From Mad, by Jonathan Bowden:
A civilization rests on force and comes into
existence when every scream is part of the design. Inhumanity is always
sacrosanct: we’re not dealing with morality here: that is a matter for the individual.
Collectives deal not in morals but expediency; not in conscience but judicious expenditures
of force. A ruler really has power in his hands, when he can decide what’s
wrong and what’s right. From moment to moment, enforcing this, prescribing
that, the one an offence, the other a beneficence, whilst the blood cries out
to high heaven for a reckoning it won’t receive. Here, each scream has its
place, every anthropomorphic prodding of the system, resolves itself, in a
patchwork quilt of condemnation and reward. Rulers enforce criminal
jurisdiction when they decide what’s crime and who’s committed it. Law was
created from its opposite. Law was created to forestall its opposite. Law is
legalized crime: sanctimonious mendacity for those who mulct the system. Murder’s
still the name of the game. Yesterday it was criminal; today it is the law.
Originally published by Egotist Press in 1989, a new edition of Mad will be released by Nine-Banded Books in 2009. Check back for details.
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