" To slow a beast, you break its limbs. To slow a nation, you break its people. You rob them of volition. You demonstrate your absolute command over their destiny. You make it clear that ultimately it falls to you to decide, who lives, who dies, who prospers, who doesn't. To exhibit your capability, you show of all that you can do, and how easily you can do it. How easily you could press a button and annihilate the earth. How you can snatch a river away from one gift to another. How you can green a desert, or fell a forest and plant one somewhere else. you use caprice to fracture a people's faith in ancient things - earth, forest, water, air?
Reprinted from; Cost of Living, 1999
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