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Katya's avatar

The Lenin-prototype hero in Dostoevsky’s “Demons” says, on p. 418, that there will be “No need for education...but obedience must be set up. Only one thing is lacking in the world: obedience. ... We’ll extinguish families. ... we’ll get drinking, gossip, denunciation going; we’ll get unheard of depravity going; we’ll stifle genius in infancy.” And earlier, on p. 415, this “hero” discusses the “technique” of binding people through crime, any crime, all crime, the bloodier the better. Dostoevsky wrote all this 170 momentous years ago, and we are held hostage, spell bound, like the public in his novel. The real hero of this novel discovers as he is dying that man’s salvation lies in his belief in eternal life (he had lamented his criminal failure to stand up for his rights). This brings us to the Brothers K: the loss of belief in eternal life, promised by faith in Jesus, is the murder of mankind. —Thank you, Michael, as always—

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Muna's avatar

If you ever wondered why your writings never go beyond a tiny niche appeal. The answer stares at you in the mirror. For all your grand ideas about yourself, expressed in all its absurdity in your pompous and verbose vocabulary, your effect on the world remains impotent. A certain mental disorder fits the bill.

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