There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.Aristotle

December 2024

  • Kakistocracy

    Increasing one’s vocabulary is always a good thing. And I learned the word kakistocracy quite recently while reading Paul Krugman’s last column for the New York Times. It means government by the worst.  In Krugman’s case he was being predictive.  I think there’s a deeper way to think of the word: What do we mean by worst? There’s Mr. Maduro in Venezuela, Mr. Putin in Russia, Mr. Lukashenko in Belarus, The Ayatollah in Iran… There was Stalin, Saddam Hussain and Bashir Al-Assad. The list could go on of course. The point is what is worst, what is worst to us, what is worst for the society we live in? Kakistocracy is a word that may have its own meaning but which is also going to mean what we want it to mean, and that is why we need to give it thought. I know I’m being philosophical, intentionally I might add. And perhaps that is because I do believe it is usually a good idea to be prepared for the worst.

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