{"id":108860,"date":"2020-11-20T16:20:42","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T23:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108860"},"modified":"2020-11-20T16:21:24","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T23:21:24","slug":"those-whom-the-gods-wish-to-destroy-they-first-make-them-mad-is-this-a-classical-quotation-or-a-phenomenon-before-us-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/20\/those-whom-the-gods-wish-to-destroy-they-first-make-them-mad-is-this-a-classical-quotation-or-a-phenomenon-before-us-now\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThose whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make them mad\u201d, is this a classical quotation or a phenomenon before us now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In respect to the\nconsiderable research done on the quotation noted above, Roger Pearse<\/a>, in his blog (https:\/\/www.roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/2015\/10\/31\/is-those-whom-the-gods-wish-to-destroy-they-first-make-mad-a-classical-quotation\/comment-page-1\/<\/a>), says I learn that in\nfact it is a note on Sophocles Antigone<\/em>,\nl.620, by a scholiast.  The idea itself is present in Homer, Odyssey<\/em>, IX, 492-3. In the tragedy Antigone<\/em>, of Sophocles<\/em>, in verses 620-623<\/em>, it said\nsomething similar:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For cunningly of old was the celebrated saying revealed: evil sometimes seems good to a man whose mind a god leads to destruction.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ancient scholiast on these verses\nsays:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a god plans harm against a man, he first\ndamages the mind of the man he is plotting against.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More precisely, and in a contemporary sense, are\nwe witnessing this phenomenon now in the citadel (supposedly) of democracy? Are\nwe witnessing it in the very country that preaches, interferes, cajoles,\nbribes, creates unrest and security issues in other countries all in the name\nof democracy? Are we witnessing it in the country which exports\ndestabilisation, mayhem and horror all in the name of democracy? The Middle\nEast today is one such instance. There is hardly any democracy in the countries\nthat were interfered with. Prior to these destructive adventures, a country\nthat suffered in the hands of this exporter, Vietnam, has since prospered not\non account of democracy, but what they term market Socialism in a one party\nCommunist State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump has taken the USA down an abyss of\ndespair and duplicity. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will have a tough time\nresurrecting some trust and confidence that their own people, and others in the\nrest of the world, had with the USA. The longer Trump lingers, the deeper is\nthe fall to this abyss and the more difficult it will be to get out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, it is not just some sycophants\nthat Trump has taken with him, but some 70 Million voters and probably millions\nof deaf, dumb and blind supporters in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unfathomable why 70 million people voted\nfor this individual who appears to be of unsound mind. They have made a mockery\nof what is just, what is right, what is moral and what is decent. Some amongst\nthis lot have cut their noses to spite their faces, some have voted from a\nCuckoo land, some have voted as they only know, and that is to put a cross\nagainst a Republican candidate even if that candidate is a broom stick. This 70\nmillion had disgraced all that has been good about the USA. They have not made\nan informed decision, they have taken recklessness to a new height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By voting for Trump, they have voted to lie,\nthey have voted to degrade women, they have voted to widen the racial divide in\nthe country and they have voted to widen the inequality in the country. It is\nmind boggling that some Republicans who do not have any health cover and who\nare bordering on poverty and who are down trodden even as whites, have voted to\nfall deeper into poverty and to die early without proper health care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many traditional Republicans should have opted\nto choose another candidate to be their Presidential nominee and spared the\ncountry from this embarrassment or could have decided to boycott the election\nif they found it not within them to vote otherwise. Instead, they have become\ncomplicit to this embarrassment not just to the USA but to the rest of the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the age of information technology, the world\nhas become smaller and closer to each other whether one likes it or not, and\nwhether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Various social media platforms link\npeople with each other before one could blink an eye and millions are inter\nconnected. There is computer hacking, listening in, cyber spying and all the\nevils of this information technology bringing out the worst in human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internationalisation today is inevitable and the\nworld has to find ways and means of capitalising on the positives and taking\ncollective action against the negatives. Countries cannot crawl into the\ncocoons and pretend they can live happy ever after by doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has led the way for cocooning the USA from\nthe rest of the world and fooling 70 million people that they can metamorphose\ninto freely fluttering Butterflies. Most if not all international cooperation\nagreements have soured under Trump. Rather than improving them and bringing\nbetter benefits for them, Trump has taken the view that small is beautiful.\nJudging by the tax concessions and other benefits to the rich in the USA, his\npolicies have been beautiful for a small coterie of supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Trump handover the Presidency to Joe Biden\non the 20th<\/sup> of January 2021? He may not have a choice but to do so.\nWhere he has a choice is to usher an orderly transition and give a message to\nhis supporters to avail themselves with a future opportunity to vote whichever\nway they choose and vote in a Republican President if that is there choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the world has no choice as to who\nsits in the White House. However, even if that person sneezes or coughs, the\neffect reverberates throughout the world. Stock markets can go up and down and\noil prices could fluctuate wildly. In this context, it does matter to the rest\nof the world who sits in the White House. Due to the inability of the rest of\nthe world to decide on this, they are probably hoping and even supporting\nalternate world leaders and emerging powerful economies to cushion the blows\nthey get when the incumbent of the White House behaves irresponsibly and\nirrationally. Many in the world today who are so interconnected would want a\nVladimir Putin or a Xi Jinping or an Angela Merkel or a Narendra Mody to help\nkeep the world more stable even if they are not supporters of such leaders or\ntheir modes of governance. The most powerful person in the democratic world\nbehaving like a gunman gone berserk in the Wild West does not assure the safety\nand the stability that the world needs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale In respect to the considerable research done on the quotation noted above, Roger Pearse, in his blog (https:\/\/www.roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/2015\/10\/31\/is-those-whom-the-gods-wish-to-destroy-they-first-make-mad-a-classical-quotation\/comment-page-1\/), says I learn that in fact it is a note on Sophocles Antigone, l.620, by a scholiast.  The idea itself is present in Homer, Odyssey, IX, 492-3. In the tragedy Antigone, of Sophocles, in verses 620-623, it said something similar: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}