Of course, Diderot was not aware of our 20th Century totalitarian state systems. He might have preferred kings and priests to Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
There are plenty of countries with no (or powerless) kings, and where priests have little say in politics in culture, which did not indulge in totalitarian monstrosities.
The Scotsman Tom Nairn once adapted the quote to, “Scotland will be reborn when the last Church of Scotland minister is strangled with the last copy of the Sunday Post.”
I agree that to get the full flavour of this it does help to be Scottish. (For those who don’t know of it, the Sunday Post is a very conservative newspaper.)
Pat says:
Ooh, I’ll be dropping that one into conversation.
May 20, 2012, 6:57 amDavid B. Williams says:
Of course, Diderot was not aware of our 20th Century totalitarian state systems. He might have preferred kings and priests to Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
May 20, 2012, 9:08 amStefan Jones says:
BZZZZZT!
There are plenty of countries with no (or powerless) kings, and where priests have little say in politics in culture, which did not indulge in totalitarian monstrosities.
May 21, 2012, 12:49 pmPat says:
David, a king by other names is still a king, whether called führer, czar, general secretary or president for life.
May 23, 2012, 4:33 amWalt G says:
Yeah, but we’ll still have psychopaths who go around strangling people with entrails.
May 24, 2012, 11:51 amspringjack says:
Was true. Is true. Will be true. The naysayers above are simply victims of said priest-kings, whatever they call themselves today.
May 24, 2012, 4:00 pmjackdstephen says:
The Scotsman Tom Nairn once adapted the quote to, “Scotland will be reborn when the last Church of Scotland minister is strangled with the last copy of the Sunday Post.”
I agree that to get the full flavour of this it does help to be Scottish. (For those who don’t know of it, the Sunday Post is a very conservative newspaper.)
May 29, 2012, 2:26 pmJohn Armstrong says:
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner.
May 29, 2012, 5:21 pmNicely done, M. Diderot
Bruce says:
I note that none of this speaks to the freedom of women…”when the last male is strangled in the entrails of the last…?”
June 6, 2012, 1:59 pm