Zarathustra, but I have a
soul and nothing in it sees The State--
any State--serving Life, or
embracing that love and faith that were "hung" the
highest; No, Zarathustra was
right again. The State, as he puts it, hangs a "
sword and a hundred cravings" over the people; denying our
souls, making us into little more than
idolatrous worshippers of gain.
I don't know what to do about it
either; the
Monster that is the
State is gaining
unjustified popularity every day. Nietzsche's answer, I think, lies in a quote from a
chapter earlier:
Man is something that is to be surpassed.